Male Syrian 195g and 7" at 11 weeks

[Viscount von Sausagerolls]

Hello community

My Syrian is 11 weeks old and already weighs 195g and is around 7 inches long. Is this a relatively normal size and weight for a hamster of only 11 weeks?

I only purchased him two days ago, so I haven't been able to track his weight over a period of time yet, and the pet store had no such information. I will however weigh him weekly going forward.

- By warrant under hand and seal of Viscount von Sausagerolls

[DrKMcK]

What a terrific username! I would love to see a photo of your hamster. That's an impressive weight for a young hamster. Where are you? Here in the USA I rarely see a hamster that big so young. However, if you are in the uk that isn't too unusual. One of our members, Bec, has Neptune, a really big boy over 300g.
Welcome to the forum!

[Viscount von Sausagerolls]

Thanks, I'll try and get a photo soon I just don't want to invade him too much to get a good photo, since he's probably already stressed from being moved about, cleaned out, and measured, etc, and his cage conceals him well. I am over in the UK, though he's my third hamster - first in about 15 years - and he just seems so much larger and more powerful than the other two I have owned, and they were fully grown.

[virtualkeith]

just out of curiosity, how do you weigh your hamster?

[Shannonmcn]

That's a great size! My girl is just a bit heavier (she topped out at 220g but she's lost a bit since a cage change) and she's a run of the mill pet shop rescue so it's not totally weird to see a nice chunky ham outside a breeder Almost 3 months would be fairly close to adulthood I would say. I assume you've made sure it's "good" weight, like no obvious rolls of chub or problems running about. And yeah, definitely take a look at Neptunes thread, he's a gorgeous big fluff ball :3

Virtualkeith, I just use kitchen scales and a carrier to keep them contained.

[DrKMcK]

Originally Posted by virtualkeith

just out of curiosity, how do you weigh your hamster?

I bought a flat scale for mail but my squirmy fluffs wouldn't stay on it! So I ordered the one below and it's great! It's made by salter and I got it on Amazon.

[Viscount von Sausagerolls]

Originally Posted by virtualkeith

just out of curiosity, how do you weigh your hamster?

I zeroed his sand bath on a flat scale and then placed him inside. This way he doesn't jump off straight away - he loves his sand. On a side note, he also seems to have become poop 'trained', which I didn't know hamsters could become. He seems to exclusively poop in his sand. When I first bought him I would see him poop everywhere - except for his bed, where he would place each poop pellet at the entrance to his hide. But I spot-cleaned and put his sand bath in his cage yesterday and I can't see any poop outside his sand bath. I'll probably have to wait and see if he continues though.

Shannonmcn, he seems fine to me, no mobility issues, and he seems to have a healthy form. He can pull his weight up too, which is surely a good sign
He doesn't seem to be over-eating, although he quickly nabbed the peanuts from his mix (which I will be changing to Burgess Supa Hamster Harvest). He half-ate one, and left the rest however. At the pet shop he didn't get any peanuts, they just used some cheap generic mix which I can't even get, so hopefully he doesn't become fussy about a new mix. He's active and is getting/will get plenty of exercise. I had him out today in a large DIY play pen and he was running about and playing for an hour.

[Thin Lizzy]

What a big hammy you have.
I use the type of scales that DrK uses, I have one for my hams and a separate one for kitchen.

[Pebbles82]

Love the username. Join the extra large hammy club! Our Syrian is 220g and 7 to 8" long. He also grew big in the first 2 or 3 weeks we had him and was probably 6 to 8 weeks old when we got him. He was also just a pet-shop hammy. I remember going back to the petshop and saying "he has grown huge! Are hamsters supposed to be this big?!" We had a totally unsuitablke cage at the start - a 3 tier rotostak with lots of tubes. After we had him 3 weeks he was getting stuck in vertical tubes and I got a large cage here within two days after googling to find out more about hammy needs - most of the info came from this site.

Not sure what cage you have but I would recommend as enormous a cage as you can possibly manage, because what I have found about owning a large syrian is you need extra large wheels, houses, hidey places and so on, which fill up an 80 x 50 cage rather too much. Ours currently has a 12" Wobust wheel and a guinea pig sized house.

You mentioned he might be stressed out with a cage clean and you'd only had him a couple of days? Just wanted to pass on some tips I picked up. Don't clean for the first couple of weeks until he is settled in - if he is using a toilet (or sand bath as a toilet) you shouldn't need to really - if you put a potty tray with sand or potty litter in his chosen wee corner he will probably just use it. Here's a video on cage cleaning do's and dont's I found incredibly helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww

[Viscount von Sausagerolls]

At the moment he is in a temporary bin cage, as the cage he came in and had been living in at the pet shop was tiny. 40 x 30 x 30 at best. I tried to put an old rotastak tube in for him but he got stuck and required some help reversing out of it. He has no wheel currently, as he came with an inappropriate wheel (a tiny 5.7" one ) and I didn't already have one, so I'm trying to give him as much playtime as possible. He should be getting a 12" as soon as his new cage arrives. I've also read that it may be a good idea to buy toys designed for rats too.

The cage he is getting is 120 x 58 x 40. I might have to do some DIY modifications on it though. I'm thinking that I may need some mesh because of the bar spacing being designed for larger rodents (2 cm). It has good reviews and seems large enough - though no word on its use as a hamster cage. He is the size of a small guinea pig, so hopefully it will be fine. I could always DIY some extensions though, and his DIY playpen in 150 x 150 - so he should get plenty of exercise.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pawhut-Rabbi...uinea+pig+cage

When I got him, his cage was filthy. Poop was everywhere and there was a large damp corner which was a mix of urine, stale water, soggy food mix, and wood shavings. He also had cotton fluff for bedding material, which he simply pushed aside and slept in a corner. So, I was compelled to clean him out. I did keep some of his wood shavings though and mixed them back in with the fresh shavings. I gave him shredded toilet roll to nest with - which he actually uses.