Premier Pet Products
Dwarf hamster?
I might be getting one soon I have a lot of questions.
Does the noise they make bother you a lot?
I'm getting everything from petco so are these products ok for a little one:
Premier Pet Easy Comfort Sifted Softwood Bedding
$6.99
SuperPet CritterTrail Pink For Hamsters, Gerbils & Pet Mice
$26.99
Supreme Pet Food Harry Hamster Food
$4.47
Universal Water Bottle
$2.97
Super Pet Mini Run-about Ball
$3.59
Super Pet Nature's Nook Houses for Small Animals
$4.94
__________
Total – 51.86
plus tax – 11.57
Every thing - 63.43
Good, bad? Anything I should add.
Ohh and give me ANY care tips you can think of, please!
My parents want me just to have one, is this ok?
Things You’ll Need:
hamster exercise ball
pine shavings or recycled paper bedding
hamster food
hamster exercise wheel
disinfectant
fresh fruit
wire cage, heavy-duty plastic rodent cage or aquarium with screen lid
small water bottle for rodents
fresh vegetables
Positives
Dwarf hamsters are cute in appearance. They do not have long bare tails and may be more acceptable to some people because of this. They retain the hamster "cheek stuffing" behavior. Their sociability removes most of the drawbacks of Syrian/Golden hamsters, while retaining their advantages. They are also one of the smallest rodents kept as a pet. This allows slightly less frequent changing of cages and/or more animals in a given space.
Negatives
There is not a lot of information available on dwarfs so you will have to cope with problems on your own. Also, there seems to be a fairly wide variation in temperament, probably because of the short period the animals have been kept as pets. There are also a limited amount of colors available with most animals being in their naturally occuring coats.
Special Care
Little special care is needed, owners of breeding pairs should be on the watch for females abusing their mates.
How long do hamsters live for??
This is the sad part, hamsters by and large have very short life spans, 3 years is about the maximum for hamsters but most of them expire at 2 years of age.
Step 1:
Look for the right hamster to buy. An ideal hamster is between 4 and 7 weeks old; hamsters are easier to tame when they're young. There are two types of hamster: the golden hamster and the Siberian or dwarf hamster. The golden hamster is available in a variety of colors and fur variations, while the smaller dwarf hamster comes in only a few colors. However, the big difference between the two is that dwarf hamsters do not tame well, while golden hamsters can become gentle, reliable pets.
Step 2:
When you bring home your hamster and supplies, place the cage in a location away from drafts, and out of direct sunlight. Pick a spot in the house where you will frequently visit your hamster.
Step 3:
Cover the cage floor with a 2 inch layer of bedding. Pine wood shavings are best, because they are absorbent and nontoxic.
Step 4:
Keep a filled, clean water bottle attached to the cage at a height where the spout is reachable by the hamster, but doesn't touch the bedding. if the bedding gets wet it can rot and cause your hamster to get sick. Wash and refill daily.
Step 5:
Provide plenty of chew toys. Hamsters love the cardboard tubes found inside rolls of toilet paper and paper towels. Attach hamster wood chews to the side of the cage.
Step 6:
Make a box for your hamster to sleep in. Cut a 2-inch doorway into a small, closed cardboard box. Place the box in a far corner of the cage. The hamster will fill the box with bedding and chewed-up pieces of cardboard from the toilet paper tubes and will use the box as a bedroom. He will not urinate in the box, so you can use it for many months before replacing it.
Step 7:
Feed your hamster a commercially prepared hamster-food mix once or twice a day. Supply a small amount of fresh fruits and vegetables year-round. When you introduce new foods, initially feed small portions so his system can get used to them.
Step 8:
Exercise your hamster by putting an exercise wheel in her cage. Let her exercise outside her cage inside a specially designed plastic hamster ball, available at pet stores. Close the doors to your bedroom, take her out of his cage, and let her run around in the hamster ball.
Step 9:
Wash your hamster's cage at least once a week. Remove the hamster to a safe location and dip the cage in water that has a few drops of household disinfectant added to it. Wipe out any debris, dry the inside and add clean bedding before replacing the hamster.
Step 10:
Remove any uneaten fruits and vegetables after two days. Fresh foods that turn moldy can make your hamster sick.
Step 11:
Don't bathe your hamster. Hamsters clean themselves. If you think your hamster smells bad, the odor is probably coming from dirty bedding. Clean the hamster cage more often.
Step 12:
Take your hamster with you or find someone to take care of him if you are going on vacation for more than three days.
Housing
Care of dwarf hamsters is pretty straight forward. A single dwarf or pair can be kept in a 10 gallon aquarium fairly comfortably. You can purchase a locking top for little additional expense. Dwarf hamsters are not very good escape artists so a top may not be necessary. (Dwarf hamsters have hair on their feet which makes it very difficult for them to get a good grip to climb up cage walls or accessories). Despite their poor ability to escape, a top may still be beneficial as it can protect the hamsters from young children, other pets or something accidentally falling in the tank and injuring them.
My favorite dwarf home is not an aquarium but a 16 gallon rubbermaid box. These boxes are semi transparent and offer a nice amount of space for a pair of dwarfs and they are much lighter to pick up (which is wonderful if you have to clean many of them each week as I do). I do not put lids on most of mine. If you wanted to use the lid it would not be difficult to take soddering iron and melt many holes in the sides and top. These bins make very inexpensive cages but are better than some of the expensive petstore cages as they are more owner-friendly in regards to cleaning and allow a larger living space for the hamster(s). Habitrail type cages with small tubes (that do not go straight up--dwarf hamsters naviagate curvy tubes better as the hair on their feet can make it difficult for them to get up easily in vertical tubes) can also make a nice dwarf home but they may be more difficult to clean than an aquarium or plastic box.
Bedding
Do NOT use cedar shavings. This is absolutely the worst choice for bedding as it causes severe respiratory problems due to the volatile oils present in the shavings. Pine is a close second for the worst choice as it can cause kidney and liver damage as well as respiratory problems. If you must use pine, make sure the bag says "kiln dried) on it. If the shavings still smell really strongly of pine then they probably are still dangerous to your hamster.
So what other good bedding options are available? Aspen shavings are suitable as they are made from a hardwood tree that does not contain the irritating oils found in pine or cedar. Some other ideas are cel-sorb and yesterdays news (recycled newspaper pellets), and care-fresh.
My bedding of choice is either shredded paper care-fresh, or aspen shavings. I usually use shredded recycled white paper with black ink on it (not news paper because it is way to dirty and will destroy any shredder. It will also turn the hamsters a nice gray color). I also sometimes get rolls of brown contractors paper at Lowes or Home Depot to shred. Use a cross cut shredder as the smaller pieces are much more absorbent, not as sharp and they cannot wrap around any part of the hamster like cut strips can.
Paper shreds also tend to have lower dust levels compared to shavings which is a big plus if allergies are an issue. Hamsters really love to burrow into it and pairs raise babies in it with few problems. The parent hamsters actually get very upset if I change their bedding from paper shreds to shavings. If I must use shavings (when I have been using paper), I make the switch before a female has her next litter or not until current babies are 10 days old. Females are much less likely to harm their babies after a bedding change if the babies have their eyes open and can move around (this happens at 10 days usually). I normally use shredded paper and resort to shavings only if I am ill or have very little time to make bedding. It takes me about 3 hours to shred enough paper each week for the number of hamsters I keep.
It is best to use the same type of bedding all the time if you can manage it. Any cage change seems to cause at least a little stress for the hamsters and more if different bedding materials are used. The best analogy I can give is that it would be like leaving your house and when you come back, your carpet is a different color and the furniture has all been changed. The first thing you might wonder is if the re-decorated house is even your own. It would be completely unfamiliar to you. Hamster are no different. Keeping bedding and running wheel the same will keep the hamsters calmer. That said, small changes can be good. Adding simple toys like a crumpled ball of paper can enrich your hamster's life as he will be more active and come to investigate the intruding object. Just avoid large changes and you will have a happier hamster.
Nesting Material
All hamster will make a nest out of whatever soft materials they can find to have a cozy place to sleep during the day. The fluffy nesting material that can be purchased in a petstore is actually dangerous for hamsters as the fiberous cotton like material can get caught in cheek pouches and snag on nails. It will also cause very nasty problems if the hamster swallows it (may kill it from intestinal blockage).. The best bedding is amazingly inexpensive and can be found in any houseshold. Plain white toilet paper or plain, undyed, unlotioned facial tissue works well. The dwarves do not seem to tear tissue very well so I tend to help mine out by tearing it into strips or smaller pieces. Offering shredded brown paper is also a good alternative. Next time it is grocery day, get a brown paper bag and then shred it in a paper shredder...it is fairly soft paper and the hamsters love to burrow in it.
Cage Cleaning
The general rule no matter how many hamsters you have in a cage is to clean it at least once a week. The bin or cage should be emptied once a week and washed thoro
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