What to teach 4-H kids about hamsters

[Gibbs&JackBlack]

I found this 4H site that has lots of great links about showing/judging hamsters and "other pocket pets."
4H

[hamsterhoney]

That is so helpful!!! Thank you so much!

[TheFeldhamster]

Well if 4H is about agriculture and *science* (being from Austria I wouldn't know) then you really might want to take a look at this article (scroll down for English): Scientific facts about hamster homes

For the older kids it would make a great project to think about "common knowledge" about hamster keeping vs. what science found out and how tradition influences what "everybody knows" and clouds common sense.

Examples: if asked, most people do know that hamsters in the wild live in burrows in the earth. Why then do common cages only allow for about 2inches of bedding? Digging a burrow is a major natural behavior for a hamster - why do most cages deny them that? Or most people do know that hamsters are crepuscular/nocturnal. Why then are they still bought as "ideal" pets for small children who have to be in bed early? Those children will either rarely see their hamster and lose interest quickly - and who can blame them? Or they will wake up the hamster every day to play with it which is cruel. And the list goes on - tall cages for creatures that are ground dwellers, maybe even with houses on the top level (as if they were squirrels), telling yourself that a small cage is ok because you give the hamster out of cage time - and forgetting that his most active time is while you are asleep so he'll have to spend his most active time inside the small cage, having a cage that is smaller than the common recommendations for reptiles are - eg. for most reptiles there are recommendations that the cage must be so-and-so many times the body length of the animal. For hamsters, most commercial cages are less than that factor - even though a hamster is a mammal! Reptiles spend a lot of the time just basking - so why do people accept large cage recommendations for (in comparison) a lot less active animals but laugh at big cages for hamsters?

Etc, etc.

[hamsterhoney]

Good idea! I think that all the kids (and their parents) will benefit from this!

[hamsterhoney]

Ok, We finally got the pocket pet club put together and it is starting in two weeks (woo hoo!) Now all I need to do is write the curriculum. Does anyone have anything I defiantly need to include?

[vanilla-yazoo]

i was just watching some 4-h rabbit ones,
how about
how to correctly do a health check (scruff correct, check teeth, claws, tummys ect)
monitering weights and heats in females(weighing scaled with a note book, and a callender for heats)
what would make a hamster loose points at a show (broken bands, missing toes or limps, ripped or damaged ears, dribbling from teeth too long, kinked tail, white belly ect)
cage size and wheel size recomendation, food recomendations
safe and unsafe food and plants
how to take a hamster to a show
how to prepare and enter a hamster into the show (a pen, grooming, what beddings who to contact and by when)
rules at the show (no touching or moving the showing pens, or hamsters, not disturbing the judge, no sick animals, no dogs around the small animal tables, what is allowed in a pen)
what awards can be won at a show (best in show, certificate of merit, best in class, best dwarf, novice, intermediate, small hamstery ect)
how do syrians fit into a show (patterned, satins, rex, aoc, agouti, sometimes cream is seporate, sometimes lh is seporate. if you have a satin lh golden what catagory is it under? ect)
the differences of a winter white and a campbells, (and maybe hybrids)
how to pick up a hamster
preparing a home and taking a hamster home
how to tame a hamster
theres lots ^^

[hamsterhoney]

Originally Posted by vanilla-yazoo

i was just watching some 4-h rabbit ones,
how about
how to correctly do a health check (scruff correct, check teeth, claws, tummys ect)
monitering weights and heats in females(weighing scaled with a note book, and a callender for heats)
what would make a hamster loose points at a show (broken bands, missing toes or limps, ripped or damaged ears, dribbling from teeth too long, kinked tail, white belly ect)
cage size and wheel size recomendation, food recomendations
safe and unsafe food and plants
how to take a hamster to a show
how to prepare and enter a hamster into the show (a pen, grooming, what beddings who to contact and by when)
rules at the show (no touching or moving the showing pens, or hamsters, not disturbing the judge, no sick animals, no dogs around the small animal tables, what is allowed in a pen)
what awards can be won at a show (best in show, certificate of merit, best in class, best dwarf, novice, intermediate, small hamstery ect)
how do syrians fit into a show (patterned, satins, rex, aoc, agouti, sometimes cream is seporate, sometimes lh is seporate. if you have a satin lh golden what catagory is it under? ect)
the differences of a winter white and a campbells, (and maybe hybrids)
how to pick up a hamster
preparing a home and taking a hamster home
how to tame a hamster
theres lots ^^

Wonderful! I think Im just going to put the basics in the project guide, but I can use the rest of this for my teaching guide and for show ideas. Im planning on putting a rodent 4-H show together and maybe there can be a skillathon.

[vanilla-yazoo]

No problem im glad it helps!!!
I know we shouldnt mention other forums as such but the 'mad about' forum has a thread on best in show hamsters, with some fantastic ones there if you need ideas of what judges are looking for
if you have a good number of hamsters in the class you can do a show, or maybe invite local people to the show and bring their hamsters, and the 4-h can work out who they think will be 'best in show' maybe see if theres a breeder in the area to judge, (maybe not for cute factor, just for show standardness)
and the 4-h ones can introduce their hamsters, give a demonstration of its handling, point out its 'best features' say, a really nice set of flashes, or clean lines, big skirt ect.

at our shows there are rats, gerbils, mice, and chinchillas at some shows, guinea pigs and rabbits are at most shows too. you could do a little cover into all small animal shows

[hamsterhoney]

The only problem I have currently is that there are no breeders anywhere near me. I live in south carolina in the united states where even rabbit breeders such as myself are few and far between.

[Gibbs&JackBlack]

So glad to hear you are bringing this to reality!

I'm thinking of doing the same thing now and have been doing some research too.