Hello and some ?s

umleila · 10-28-2009, 11:40 AM

Hi We are the proud owners of a dark eared white Syrian hamster. I would really appreciate some help with various things. I wasn't sure which area to post in, so please lmk if this needs to be moved elsewhere

I bought the hamster for my daughter. We initially got two dwarf hamsters which we thought were male but one got pregnant lol! so they both went back to the shop. We opted instead for a male Syrian which my 3yr old daughter has insisted on naming Berta Bucket becase she really wanted a girl! We live in Saudi Arabia and the pet shops and supplies are not very good here.

We moved the Syrian from the cage we got with the dwarfs into a quite large bin cage that we made, but unfortunately can only get hold of a wheel that is suitable for a dwarf. I have ordered a bigger wheel from the UK,but that will take a while to get here. My first question is...Is it better to take the smaller wheel out and have no wheel at all or to carry on letting Berta use it? I think she is quite young but her back looks bent and I am worried that it might be causing her some discomfort.

My next question is about bedding. The only bedding supply here is sawdust. I don't know which kind it is and it seems very dusty. Would it be preferable to stick with that sawdust or could I use hay. I did try the hay for a few days but it seemed very hard and Berta didn't seem to like walking on it.

Sorry this is so long. I actually have more questions but will hold off for now.

Thanks in advance for any help

souffle · 10-28-2009, 12:11 PM

Hello and welcome.
I think if she is struggling with the wheel then it may be best out. If she is just a youngster and the wheel is 61/2 in or so then it is likely it will do for a couple of weeks until her new one arrives. If you can provide lots of other toys like boxes and tubes then the wheel is no vital though we feel ours really enjoy them.
I think the sawdust is your best bet unless you can get some of the paper based bedding like Carefresh or maybe visit an equine suppier (I think you have a lot of horses there!) and get something like megazorb, aubiose or wood shavings. Even the cardboard squares are popular for horses.
Hay can be tricky as it can harbour mites and also can jab the pouches if they eat it.
Feel free to ask your questions :0

Bunsey · 10-28-2009, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by souffle

Hay can be tricky as it can harbour mites

yep, i can confirm that. We had awful outbreaks of mites with out guinea pigs, on more than one occassion.

umleila · 10-28-2009, 09:24 PM

Thanks so much for the replies and welcome

I have to refer tp my male as she/her becuse oherwise I get confused when taking to my daughter

She, Berta. seems to be taking to it well and so far has not voiced any objection to being referred to as a girl.

I do have other toys in her cage such as tubes and other homemade cardboard stuff. I think the wheel wil have to go. It just looks so small. We also have a huge carboard box that is a sor of play area for her, but all she wants to do when she is in it is escape. Is this normal.She only really seems settled in her cage.

She goes in the bath daily with my daughter in our attempts to tame her but she also just tries to escape the whole time. She now lets us stroke her and feed her, but she never steps into our hands and does not like being picked up at all and always jumps. Will this change with time, or is it just her personality?

Finall, I think we will stick to the sawdust for now until I do fine some other bedding. She also has quite a lot of toilet paper so I am hoping it will be ok.

Sorry for writing another essay

and thanks again for your help

souffle · 10-29-2009, 03:59 AM

She will soon get used to being picked up if you keep at it and hold her a lot.
She is typical of a youngster and the other side of the fence is always more interesting! Ours never stay in pens or boxes. What they like best is a large bed with the pillows and covers making lumps and tunnels to explore or finding a room like a hall that is safe to let them run around in. They also like stair climbing and sofa scrambling. Hamster don't really play as such I'd say. They more want to investigate and sniff everything. climbing and digging to see what interesting thing they can find next

umleila · 10-29-2009, 10:58 AM

Thanks for that

We also have a hamster ball on the way so am hoping that will help with the taming process.

umleila · 11-01-2009, 03:55 AM

Hi, I'm back with a few more questions. I've added pics this time ( I hope they are the right size. I have tried to resize them and they still look big)

First, here is a pic of the wheel that I have now taken out of the cage. It is teeny and after seeing pics of hamsters in other wheel, I think it was the right thing to do. On photobucket the whole wheel shows up, for some reason I am only seeing half here

She has also now outgrown that house, but we have a new one otw.

The next pics are in her new bin cage. Are these toys enough for what could be up to 2 weeks without a wheel? We can't can't buy stuff here, so it is all DIY, thanks to your lovely diy forum mainly

I wish I had seen one of the links before that said not to put the wiring too low in the bin cage, but saw that one too late and now have to clean up spilled sawdust!

Also that is a pic I have taken of Berta today. We got her on the 7th of October, but have absolutely no idea of her age. Could anyone hazard a guess? She now cannot fit into a standard toilet roll, her head and tail stick out. She could when we first got her (him).

Last question for now

Berta seems to be very swollen from behind. I have never had a hamster before so don't know if this is normal for a male one. I tried to take a pic, but my batteries went flat as I did. I would appreciate anyone letting me know.

Thanks in adavance for any help

souffle · 11-01-2009, 12:09 PM

Awww Berta is so sweet

The bin cage looks fab. You are very creative. Looks like there is plenty do do in there and yes the wheel looks tiny.
Males do have quite large testicles which become more obvious when they are warm. They can look like the have bumps sticking out but this is normal.
If you look on the WIKI there are some pics of mature males there.
From your description of size and the fact he is still growing I would say he between 12 and 20 weeks probably the lower side of this range. He does not have the very baby face of a 6 - 8 week old.
I would come clean with your daughter and tell her he is a boy.
I once told my daughter she had a girl as that was what she wanted but it was a male.
Years later when she became really keen on hamsters and was breeding and showing herself she asked me if Lucy was a boy and I told her yes. She was kind of annoyed I had not told her.

umleila · 11-02-2009, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by souffle

Awww Berta is so sweet

The bin cage looks fab. You are very creative. Looks like there is plenty do do in there and yes the wheel looks tiny.
Males do have quite large testicles which become more obvious when they are warm. They can look like the have bumps sticking out but this is normal.
If you look on the WIKI there are some pics of mature males there.
From your description of size and the fact he is still growing I would say he between 12 and 20 weeks probably the lower side of this range. He does not have the very baby face of a 6 - 8 week old.
I would come clean with your daughter and tell her he is a boy.
I once told my daughter she had a girl as that was what she wanted but it was a male.
Years later when she became really keen on hamsters and was breeding and showing herself she asked me if Lucy was a boy and I told her yes. She was kind of annoyed I had not told her.

Yes, Berta is a sweetheart. I am growing very attached. Thanks for the comliments about the cage also. Have to say, I got most of the ideas from this forum or links out of it in people's siggies so thanks to you too

So, I took the wheel out last night and Berta firstly went a little crazy in her cage and then finally made an escape. Until now we have not had the top on the bin cage. Thankfully the breakout occured while we were all awake and my husband caught her. I have decided to put the wheel back in and am hoping she won't have to use it for too long. I have also had to put the lid on the bin cage even though I have now moved the water bottle lower and she can't figure another way to get out...yet!

Thanks for the info about Berta's nether regions also. The wiki pics were very helpful.

Finally, My daughter does know that Berta is male.She just would have prefered a girl and therefore has decided that Berta IS a girl! I don't like lying to her about anything. She is just a very imaginative little girl and likes to make stuff up. I suppose Berta is included in that.