Warning about small animal "carriers"

starrylight99 · 07-17-2011, 07:42 PM

My fiance and I went on a short vacation, and while we were gone, we left the boys in the care of his parents. When we transported them there, we just picked up their cage and put it in the back seat of the car, but Chaos kept trying to run on his wheel and was falling off, plus Apples was climbing the bars and falling. Not ideal.

So to bring them back home, we bought two of these (mini size) All Living Things® Critter Totes - Fish Care - Fish - PetSmart

They are very small, but the car ride is only a half hour or so, and we thought it would be better to keep them in something small, than to let them roam around their cage and possibly get hurt.

We were very, very wrong.

Poor Apples, the minute he got in the carrier, he started freaking out. We thought he would calm down, but no such luck. Chaos was unhappy too, but not nearly as frantic as Apples...scratching the walls, laying flat out on his belly, and DROOLING.

Yes, Apples was so freaked out he was drooling. His chin and part of his chest were just soaked. It was so bad that I had to take him out and hold him the last 5 minutes of the ride. He seemed to calm down and clean up once he got back into his normal cage, but we threw out those carriers immediately!

LoveMyHams · 07-17-2011, 08:28 PM

I think it depends on the hamster. I took 3 hamsters with me in the car when I moved and non of them had problems being in the small carriers for an hour (besides wanting out).

starrylight99 · 07-17-2011, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoveMyHams

I think it depends on the hamster. I took 3 hamsters with me in the car when I moved and non of them had problems being in the small carriers for an hour (besides wanting out).

I was actually surprised that mine were so freaked out. Normally they're very laid back. But I certainly won't be using those anymore.

LoveMyHams · 07-17-2011, 09:25 PM

I wasn't thrilled about keeping them in such a small space for so long, but my girls love to roll in their balls so they seemed ok with it.

Pomegranate · 07-18-2011, 03:22 AM

Wow, I'm sorry they had such an adverse reaction.

How did you prep the carriers? Plenty of nesting material? It might have been the tank-style walls if they're used to bars.

I use open carriers in the playpen, in the hope that my hammies think of them as just as another hidey-hole/toy for when I need to use them for vet trips or journeys.

Tish36 · 07-18-2011, 04:20 AM

Ooer that's strange, I use the small Ferplast carriers and they are perfectly fine with them :S

Gillzy · 07-18-2011, 04:45 AM

Oh golly, poor lil hams

They just not like the motion/noise of the car either (although if they were fine travelling in the large cage I guess that's not it). I would maybe just let them be in their big cage to travel and take the wheel out... def not worth distressing them. Glad you chucked it.

AliKati · 07-18-2011, 05:03 AM

Dearie me, that's quite a reaction, poor little things. So far, both my hams aren't too bad in their carriers, except for meerkating and peering out. Evie, however, was put into a little cardboard box and pellets dumped on her head, when I first got her, and boy, did she squawk the house down!

lisab · 07-18-2011, 05:35 AM

what a strange thing to happen.

I have quite a few simular i use for taking hams to show and i have never had a problem.

Gillzy · 07-18-2011, 05:45 AM

I just thought I'd add, when I took Sen home she was in a VERY small travel box (It holds a bag of hamster mix now), which was fine for dwarves, but Sen was a bit bigger. And she was fine being curious until the car stopped at our flat, and we got out and she started SCREECHING! It was horrendous. Didn't stop the whole time walking through the car park, up the building stairs, into the flat and until I put her into her cage. I was worried she'd be a very vocal ham after that, but she's not made a peep since.

So I agree some hams just don't take kindly to tiny tubs.