Whether you clicked on this video because you’re getting a hamster for the first time
or maybe you already own a hamster or had hamsters in the past
I hope this video is able to help you either learn or improve your hamster’s care!
First up you're going to need a cage
Hamsters may be small but in the wild,
they can travel up to 5 miles every single night
doing all sorts of things like foraging, looking for nesting materials, burrowing and so much more
So that's why it's important we have a large hamster cage
because the larger the cage the more enrichment that you're able to fit in it
and the more enrichment you can provide your hamster with
the happier the hamster
it's even been shown in studies that smaller hamster cages can cause stress-inducing behaviours
I personally recommend aiming for something
800 SQ inches of floorspace or larger
Unfortunately, this can be a challenge finding in a pet store
as the majority of pet stores only carry really small, colorful enclosures.
but it isn't impossible to find something that works
many hamster owners may choose large aquariums
or even look to making their own enclosures from pre-existing furniture
I also have a video that goes over a lot of the suitable hamster cage options out there for you to get
Remember your hamster's cage is essentially their entire world
and they do not get to choose when they can come or go
You’ll want to place your hamster’s enclosure somewhere where their usually
is the lowest amount of traffic
As well as you want to keep it out of direct sunlight
unless of course, you have curtains, in which you can close
As well as you want to keep their enclosure out of any direct drafts
you're also going to need bedding for your enclosure
Bedding is very important,
as hamster’s are ground dwellers
and would spend a majority of their time in their burrows
which can go as deep as 31 inches (80cm)
these burrows would have multiple chambers with things such as their nest,
food storage, and even one for their bathroom
I wouldn’t recommend anything less than 6” (15cm)
but 10” (25.4cm) is much more preferred
so that it allows them to not just dig but actually create tunnels
it’s even been studied that hamsters showed
less stress behaviours when they were given around 16 inches (40cm) of bedding.
When choosing a substrate there’s a couple of things we need to look out for,
One- a material that is going to hold a proper burrow
and two- a material that is safe
because unfortunately, there are quite a few unsafe types of beddings out there.
Unsafe beddings include
pine shavings
cedar shavings
and any type of scented bedding
as these can all cause upper respiratory infections
Safe options include
any paper-based bedding
hemp shavings
aspen shavings
birch shavings
as well as spruce shavings.
Some beddings are better for burrowing than others,
or example, hemp, big aspen flakes and carefresh
often may not hold tunnels as well as others and can collapse when the hamster is trying to make a burrow
which can then discourage the hamster from trying to burrow
To help improve the stability of the bedding
you can actually layer in soft hay, like orchard grass.
Materials like ripped up toilet paper,
shredded newspaper,
paper pellets
or wood pellets
do not make good substrates for hamsters
as these do not allow a hamster to properly burrows.
Nesting can be added for the hamster to collect and bring back to their nest
but this has to be a safe material.
you're going to want to avoid any sort of cotton
which is commonly sold in the pet store
this is unsafe because of its long-stranded fibres
that can wrap around any sort of limbs and cut off circulation,
it can also get wrapped around teeth
and if accidentally swallowed can cause blockages which can lead to death.
Fabrics should also be avoided for this reason as well.
But non-scented toilet paper can make a great nesting material
as this is easily rippable as well as if they accidentally
ingest any it's not going to cause a blockage
Now your hamster is going to need a wheel inside of their enclosure
the hamster’s natural behaviour to forage causes them to have the urge to travel
which is why hamster wheels are a necessity to every cage
BUT they do not replace a large enclosure.
It’s really important we pick the proper size and type for our hamster.
A hamsters wheel needs to be completely solid,
as wire and mesh wheels can easily injure a hamster
either by getting toes or legs caught or can cause infections on the foot.
There are several safe options such as
Silent runners,
silent spinners,
Wodent wheels,
the NiteAngel wheels
as well as cork and wooden wheels
though keep in mind wooden wheels like this one
and wooden wheels with rungs like this can easily injure hamster feet.
Size is very important
as a wheel too small over time can cause permanent back pain
and will prevent them from properly using the wheel.
A hamster’s back should be completely straight when running
so It’s recommended that a Syrian and Chinese hamster
have a 10-12” wheel
and dwarfs should have no smaller than an 8” wheel.
There is no such thing as too large of a wheel
as long as the hamster can spin it
and in fact the larger the wheel the more control the hamster has
and it prevents them from flying out of the wheel.
There even was a study that showed hamsters had a clear preference for the larger wheels.
Flying saucers are another type of wheel you may have heard of
but I do not recommend them over a regular styled wheel,
this is because of the angle saucers sit at which causes the hamster to curve inwards when running
which then puts stress on the spine.
A flying saucer is also more likely to throw the hamster off the wheel
when they try to stop or slip which can injure the hamster.
The hamster ball is an accessory many people opt to use
to give their hamsters more exercise
but unfortunately, this is a dangerous accessory.
and there's quite a few reasons why,
they cannot properly control the ball,
which can cause them to run into objects which can cause them trauma and injuries.
The lack of ventilation,
as you may know when we start to exercise we start to breathe more deeply
and we need as much fresh air as we can get.
but when you are trapped in a plastic object that does not have a lot of great ventilation
this is going to be much harder and can put a strain on our breathing.
The ventilation slits are also just large enough for a small hamsters foot or toe to get caught
and this has happened to so many hamsters and have resulted in serious injuries.
And lastly, the hamster ball just isn't a proper source of enrichment for a hamster,
the plastic walls prevent the hamster from using its main senses like
hearing,
it's sense of smell
as well as their whiskers.
Instead, use a safe option like a playpen
or even a dry bathtub can work.
When setting up your hamster’s enclosure there are many things you’re going to want to include for proper enrichment,
an enclosure with no enrichment can often be just as bad as a small enclosure.
I have an entire video on how to offer hamster enrichment
as well as many different cage setups for ideas.
of course, you're going to need food to feed your hamster.
Diet is an important aspect of any pets care.
Hamsters are omnivores and in the wild they would eat a variety of
different herbs,
vegetables,
seeds,
grains,
insects
and sometimes even small mammals.
Therefore it’s important that we provide them a varied diet!
Often commercial hamster food is quite boring
and either lacks variety
or even lacks proper nutrition for a hamster.
Many will recommend just feeding your hamster a pelleted diet
to prevent a picky eater
but this is not a suitable diet and is not varied at all
Here is a quick comparison of a seed mix that is considered to have low variety
and a seed mix that is considered high variety.
Now its important to recognize we don't all live in the areas
and don't have access to all of the same supplies.
Diet is often a very debated topic,
therefore I would highly recommend you guys to go read
“TheHamingWay’s” guide to choosing an appropriate hamster food mix
which will help you understand hamster diets more
and also has a full database of hamster foods to help you select the best one you can obtain.
A great tip to include when feeding things like fruits and vegetables or other soft foods
is to cut them up into really small bits,
as you may know hamsters are hoarders
so if you're giving them a large chunk of vegetable this does have a chance to mold
but if you chop it up into tiny tiny little bits
this actually will cause the vegetable to rather dry out than to mold
water is a necessity!!!
unfortunately, a myth i have heard is that hamsters don't need a water source
and can just be fed fruits,
Hamsters need a fresh water source all the time
This can be served in either a water bowl or a water bottle.
Both of these options are safe
as long as you are washing them out and replenishing fresh water every single day
cage cleaning
A long time ago it was common to see people cleaning out their hamster’s cage every single week
but we have since have learned that cleaning out a hamsters cage every single week is not only
unnecessary but stressful to the hamster.
It's very likely people had to clean their hamster's cage every single week due to the size
of course a smaller enclosure is going to get soiled faster than a larger one
and we now know that hamsters need large enclosures, so this changes how we clean their cages
Hamsters are clean animals,
and they often will pick a couple of different to consistently pee in
Hamsters are also VERY scent orientated
in fact syrian hamsters have two scent glands on each side of their hips
and dwarfs have one scent gland located on their belly
and they use these to mark their territory!
A study done shows us that a complete cage clean causes
a hamster’s heart beat to increase by 150 beats per minute
and takes them 50 minutes to calm back down.
So when using large enclosures in reality
we only have to completely clean them out if the hamster has some sort of illness
or the hamster has passed.
instead we spot clean!
This means any areas that have been peed in,
this usually is pretty easy to spot
as the bedding will be darker in color
and of course, use your nose!
If you need to clean out more try removing 1/3rd of the bedding every couple of weeks,
this way it keeps the stress levels down and you eventually get a completely clean cage
What about poop?
well actually poop isn’t much of a concern when it comes to hamsters,
of course, if there’s an area that has a huge pile feel free to remove it
but hamster poop is odourless and dry to humans
but to a hamster, they often use their poops for marking and orientation.
What about a hamster’s burrows?
Now every hamster is going to be different when it comes to this,
some hamsters will actually will be nice
and they will bring their soiled bedding to the top of their burrows for you to remove,
others may not, some hamsters will pee where they sleep,
and that is not healthy because obviously urine can cause urine scalding.
And that's not good
so you may have to ruin their burrows to remove that.
grooming
Hamsters typically do not need to be groomed,
on occasion a long-haired Syrian hamster may need you to brush out their fur
because sometimes they can get bedding tangled in it
or you may need to give it a trim if you notice any mats in their fur.
A hamster should not be bathed in water for a couple of reasons,
it’s damaging to their coats because they do produce an oil
that keeps their coats nice and over washing them can cause their fur to overproduce those oils.
It’s stressful to the hamster as a hamster naturally wouldn’t go in water
nor would they swim unless absolutely necessary
You also risk putting your hamster into shock if they are not properly dried off.
so instead of a water bath, we provide our hamsters with a sand bath!
Sand helps a hamster to properly remove any excess oils that have built up, safely
all healthy hamsters need a sand bath.
Some may tend to roll in the sand
while others may dig in it or even pee in it but I find that just makes spot cleaning way easier
When providing a sand bath you need to avoid any Dust or Powder
these can easily cause upper respiratory infections,
instead, we need to us a safe sand.
This may depend on where you live, some countries have appropriate chinchilla sand
that they can use
but in other countries like North America, our chinchilla sand is too dusty to use.
Instead, a safe option is soft children’s play sand as long as you sift through and bake it
or reptile sand that has no calcium or dyes added.
Do not use bird sand or cat litter as these can be harmful to your hamster.
Hamster nails usually stay trim on their own, especially if you are providing different textures in their enclosure,
but on occasion, some hamsters nails may just grow
faster than others and they may need to be clipped.
If they are too long and you don't clip the nails
these can actually curl into the paw causing a lot of pain and infection
Hamster teeth are another thing that is constantly growing
which is why you need to have natural materials in their enclosure
to help keep their teeth worn down as well as hard foods in their diet,
Healthy hamster teeth should also be yellow/orange in color,
and in fact, white teeth can indicate either stress or poor nutrition.
some hamsters have teeth that grow faster than others, and in this case,
you should not clip them yourself.
You need to see your local exotic vet who can then trim them for you.
Social or alone?
Hamsters unlike the majority of animals actually are solitary.
Syrians and Chinese hamsters in particular are solitary in the wild,
and while some dwarfs in the wild may be social they still should not be housed together in captivity.
This is because it really isn’t natural.
A dwarf in the wild would live with another for two reasons:
reproduction
and safety.
When in captivity neither of these reasons necessary,
and because we should not house a male and female hamster together due to reproduction
a dwarf hamster would not naturally live with a group of the same sex.
Hamsters don't receive anything out of it like actual social animals do
and it doesn't matter if they are siblings or have grown up together
that still does not mean there isn't a chance they won't end up fighting.
Human interaction
because hamsters have not been domesticated for long
many will often not be used to human interaction when you get them,
and many may be fearful or even bite.
Hamsters often will need to be tamed and this can take days, weeks, months to sometimes even years.
and oftentimes there's many hamsters who prefer no human interaction at all
besides you just regularly feeding them, spot cleaning their enclosure.
Keep in mind hamsters are nocturnal/crepuscular
so they may not be awake when you are,
and this means you should not be waking your hamster up during the day to play with them
because it simply just isn't nice.
health
Hamsters are prey animals so they can do a very good job at hiding when they are ill
which is why we need to pay close attention to any slight changes they make.
If you notice any of the following;
-sudden behaviour changes
-a large increase or decrease in weight
-discharge from the eyes, nose, ears or genitals
-diarrhea
-fur loss or extreme itching
-wheezing, sneezing, or laboured breathing
-bad smell from their mouth
-any lumps or bumps or bloating
-inactive
-not eating
-increase in drinking
-limping or falling over
If you notice your hamster doing any of these things please see your local exotic vet.
It's necessary to see an exotic vet because hamsters are considered to be exotic pets.
and a cat or dog vet will not properly treat a hamster
And that covers basic hamster care!
Many of these topics I only slighty touched on which is why I encourage you to continue to do in-depth research
Don’t let this be the only research you do!
So I hope you guys have found this video helpful and I will see you in my next one! bye!