My sweet Harley

[rokchick03]

Hey everyone,

Below are pictures of my sweet baby girl, Harley. We've only had her for a few days and we can already see what an active and charming girl she is. She's very much a daddy's girl but that's because whenever she wants out of her cage my fiancé jumps up, ready to give her what she wants. Hehe.

I love how she looks so sweet and naughty at the same time here.


Harley loves sitting on top of her little house. Sometimes I imagine her in a little Santa's costume and that just fills me with giggles.


She just loves cuddling in this corner. Can hamsters have tiny teddies? Her cuddling with one in this corner would be so precious.


To me she looks like she's angry with us here because this was after we took her out of her ball. She just loves that thing. She gets all super hyped when my fiancé makes a noise with it cos she knows she'll be able to run around the house.


And that's Harley. We're hoping to get a bigger cage at the end of the month for her with a wodent wheel as the one she had we removed from the cage (you can kind of see it in the background of the last picture) because she almost had a very scary accident, trying to climb on top of it from the roof of her house (you can only imagine from that description alone how small that cage is) and that wheel was waaaaaay too small for her.

[Gillzy]

I'm sure she'd be grateful for a new cage and a big wheel

She's very beautiful! Can't wait to learn more about her!

[selene16]

Aww shes beautiful give her big hugs from me

It's the opposite way round in my house, Arties a Mummys girl because the OH is to lazy most of the time lol, and then he moans that he doesn't get cuddles like I do teehee.

[Jesse]

Awww, she's a doll

[Iluvhamsters]

Awwww, Harley is really pretty

Please don't give her a teddy, if she chews and accidentally swallows any it can get stuck in her intestines causing a blockage which would kill her if not spotted soon enough.

[Gillzy]

Originally Posted by Iluvhamsters

Please don't give her a teddy, if she chews and accidentally swallows any it can get stuck in her intestines causing a blockage which would kill her if not spotted soon enough.

I second that. Forgot to say it before.

[rokchick03]

Originally Posted by Iluvhamsters

Please don't give her a teddy, if she chews and accidentally swallows any it can get stuck in her intestines causing a blockage which would kill her if not spotted soon enough.

Originally Posted by Gillzy

I second that. Forgot to say it before.

I had a strange feeling that this would be the case.

I do need advice on a few things though.

(1) I bought her these gnawing salt stones especially made for hamsters but all she did was gave it one lick the day I put it in her cage and has been ignoring it ever since. My question is, can I use Pedigree DentaStix as a gnawing treat for her instead?

(2) Last night, while cleaning her cage, I made a little corner for her (where the wheel was) as her potty area (I put some of her droppings there so that she could associate that area as the area it is meant to be) as she has been doing her business in her little house and I was concerned about her sleeping and eating in her house with all that mess around her. Anyway, when she was put back in the cage she made her business on the complete opposite side of the cage and when I woke up this morning the business she made last night she moved into her house. Can anyone please tell me what I can do to make sure that she's not so attached to her droppings, AKA, get her to use the potty corner and not her house?

(3) We have been trying different ways in taming her (we're both really paranoid in using the bath method so we're trying to avoid that). Last night we had her walk from my hands to his and back to mine. She started getting very hyper (we think she thought this meant she was heading back to the ball again) so we put her back in the cage. Will doing this every night (probably before we put her in the ball) bring us any results?

(4) Last question... we share a house with 2 other people and one of them has 2 very adorable dogs; a shar pei and chow mix and a chow. My question is, when Harley is in the ball and she's (literally) speeding throughout the house, is it okay that the dogs are around? The chow completely ignores her but the mix just stares at her alot (in complete confusion). He would sometimes come into our bedroom sniffing the bottom of the cage when she's in there (he has a sore leg so has no ability to jump up on the table to get to the cage) and sniffing the ball she was in.

Sorry for all the questions. I think I'm like one of those paranoid, over protective mothers. Hehe.

[Gillzy]

There's a few of us paranoid overprotective types on here, so don't worry about it.

1) Many hams don't like them, sometimes the flavoured ones have a better response. I don't know about denta stix but I feed Sen markies, if that's any help. Just be sure to check the ingredients, no onion or garlic.

2) if you search for "toilet training" on the forum you'll find some articles that might be able to help you. Sometimes it just takes persistence.

3) This is a good technique. However you might want to try putting her in the bath (with the plug in) as then she'll def know she's not going in the ball. There is information on taming on the Hamster Central Wiki.

4) Your best bet is just to keep an eye on her all the time she is in her ball and then if the dog does anything more than sniff at her then you can be quick to intervene. But just be careful they don't knock the ball about

[rokchick03]

Oooo, thanks for all of that useful information.

Will definitely put what you said to use.

[Kristin]

Snap on the name!!
My hamster is called Harley too and he's a little sweetheart ^_^
Very cute girly xx