I asked you guys on Instagram
to tell me some of the hamster myths you've heard before
and today I'm going to be debunking those
The first myth is that hamsters love climbing
now we have to remember that hamsters are individuals and some may enjoy climbing more than others
but we also have to keep in mind that hamsters were not designed climbers
if we take a look at how hamsters live in the wild we will know that they are ground dwellers
and that they live underneath the ground in their burrows
they were not structurally designed to be good climbers we know this by just taking a look at them
you'll see that itty bitty stubby little tail that is
quite frankly useless
if it was longer like a rat or mouse's tail then they'd likely be much better climbers
the dwarf hamster for example even has fuzzy coated feet this does not allow them to grip things very easily
and can actually make climbing things a lot harder
just taking a look at where hamsters originate from as well like the syrian hamster
who would be commonly found in the wheat fields in Syria
or the Roborovski dwarf who would be found in Gobi desert
neither of these places require them to be great climbers
so this doesn't mean we shouldn't provide our hamsters with things to climb on at all but we need to be careful
with what we are providing in case they do accidentally fall because once again they are not amazing climbers
but you can provide them things like cork logs and grapevine wood that they can climb over easily and if they do accidentally
slip off they're not going to hurt themselves
the next myth is that hamsters bite the bars to shorten their teeth
this is a very commonly heard myth
so when you see a hamster biting at the bars in a frenzy
they are displaying a stress and boredom behaviour
because they are trying to chew themselves out of their enclosure because this is the only way they know how to get out
now yes hamster teeth are consistently growing but a hamster recognize this
this isn't something that crosses their mind
they don't wake up at night and go "oh my gosh I have to chew on these metal bars or else my teeth are gonna become overgrown"
that's not something that they process
the reason a hamster's teeth stay shortened is because of the day to day activities that they would do
for example when they're eating hard foods like seeds, grains and nuts
these will naturally shorten a hamster's teeth
or when a hamster is chewing on natural materials like wood that they can gather and then bring back to build their nest
this also keeps their teeth shortened.
When a hamster chews on the metal cage bars
that is not giving them anything in return
they are simply doing that behaviour because they are stressed and bored.
the smaller the hamster the smaller the cage needs to be
I definitely understand where people are coming from when they think
okay the smaller the animal the less space they're going to need
it's like if you gave an ant a house
that's going to be a very large space for an ant compared to a human because they're just physically two different sizes
but people are only thinking about the size of the animal and how they're able to move
they're not thinking about the enrichment that needs to be fit in the enclosure to keep the animal happy
don't forget your enclosure is going to need to fit their wheel,
multiple different types of hideouts,
platforms, grapevine wood,
cork logs,
dig boxes with different substrates,
deep bedding,
other types of accessories
all of this takes up a lot of space so in order to fit this into the enclosure we need to have large enclosures.
The next myth is that hamsters attract mice and rats to your home
rats and mice could care less if you own a hamster in your home
and they certainly are not going to directly invade your home
simply because you have a hamster.
Rats and mice will though
invade your home because they recognize that it is a warm, protected, space
with an abundance of food and likely a lot of crumbs laying around.
the next myth is that hamsters can live by eating vegetables instead of water
while hamsters definitely drink a lot less water than say rabbits or dogs
this is mainly because of where they originate from.
They have to be able to survive climates that aren't always going to have access
to water 24/7.
but because hamsters are our pets in captivity this means that you are required to give them fresh daily water
every single day
hamsters are herbivores
this myth is really easy to debunk and all we have to do is take a look at what hamsters eat in the wild.
Hamsters would eat a variety of seeds, grains, nuts, plant matter and
insects!
This would make hamsters Omnivores
this next myth is just
chefs kiss
giving proteins turns them aggressive and carnivorous
I genuinely don't know where this myth has stemmed from
or who decided that that is what happens when a hamster
eats proteins.
Protein is part of a hamsters diet
just like protein is part of a dog and cats diet
which we feed them daily and they don't turn aggressive.
actually I in fact can show you an animal who is a true carnivore that isn't aggressive.
so as you can probably tell I am being absolutely malled by this aggressive carnivore
because she just eats meat
sooo yeah
they suffocate themselves when they burrow
many hamster owners may come to this conclusion because they've found their hamster passed away underneath the bedding in their nest
when your hamster likely just passed away
from an illness while they were sleeping
which would be underneath the bedding because that is- that's how they live
like we talked about earlier hamsters are ground dwellers,
if burrowing caused suffocation
the entire species would be extinct.
we also gotta look at the fact that bedding isn't airtight
when you go to scatter feed your hamster notice how those tiny little millet seeds fall all the way to the bottom of the enclosure,
that's because there are little pockets
that make it capable for something to go through that means it's not airtight.
now if you didn't have any ventilation in your enclosure and it was a sealed off hamster cage
then yes suffocation is very much possible because there's no air circulation
the next myth is that all hamsters smell
In reality, all animals including humans are going to have some sort of odour
that odour is going vary person to person or animal to animal
all hamsters are going to be different
the 3 current hamsters I own really don't smell at all
but I have had a hamster in the past who was absolutely stinky
so it completely just comes down to each and every hamster
hamsters can change sex
this is just physically not possible
hamsters are not an animal capable of doing this
there are other animals who actually are capable of changing their sex
but hamsters are not one of them
what usually happens is somebody goes into the pet store and they want a pair of hamsters
they think they're getting 2 females or 2 males
but the pet store, unfortunately, miss sexed them and they end up with a male and female
unknowingly and then one hamster has babies
which then instead of blaming the petstore
they assume that their hamster magically switched sex
that they are meant for children and not adults
I hate this myth so much
and it sucks because hamsters are often looked down upon as a pet
for an adult to own because they're "childish"
when there's nothing about a hamster that makes them childish
the only childish things are when companies create these princess and racecar enclosures
that are completely inappropriate for a hamster to even live in
and in all honestly, they're not great pets for children, they are much better suited for adults.
hamsters can see in the dark
I definitely get where people are coming from with this one because hamsters are-
hamsters are nocturnal/crepuscular animals
so one would assume that because they're awake during dark hours
that they're going to be able to see better in the dark.
Hamsters actually have terrible eyesight in general
they are nearsighted they see about 6 inches in front of their face
the rest of the world completely blurry to them
This is why your hamster relies on it's other senses like its whiskers, sense of hearing and sense of smell
though, hamsters do have more rods in their eyes than humans
they are a lot more light-sensitive
so they definitely can see better in dim lighting than they can in bright daylight
hamsters with red eyes are evil!
the color red has a really bad wrap and we associate it was negative things and evil demonic things
but hamsters with red eyes simply are just hamsters that lack pigment
basically, the eyes are transparent and the redness you're seeing is the blood vessels in the eyes
hamsters can vomit
Hamsters cannot physically vomit their bodies are just not built to do so.
and usually what most owners are confusing as vomit is actually a hamster unpouching their cheek pouches.
which is separate from their digestive system
these are their cheeks that have little pockets in them that keep food safe and dry
so that they're able to bring a lot of it back to their nest.
it's actually been found that most rodents like squirrels, mice, rats, gophers and beavers
cannot physically throw up
they've done studies on this and researchers have concluded that
their brains just don't have the neurological circuits to allow them to throw up
When a hamster bites you, you get rabies"
I've had a lot of worried commentors before about their hamster biting them and if they're going to get rabies because of it
the simple answer is
no.
In order for your hamster to get rabies, they would have had to come in direct contact
with another animal that is carrying the viral disease.
and usually they have to be bitten which
if your hamster gets bit by another animal they likely are not going to survive
The CDC also does mention that small rodents like squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rats and mice
are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.
The next myth is that hamsters are vicious and violent creatures
Unfortunately, hamsters get such a bad wrap as for being a vicious and aggressive pet to own.
hamsters are prey animals
the only defence mechanism they literally have to protect themselves is pretty much biting
or screaming sometimes helps defend themselves
usually not
hamsters haven't been domesticated nearly as long as dogs and cats have been.
A majority of hamsters also come from terribly unethical rodent mills
When you are born into abuse and neglect
do you expect an animal to be friendly and kind and want to love on you?
no
So when people say hamsters are vicious and aggressive
they just don't understand the animal
and the last myth is that hamsters are breeds
when in fact hamsters are actually species!
when we think of the pets we own in captivity like dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs all of these pets
have different breed groups
so one would assume that hamsters are just different breeds as well right?
breed groups are created by humans by selectively breeding certain traits
so when we take a look at a pug and we take a look at a labrador
These are just two different breeds of dogs that have been selectively bred to be the way they look
Different hamster species were not created by humans they were created by nature
This is why it's also not possible for hamsters to interbreed with each other because they're not different breeds they are different species
though there have been many people who are convinced that they are able to create
these hybrid animals like "dwarf Syrians" or a "Chinese robo"
when in fact this is not possible at all.
the only exception to this is the winter white dwarf and the Campbells dwarf
who are capable of interbreeding with each other creating the hybrid dwarf hamster
and this is because they are so closely related
as well as they do have a similar number of chromosomes.
if you are interested in learning more about hybrid dwarfs
I talk a lot more about them in my history of hamsters video
those are all of the myths I'm going to be debunking today
let me know in the comments what other hamster myths you've heard before
so I'll see you guys in my next video
bye!
hey bud
bud
bud we can't do this
no
Meow
no we can't do this
Purrrr
*cough*
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