Hamster advice for newby - Page 2

fluffymunchkins · 06-01-2011, 05:53 AM

First of all welcome to the forum

Your doing a brilliant job to learn proper care at such short notice.
How big is his wheel? For a syrian it needs to be at least 8" in diameter for them to be able to run on it comfortably

Guinea Slave · 06-01-2011, 06:50 AM

Ah thank you

My guineas have taught me so much and you start to realise with any living being, that there is so much to learn and so much more pleasure you can get through understanding them. The Guinea Forum advised me to come here so its lovely to meet you all!

I have just measured his exercise ball and its about 7 inches. He's a large lad too so I suspect its a little small. The only thing I can do is suggest they get a bigger one, I can only interfere and spend so much I guess. IF (as I sincerely hope) I get to keep him, then I may well just give him floor space like I do with the guineas (but clearly not with the guineas

)

I so hope I can get to keep him....its just the huge dark eyes and big ears, and the way he holds things with his paws....just adorable! Just don't anyone tell the guineas otherwise I am in big trouble!

purple_x · 06-06-2011, 02:25 AM

Aawwwww I think it's so sweet that you've fallen in love with him. I think anyone that gets to spend time with a hammy is the same, they're just such amazing little animals.

My syrian is a big boy and he has to have the 29cm running wheel (I think that's 11") A hamster needs to be able to run in their wheel with their back straight.
I dont like the hamster balls at all, mine have never had one as I much prefer letting them play in the bath or on my bed.

Womblehands · 06-06-2011, 05:31 AM

awww you sound like a lovely hammy mummy, have you thought of getting one for yourself If you do need to return this little guy. BTW does the little dude have a name? he sounds lovely... try him with some monkey nuts if possible they are so cute at opening them..

Guinea Slave · 06-07-2011, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Womblehands

awww you sound like a lovely hammy mummy, have you thought of getting one for yourself If you do need to return this little guy. BTW does the little dude have a name? he sounds lovely... try him with some monkey nuts if possible they are so cute at opening them..

Ah, thank you!

Yes I would love to get one but I do have rather a lot of animals and a full time job and a husband (!) I can juggle it all but my husband told me its too many and one would have to go to get another

So I told him I will miss him

Seriously though....if she does'nt want him back then I know the husband will feel sorry for him and we will be on our way! If not, then I don't think a new pet is on the cards

His name is Peanut, he's 18 months old and when its wake time he's got so much energy!!

I love it when you wake him early (from doing the housework or something noisey...) and his ears are still all crumpled and his eyes are half shut...very very cute!

Incidently, I could not resist and I introduced him to the guineas the other day (I held one, husband the other so no ability to get at each other) Peanut was fascinated, four of mine were utterly terrified and hid under my arm! The two elderly ones were like 'yeh whatever'. It was funny...don;t worry thats the closest any of them will get but I am always fascinated by how other species react to each other. Safe to say I have called the four younger guineas complete wimps....Peanut wondered what he'd done wrong!!

Guinea Slave · 06-07-2011, 04:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by purple_x

Aawwwww I think it's so sweet that you've fallen in love with him. I think anyone that gets to spend time with a hammy is the same, they're just such amazing little animals.

My syrian is a big boy and he has to have the 29cm running wheel (I think that's 11") A hamster needs to be able to run in their wheel with their back straight.
I dont like the hamster balls at all, mine have never had one as I much prefer letting them play in the bath or on my bed.

Ooooo the bath what a great idea, not thought of that! Peanut is large and his back is bent slightly when he runs. I will be broaching the subject if (!) I have to give him back, if not then I have big plans which do not involve exercise balls. trouble is though he does LOVE it, he actively seeks it out and climbs in by himself! I may just say the old one broke and buy the biggest I can fine, better for him then even if I don't get to keep him

racinghamster · 06-07-2011, 08:48 AM

If the ball is too small for him, I would stand on it and say OOPS, look what I did`nt mean to do!

But seriously, even though he seems to enjoy his ball, his back has obviously seen better days due to running `bent` and it can`t be comfortable for him.

My syrian Boris came to me in a Rotastak space command cage with a plastic ball. Needless to say, I got my hammer out and had a smashing time.

I was`nt leaving it lying around in the recycling for someone to take out and put another small animal in it. I took great pleasure in demolishing the ball and the space command modules.

Guinea Slave · 06-08-2011, 12:40 AM

At 18 months old and him having had the ball all his life, I dread to think how much its damaged his back, poor fella. I think it may meet an unfortunate end ! (although I don't think Peanut will forgive me...I'l tell him the guineas did it!)

racinghamster · 06-08-2011, 01:23 AM

At 18 months old he deserves a few luxuries!

Puting him in a ball that is too small for him could cause him arthritic pain also so it might be time to ditch the ball altogether and just give him play-times running around naturally with his cage toys.

Debbie · 06-08-2011, 02:12 AM

It is so easy to fall in love with these little furries isn't it? I had a dwarf hamster called Peanut and she was generally referred to as Nutty Nutster as she was mad as a hatter! She also enjoyed running around in a ball, would climb in herself and need prying out, but I too have never been entirely comfortable with balls so stopped using it and just let her have free play and she didn't seem to mind at all. It could be your Peanut only ever gets free time in his ball and so he associates being out of the cage with being in the ball perhaps? The bath is a great idea, put a towel down then lots of empty boxes, tubes and other toys, plus scatter some seed around, I'm sure Peanut will love it and forget all about his ball! The other thing we do is put ours on the bed (we have a king size so lots of room!) We put the edges of the duvet up to form a little wall so we are not chasing the ham round the bed from one side to the other, but you still need to keep an eye as they can climb the wall, it just slows them down!!
If your step daughter sees how much you have fallen for Peanut and how well you have looked after him she may let you keep him, but if not at least you can have him for holidays every time she goes away now you both know how much you've enjoyed looking after him! And of course you can point her in our direction if she wants a fun and friendly forum to join! Fingers crossed you get to keep little Peanut or manage to persuade your hubby that having one of your own would be great!!