so when you bring your hamster home for the first time you may not know what to
expect with bringing them home or you might not know what to do next once you
bring them home so that's what we're gonna talk about in today's video so
when you're bringing your hamster home for the very first time one of the
things I actually would recommend is bringing a plastic carrier instead of
just using the cardboard box that they give you when you bring your hamster
home a lot of hamsters are known to actually end up chewing out of these and
that's not good because your hamster can end up in a small space in your car
under the seat and it's just going to be a very stressful situation so using a
plastic carrier can definitely save you some stress another thing is make
getting the hamster your last stop don't go to a bunch of stores after you pick
up your hamster because you want to get them at home as soon as possible you
don't want to have them sitting in a carrier for hours and hours while you're
doing shopping or anything like that so when you arrive home the very first
thing you're gonna want to do is put your hamster in their new enclosure so
you need to make sure before you get your hamster their enclosure is all set
up this just makes the time shorter for them to have to wait just like you
shouldn't stop at a bunch of stores after you pick up your hamster you
basically just want to get them into the enclosure as fast as possible from when
you pick them up to when you get them home and if you have to set up their
cage they might have to sit in the travel carrier for a longer amount of
time which it can be stressful for them because it's a completely new
environment for them when you're putting your hamster into their new enclosure
I would suggest letting them crawl out on their own or if you need to take
something and scoop them out and kind of let them crawl out into their cage
instead of trying to stick your hand in there and get them out and stressing
them out more now the next thing is going to be one of the hardest things
for a new hamster owner to do and that is leave your hamster alone without any
human interaction for two to three days this just minimizes any extra
stress your hamster is going to be feeling keep in mind they just came all
the way from a place that was familiar to them to a brand new
home where they have to get used to the sounds the smells and everything else
that goes around in your house so it can be very stressful they don't understand
what's going on so if someone is coming in as soon as they get to their new
enclosure and they're trying to pick them up and like tame them and things it
can be terrifying and stressful and stress leads to a lowered immune system
which then makes sicknesses and illnesses very very easy to infect your
hamster now during the 2 to 3 day period of no human interaction yes you
can still change out their food and water if absolutely necessary just
trying to do it when they are sleeping rather than when they're awake that way
they're not going to get scared when your hand goes in to change anything it
also is okay to sit by the enclosure and watch them or quietly talk to them or
even just do some work near their enclosure so that they kind of get a
little bit used to the movement around the cage as well as your voice once that
2 to 3 days is up you can then choose to start the taming process which I have
done a couple of videos on if you would like you actually can leave your hamster
go a little bit longer if necessary some hamsters may need more time to adjust to
your home because sometimes two to three days just isn't long enough so if they
need a little bit more time of getting adjusted to your environment then that
is okay please keep in mind that some hamsters are absolutely petrified of
humans due to the fact that a lot of hamsters are born in rodent mills which
is basically a large factory that breeds hamsters with no care of their health or
their temperament so if you get a hamster and anytime you enter the room
or you try to go into their cage they hiss they bare their teeth or they even
scream at you this doesn't mean they hate you it just means they're terrified
and understand that they're just a small little prey animal and you're this giant
thing to them it's like if an alien came down who was ten times bigger than us
we don't speak the same language so if an alien starts to try and pet me I'm outta
there I'm probably gonna bite them like I I don't want you touching me I don't
know who you are so it just takes some time for them to adjust and kind of
figure out hey this thing isn't going to hurt me another thing is a hamster
acting frantic in a new enclosure is a common behavior keep in mind they just
went from a familiar place to a place they've never been so if they are kind
of acting a little bit crazy and seem a little bit stressed they probably are
also keep in mind that monkey barring and bar chewing are also signs of stress
from a too-small of a cage so if those symptoms last more than two to three
days it is recommended that you upgrade your cage a tip I have for new hamster
owners is to just simply not worry there are a lot of hamster owners who you get
your new hamster and you've never had one before and I definitely know how it
feels to feel like something is going wrong and you don't know like is this
behavior normal they could just be like grooming themselves and you're like
are they okay are they dying so try not to worry too much about your new
hamster as long as they're eating drinking or active they are going to be
fine you also most likely will not be able to
see your hamster drinking any water within the first couple of days
that's because hamsters once again are prey animals and they might just not
feel comfortable around you to come out and drink in front of you so if you
don't see your hamster drinking it doesn't necessarily mean they're not
drinking at all hamsters also are desert animals so they don't need to drink too
much water but they of course still need water they're mammals but they're
probably coming out when you're sleeping or you're just not around to see them
drink as long as your hamster has access to a working water bottle or a water
dish they will find water when they are thirsty
another thing is pouching bedding the amount of people who have said oh my
gosh my hamster is eating its bedding what do I do
Keep Calm your hamsters not eating its bedding your hamster has two cheek
pouches on each side of its cheek these are great for storing things like
nesting and food so that they can bring back to
their nest so when your hamster starts sticking bedding in its mouth doesn't
mean it's eating it it means they're taking it back to their nest so they can
make a nice big comfy bed you might also not see your hamster as
often because as you may already know hamsters are nocturnal / crepuscular so
this means they're most active during the night so when you're sleeping
they're most likely going to be coming out some hamsters will wait until you've
turned off the light and have gone to bed to literally come out some are just
too scared to come out when that light is on because they just don't feel safe
enough yet so if you're not seeing your hamster it's probably because they're
coming out when you're sleeping so I really hope this video is able to help
anybody who is going to be bringing home a new hamster don't forget the most
important thing is just give your hamster time to adjust and settle in and
it is okay to make a bit of noise in your home your home doesn't have to be
dead silent they will eventually adjust to what your household sounds like if
there's a radio constantly playing it's not going to stress them out too much
they will eventually get used to things like that so don't worry too much about
your new hamster they most likely will be okay
so ya guys thank you so much for watching bye