Moving between houses ham question

[Loveforhammie]

My friend is thinking about getting a hamster after seeing how lovely mine is... But she lives in two houses... I wanted to know if moving the hammie between houses every weekish is bad even if they will have the same cage? Whould it be to stressful for him?

[Pebbles82]

I think it would be better if the hamster stayed in one house really. If your friend is going to be away for a couple of weeks during holidays the odd time then maybe she could then take him with her and have a holiday cage set up at the other house. It’s a tricky one. On the other hand at least she would never need to find a pet sitter. It would also mean family at the hamster’s main home would need to be prepared to do some care when your friend isn’t there - such as putting food out and changing water but hamsters do fine only having out of cage time only every few days providing their cage is large enough. So she’d need at least an 80cm cage and 100cm cage would be good with lots of bedding, toys and hidey places in it and a good house that is dark inside to retreat to.

Our first Syrian belonged to my stepson who was only here every 2 or 3 days and it was interesting that he always wanted to come out when he heard stepsons voice. The main thing. Would be to do lots of taming so she and the hamster bond and then the hamster will always know her. I think it would be stressful for them to move between two cages and homes every few days - but it might be ok if there are two good sized cages one in each home that are left with the same set up and not cleaned out very often ( a litter tray and deep bedding helps with this) - it would help if both cages had an identical set up and some would depend on the personality of the hamster so it might have to be played by ear. As in if the hamster seems quite nervy and easily stressed generally it would be best to stick to one home. Ideally that would be the thing to do - stock to one home - as any change of environment can stress them - even moving the cage to a different room in one house.

I would suggest she decides to keep the hamster at one house at least until he or she is fully hand tamed and more confident. Some will also depend on your friend’s schedule. If she has a full week in each house it may work having two identical cages - but if it’s backwards and forwards every few days that would probably be too much change for a hamster. Their basic instincts are to have everything the same and be territorial about their surroundings. Unlike a dog who would go anywhere with an owner.