Lonely boy?

[dandelion]

This is my first post here as I'm a little bit concerned over my new hammie.

Basically, I got him three weeks ago from a local pet shop. I hadn't intended on coming home with a pet, but he had been attacked by another hamster(s) in his cage, and I kind of "rescued" him as he had a huge gash on his nose and behind his ears...his head was absolutely covered in blood (and hence dubbed "Rudolf the red nosed hamster").

He was seen by a vet and I had to give him antibiotics and painkillers for a week, and then he was officially out of the woods.

However, since then, i'm a little concerned he's lonely. After reading up upon his breed, most articles say they prefer a friend, but i'm not sure if this is best for him, giving his situation? I'm also worried that it may be too late to introduce someone else into his cage?

The reason i'm concerned is that he's not very active (doesn't even use the wheel), sleeps 90% of the time and since the daily meds he's been skittish when I try to handle him (however trying to build this up slowly).

I hope someone can give me a little advice on whether this breed on hamster can do fine on their own, thanks.

[SnickersTheFirst]

Hmm, given his age and the fact he's been attacked before, I think he'd be happier alone. It's much harder to introduce older hamsters or hamsters that are not related. All of my dwarves live singly, a Winter White, a Hybrid Russian and a Chinese. They're all quite grumpy boys so I don't think they'd be happy in pairs, plus Pipsqueak was up for rehoming due to a cage mate fight.

Russians are pretty lazy and most hamsters will wake up late at night or early morning so you may not see him?

[racinghamster]

Pretty much what Snickers said dandelion. First of all, congratulations for giving the wee fella a safe home. Hamsters (in general) are happy to nap all day, or most of the day, so don`t let that worry you. It`s what they do. Your little lad has probably been though a lot of stress and hurt by being attacked previously and then having to endure being given medication and man-handled! The fact that you have seen what two dwarf hamsters can inflict upon one another, I would not try introductions again. This is probably something best left to breeders or people who have large cages to accommodate splitting the cage and have time on their hands to monitor the hamsters behaviour, but even then, we never really know what`s going on in their little minds and things can turn on a sixpence, usually when we are not there to see the damage done.

What cage do you use and what size wheel currently? Russian dwarfs do best in cages like the Zoozne 1 and a Regular (6.5" inch) silent spinner wheel on it`s stand. His diet should also be sugar free as they can be prone to developing diabetes. There is plenty of advice on here regarding the best diets for dwarf hamsters and what should be `removed` from their mix and things you can add instead. The main culprits are:

Yellow corn
Yellow flaked maize
Banana pieces
Green peas and pea flakes.

Many hamster mixes have these included and corn/maize is especially high in natural sugar and banana, so if your mix includes these, I would remove them and replace them with things like:

Dry porridge oats
Buckwheat
Hemp seed
Budgie mix/Canary seed
Mealworms (good protein source and great as a hand-fed treat! ) Poundstretcher have them cheap.

He will adapt fine dandelion. Once he`s properly settled and has a `routine`, he will play away on his own. The Zoozone 1 perspex cage would allow him plenty of running room and deep digging, so if you feel his cage is limited in space, you could look into getting him one of these and it may change his activity levels.

[Gizmodo ^_^]

I really wouldn't worry about him living alone tbh
All my dwarfies&my mum's dwarfies (7 in total) all live alone and they are all very happy Hammies

[dandelion]

Thanks for the replies guys, I feel much better about him now.

In reply to racinghamster, I got him a ferplast mini duna with the wheel that came with it. I'm ordering a silent spinner after reading the forums last night, so hopefully he'll start using it once it arrives. He loves burrowing, so I give him a very deep bed and loads shredded paper, climbing toys etc.

He's on the supahamster dwarf hamster harvest, with a woodlands dandelion stick in his cage (which he loves as i can hear him gnawing away at night) and a mineral block (which I just bought today). I've tried giving him some fresh apple and carrot, but he's not interested so I've just removed them.

[racinghamster]

He sounds happy enough dandelion and he will love his silent spinner! If he`s a Russian dwarf from a pet shop, he will probably be a hybrid, so given that they cannot (or should not) have any sugar, he can`t have fruit either as fruit contains fructose. Carrots should also be ommitted as they are naturally sweet. I tend to give little pieces of Tomato, green bean (not peas) and that`s it. Other veggies low in sugar that you could offer once or twice a week are:

Broccoli
Cauliflower
Kale
Green bean
Turnip
Watercress
Tomato
Cucumber

All of the above are safest and should only be fed in tiny amounts (no bigger than 3-5mm in size) as too much fresh food can cause diahorrea in hamsters and other small rodents.

I would use the metal stand that the silent spinner comes with also as the flimsy plastic clip that the Duna shelf has probably won`t be very secure, or will make the shelf rattle as he runs in it!

[fluffymunchkins]

From the sounds of it, he will be much better alone
There are some that crave the company of others, for example my ww Squishy sulks if hes put alone. Whereas his brother is perfectly happy alone. They do learn to adjust to being alone and once he learns your not so scary, he'll be much happier with your company.

Since he had to be on meds when he was still settling in, it might take him a bit longer to tame as its been very stressful for him.
Keep up with the handling x