Traveling

[custard]

Well, I am going away this weekend , so I am not sure whether I am supposed to take Rhubarb (my hammy) - I suggested to my parents that we should get one of those travel cases (if that is what they are called!) but they wanted to know if he would be all right (what with all the noise and stuff) so they told me to post a thread on HC (which I am doing now) to see what you peeps out there might think. ?????????? plz reply thnx

[Lougarry]

I would be inclined to leave him at home if it's just a weekend. It would be worth putting an extra water bottle in his cage, just in case one should fail or fall off.

[custard]

it is just, the idea of him well, dying just seems to much - after how I found Custard dead after only 6 months! I am just worried that's all.

[p_anda]

I'd leave him for the weekend, two days is nothing...I've spent 4 hours on a train with Princess last summer, with no air conditioning. >.> I felt like I was going to die of a heatstroke, not to mention Princess. She actually handled it better than I did. When I asked railway staff what happened to the air con they just said they're trying to save money and will not be obliging to turn it on...After I've paid £80 for a second class ticket on an EastCoast train, the least they can do is at least install some fluffing blinds so you can pull those down over the window...nope, you guessed, there are no blinds on those trains.

Just make sure you leave him two bottles and plenty of food, and double check that the cage is securely locked.

[Mona's Humans]

In the UK its illegal to leave any pet for more than 24 hours without someone to check in on it. If someone could check in on Rhubarb (you can get pet sitting services who'll visit for between £5 - £10 for an hour or two), i'd do this, if not and your going away for more than one night i'd take Rhubarb with you.

If we go anywhere its either less than 24 hours, or its 2 - 4 nights minimum and pepper comes with us (its a 3 hour journey to my parents, and as long as he has substrate from his cage, a dog biscuit and cucumber for moisture he's fine , our guineas go into boarding though, as they are a nightmare to travel with.

[StarlightSerenity]

You can't leave hamsters, or any animal, a lone for more than 24 hours in the UK. Like Mona said - it's against the law. Let a lone exceptionally irresponsible.

Sorry if I sound harsh but please, please, whatever you do DO NOT leave him at home a lone for more than 24 hours.

Take him with you, in a travel case for the journey and pop him back into his normal cage when you get there, or get a small temp cage for while you're away. A lot of people here travel with the hams and it never seems to have any effect on the hams - they tend to just sleep

You can always have a neighbour, family member or friend check in on him each day or use a pet sitting service, there's plenty of them around and they aren't expensive

[kyrilliondaemon]

Yeah we've travelled with seven of ours and its been fine. We just keep them with familiar substrate and take travel cages instead of their usual ones (if anyone has seen our cages they can probably understand why we can't take the usual ones lol).
They travel in carry cases and are fine.

Its safer and better than leaving them alone over 24 hours - especially given that its illegal in the UK.

I'd either take him with you or ask someone else to check in on him for you.

[Lougarry]

I regularly used to take Sebastian in the car between Essex and York when I was at university.

However, I still believe it would be less stressful not to take a hamster away for a weekend. I have obviously missed this 24 hour rule. My understanding of the law is that You shouldn't leave an animal without ensuring its welfare, which would include daily health checks. If you check the hamster's health on Saturday morning, go away overnight and then check again when you return the following evening, wouldn't you still have done your daily checks?

This is a genuine question, as I really feel this would be better than taking a hamster on a long, noisy stressful journey twice in 2 days.

[Mona's Humans]

I agree that it would be stressful to take a ham for one night only, and think the best option is to ensure someone checks in on them, and leave them.

Lougarry i think i saw it somewhere on the RSPCA site, i can't find it now though, but i know for sure i've read it somewhere reputable (other than here). If i find the link again i'll share, but hopefully someone else will have it closer to hand.

[FluffNoodle]

im leaving for vacation tomorrow for a week we got a pet sitter to keep and eye on my babies