Lots and lots of advice needed please!!

[toryb]

Hello, this is my first post here

I am a bunny loving crazy animal lady who also keeps guinea pigs ( I have 8 of each) and I also have some foster guineas due in a few days time...but I came accross a roughly 6 month old syrian hamster in desperate need of a safe home on a selling website so she is due to arrive shortly after 5pm tonight.

I wasnt looking for a hamster and nor have I done alot of research but I couldnt ignore her I have had syrians in the past (Rufus and snoopy) when I was still living at home with my parents but wow things have changed (that was a fairly long time ago!!).

I post on a rabbit forum with Aly (Leesha) and so she has passed on some great advice with regards to diet and cages but I would welcome any more advice you may have to offer

I have no idea what kind of cage she is living in at the moment but I have been checking out zooplus as was suggested and so will see what we need to replace etc when she arrives.

She also has no name as they hadnt names any of their pets so I will be needing suggestions...they have described her as pale ginger and white...I have a few on my list at the moment but will see what suits her so suggestions are also welcome

Enough rambling from me

[Lougarry]

Welcome to the forum, and well done for taking her on

You will find loads of info just from browsing the forum, but some basics:

Ideally you are looking for a cage 80cm x 50cm. Depending on how much you have to spend, the Alaska is great value, and the Alexander is lots of people's dream cage. If you prefer a tank style, I have a Syrian in a ZZ2 and another in a Rody Rabbit, but the bars need to be meshed as spacing needs to be 1cm or less.

You also need a large wheel - 8" is OK for a small Syrian but it is likely you will need a 12". A Flying Saucer, Trixie Rodent Wheel or Silent Spinner are all good choices.

You need a nice deep layer of substrate (several inches as hams like to burrow). Aubiose (hemp based), Megazorb and Fitch are all good, but woodshavings will do. And lots of shredded budget toilet paper for nesting. Cardboard tubes go down well, as well as a box with an entrance hole cut in it for privacy.

Obviously you need food. Harry Hamster or Burgess Supahamster seem to be the best that are widely available. And a water source - ideally a bottle.

Try to use some of the hamster's current bedding in the new cage to ease the transition and clean out only occasionally if at all. I think spot cleaning is better than full cleans.

There's a huge range of toys and accessories but the above are your basics. Finally, as you are more used to buns and g-pigs - only give very small quantities of fresh fruit and veg as they can get an upset tummy. There's a list of safe foods on the Wiki.

Good luck with your new friend!

[toryb]

Thank you very much for your reply

Yes Aly recomended the alaska and I have book marked it I use megazorb for the bunnies and piggies so have plenty of that in which is good Luckily I have most things ready and waiting as have the bedding, water bottles, I always have a stock of toilet tubes (will these be big enough for a syrian?) as I stuff them with hay and treats for the buns and piggies Its just food thats the immidiate thing..she is coming with some food so I will see what that is and then go from there...

Is the megazorb ok s the only bedding or do I need something else too?
Do you feed them everyday (dry food and fresh?) or does it depend if they store food? I dont tend to feed my bunnies much fresh food at all so the g-pigs have taken so getting used to lol.

Thank you xxx

[StarlightSerenity]

Hello and welcome to HC! Well done for rescuing this little lady, she sounds like she had a hard start to life and needs some TLC for sure!

My coffee is still brewing so this is going to be a caffeine free ramble, hopefully you get some useful info out of it

Cages! I'm guessing you are in the UK? There are lots and lots of fantastic cages out there to choose from, what sort of space do you have available for a cage? The minimum size usually recommended is around 80cm (L) x 50cm (W) and heights can vary but anything above 40cm needs shelves and hammocks to prevent falls (if it's a wire cage and she can climb up it).

100cm x 50cm cages are preferred, there are the more expensive (but very high quality) ones like the Alexander which you can get from ZooPlus - Great deals on small pet cages at zooplus: Alexander Small Pet Cage (It's £65 if you buy it from zooplus.de but gets shipped from the UK warehouses still). Then there are cheaper ones like the 100cm Mamble which Equine Canine Feline sells (or ECF as it's usually called here) - Rat Cages : Mamble Rat / Hamster Narrow Bar 80cm Cage : www.EquineCanineFeline.com the place to buy all your Pet Products, Horse Products and Pet Supplies online Then there's the ZooZone 2 which is good for bar chewers, no idea where the best place to get those are though.

80cm cages... Well, there are lots of them. The Savic Hamster Heaven, 80cm Mamble, Criceti 15, ZooPlus Barney, ZooPlus Alaska, Zooplus Igor Fuchsia, Savic Sky Metro, Savic Mickey 2XL, Ferplast Mary... To name a few!

Some links to 80cm cages:

Hamster Cages: great selection at zooplus: Hamster Heaven 80 Cage
Small Pet Cages ? Alaska Hamster Cage: Free Delivery on orders £19+ at zooplus!
Great Deals on Cages at zooplus!: Barney Pet Cage
Hamster Cage Igor Fuchsia at zooplus
Rat Cages : Mamble Rat / Hamster Narrow Bar 80cm Cage : www.EquineCanineFeline.com the place to buy all your Pet Products, Horse Products and Pet Supplies online
Ferplast Criceti 15 Hamster Cage Ferplast Small Animal Homes for Sale

I have a Savic Hamster Heaven for my Syrian and it's a high quality cage and a good size but I'm upgrading Evey's cage to an Alexander in the near future if my eyelash fluttering works on my OH. Have a look at the housing forum and review forums, they both have loads of info on cages. The Let's see your cages (from January 2012) thread has loads of photographs of loads of different cages.

In relation to wheels, again there are loads of different options but always go for a wheel that is at least 8inches (diameter) but unless she's really small I'd go for a bigger wheel, 10inches+. I have a 12inch Flying Saucer for my Syrian, it's a great wheel certainly if the cage isn't very tall or you want the wheel to go underneath a shelf. It does take up a lot of floor space but that shouldn't be a problem in a big enough cage anyway. If you want any info on specific wheels just say!

You'll also need a bottle or two (I prefer having two per cage purely in case one stops working), I will only use Classic bottles and usually buy mine on eBay but Pet Supermarket sell them cheaply too - Classic Deluxe Colortone Hamster Bottle and they don't charge for P&P

Substrate is a whole other matter that I'm currently having issues with myself so don't really want to comment on that other than having a decent layer is important, both for warmth and enrichment. I'm currently using woodshavings but I'll be switching to Fitch in the near future as having two cages with woodshavings in our bedroom seems to have affected both my chest and my partners. You can buy Fitch here - Fitch Recycling - Fitch Pet Bedding

I've run out of steam and my coffee is ready, I hope I've helped a bit, will try and help if you have any more questions!

[StarlightSerenity]

Originally Posted by toryb

Is the megazorb ok s the only bedding or do I need something else too?
Do you feed them everyday (dry food and fresh?) or does it depend if they store food? I dont tend to feed my bunnies much fresh food at all so the g-pigs have taken so getting used to lol.

Thank you xxx

Megazorb is fine, lots here use it.

You don't need to feed them daily and too much fresh food can cause tummy upsets. Once my previous Syrian, Luna, was and adult and that I did give her fresh food every day but only tiny amounts (about three peas, that sort of amount).

Syrians don't eat all that much but do store a lot so don't be surprised to find that her bowl empties really quickly. I give about a 1/3 of a cup of dried mix every two to three days to my Syrian.

[Lougarry]

Megazorb will be great. Other than that you just need some soft, paper based nesting material - either torn up loo paper, paper wool or the pinking-sheer edged stuff from P@H. Wilkos also do some that looks like shredded J-Cloth. The main message here is avoid that fluffy cotton wool type bedding like the plague as it is very dangerous if ingested or caught around a limb.

[Lougarry]

Oh, and I do tend to feed mine daily (although it's not really necessary, I'm scatterbrained so a daily routine works best for me!) - just scatterfeed a dessert spoon or so of a dry mix. And I supplement probably every other day with a small piece of fruit or veg, or chicken, fish or pasta (depending on what we are having for our dinner). Many hams are also partial to a bit of baby food, which can be frozen in ice cube trays so it stays fresh. Just avoid any containing onions or garlic. Grandma's Sunday Lunch is a favourite.

[toryb]

Fabulous thank you so much yes im scatterbrained too..I have alot of animals and 3 small children Im making friends with the search function on here..what an amazing source of information! I will be back when she arrives...im so excited about meeting her!

[StarlightSerenity]

Don't forget to post lots of photographs!! I demand photographs ASAP!!

Make sure to let her have a day or two to settle in though, new surroundings, smells, sights and that can be quite daunting for newbie hams. But if when you get her you find that she's got fluffy bedding and/or a tiny wheel remove them as a little stress is better than the damange that they can do. Do you know if she's been handled/is tame?

[toryb]

I will be sure to post some piccies

I know nothing about her at all I havnt a clue what to expect...hopefully she is fairly tame but if she isnt then I will work on it...if she never is then I will just provide her with what she needs/wants and let her be to enjoy life without anymore intervention than is necessary

There was two of them available on the ad but when I text the woman said one had already gone (a male) but I could have her corn snake instead if i wanted so yeah I have no idea what kind of life she has had already...Im just wishing I had got in touch in time to get the little boy too...hopefully he has gone off to a lovely home!!