Have to disagree, with that, our hamster can't climb into his fast enough, refuses to come out and even still explores in it with the doors left off it.

as above.

it's literally a hard job to get mine out of hers, i've had to stand for 10 minutes at a time, holding the ball up to her cage for her to get back home, but she just turns around and tries rolling away!

That is untrue, we know enough about hamster behaviour to know when a hamster is not happy or feels threatened. Ears up, alert and bombing around is not a sign. Any of my hamsters that have wanted to get out of their balls have stopped running and started chewing. They know they get out then and would always chew if that was the case. Hence the notorious problem of bar chewing when a hamster wants to leave their cage.

All small furries are potential prey animals that have evolved not to show distress or fear overtly. It is very hard to judge their state of mind, which is why it is so hard to know when they are ill - by the time it shows, they are normally very poorly indeed.

The vet I used to go to recommended free-roaming exercise for my hamster and other critters, and did not approve of hamster balls. I used to like letting my hammy use me as a climbing frame, anyway. She used to clamber in and out of my pockets when I was doing my homework.

Well still no babys so i take it she's not pregnant (thank goodness). Shes so much better not jumpy like she was and the sneezzing is almost stopped and shes so much more lively 0 to 60 in her ball and wheel in about 0.5 seconds. Too many hamster chocolate drops. Though she still wakes alot in the day. Is that normal? I really apreciate all your advice and help. Also when hannah's in her ball i cant get her out. It took me 10mins last night to get her out

Id like to show you my daughters hamster the little monster thats made me age with worry since we got her. shes really cute so i'l let her off But im not sure how to transfer pictures on to this site any ideas. And have any of you got pictures of your little cutes?

If you don't have a photobucket account or similar then upload it to somewhere like tinypic and it'll give you a URL to copy and paste to here directly.

I have two, Poppet http://i39.tinypic.com/2n8pz47.jpg

And 'baby' Snicks (my little boy who was really ill) http://i44.tinypic.com/302t30n.jpg

The advisory quantities to give hamsters on packets of treats are normally too high, for instance 1 chocolate drop is more than enough in a day (I normally break mine into tiny pieces).

I hope Hannah goes from strength to strength now!

Are you still giving her chocolate? I really don't think you should have this animal.

Anything that melts should NOT BE GIVEN to hamsters because it stays in their pouches and causes problems.

How many more times does this have to be explained to you?

http://www.hamsterific.com/Nutrition.cfm

Never ever feed your hamster chocolate or sweets, In addition to having virtually no food value, they can get stuck in the hamster's pouch creating considerable damage which can be difficult or impossible to treat.

I've already replied to you in post #24 saying that I believe that they are (and I most certainly am) referring to hamster chocolate drops, not normal chocolate.

Why so judgemental?

it depends really, is she kept in a dimly lit area?
this can affect their bearings on the day/night times

to be honest, they do pootle about in the day times sometimes anyway, mine regularly does, little hobble around, quick drink, maybe a nosh, then back to bed
all three of them have done it

it's horses for courses, i wouldn;t worry

dancingjones, please don;t jump to conclusions as you have been, the OP does know some things about hamsters, and 9/10 people would probably know that it is a bad idea to give any animal human confectionery items

will all the things they formulate these days for pets, it's highly likely the hamster is having rodent choccy drops
as williams has said

What little cuties! I wish I had a digital picture of my dear departed Mimi, but she predated the digital age.

On the subject of treats, I was always told to give mine sunflower seeds, and to ration even those. I think she did have the odd hamster choc drop, but I tried them and they tasted more like wax than human chocolate - obviously not the same thing. Our rabbits liked them.

treats... you can give almost anything as a treat to be honest, the main guideline is moderation.
oter than that, nothing stupid like sweets or sticky, melty things.

my current rather enjoys chicken.

she's had chicken, fish, earthworms, dog biscuits, dog chews, guinea muesli, chips, doner meat, peas, kiwi, mango, apple, pineapple, banana, venison, kangaroo, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, carrot, toast, brazil nut, sponge cake, peanuts, peanut butter, nutella (as a goad) custard, milk, cheese, fish flake food, broccoli... not sure if it was this hammy or a previous, but one was once found cramming a cheeto into it's cheek after finding it under my sisters bed!
these along with various hamster treats i've been given by people thinking they would be suitable for guinea pigs, but they either weren't, of the pigs had no interest

she's even been found drinking lager before now
so they are a lot more hardy than some people would have you think!

just keep that chocolate away from them, after all - the stuff is poisonous to everything...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...7&id=882800690

hope the link works. Heres a pic of my Dawf hamsters, cosmo and stewie.

Because you shouldn't give them ANYTHING chocolate wise - not even if the manufacturers who want to make money called them hamster chocolate.

And I'm judgemental because an animals well being is at stake here.

And you seem to know you know what all about hamsters from your posts.

I don't agree that the OP knows anything about hamsters the way they've been posting and as I've pointed out.

Hamster or human - choclate should NOT BE GIVEN TO HAMSTERS.

Obviously you know as much as the OP.

What part of 'stuff that melts causes infections in hamsters' do none of you understand?

well, that's your opinion dj
i suppose my animal management qualifications and experience owning rodents count for nothing

the OP had had hamsters in the past, albeit male ones
perfectly understandable that a females behaviour seems vastly different.

hamsters are also omnivores, there is no reason why a hamster may not consume anything in my list IN MODERATION.

where is there anything there that can melt?
other than peanut butter and nutela which were used as goads to recover her from a tricky area

The rodent and lagomorph choc drops I tried didn't actually melt. They were all waxy and chewy and nothing like human chocolate at all.

My daughters hamster has ONE HALF of a chocolate drop (hamster chocolate drops) a night and not every night. im not silly enough to OVER FEED her on them. iv got a computer and i did my homework on hamsters. you have managed to upset my daughter with your post. By saying she should not have hannah. She is well cared for and has the best of everything. so i dont no how you can say we shouldnt have her.

Can't you tell by everyone's replies that you've simply got it wrong being too quick to judge someone? Seems you'd rather just carry on insulting everyone than just accept you made a mistake, like we all do from time to time. We are not talking about "chocolate" what is given to hamsters here is not "chocolate".

I do know a lot about hamsters, yes, but there is a huge difference between knowing a lot and knowing everything. I've learnt from my own mistakes before I had access to the internet and was relying on a hamster book for my knowledge. Through the horrors of my hamster hurting her leg I learnt barred levels were unsuitable for hamsters. With my first hamster, I didn't realise they never needed bathing like other animals.

However, mixing up what is safe and unsafe when giving advice is detrimental to actually informing people about the real risks. Plus insulting individuals never works, the majority of the time when someone is doing something wrong, they didn't realise. The risk with "choc drops" is people follow the guidelines of 5 a day when 1 is more than enough for a hamster (I feed a small piece twice a week), as they are a treat.

Im sorry if my post afends any one else. i no every one has a say its just my daughter is really upset and that makes me upset. weve done everything to get hannah well and hopefully she'l stay that way. And it makes me mad when people who dont no you or your hamsters judge you. i wouldnt do any thing or give hannah anything to hurt her weve grown very atached to her. shes a little darling and we love her dearly.

Just been reading through these - we got a female about a month ago. When she comes out she runs round the room rubbing her sides around the walls and even around my legs! She also suddenly stays very still, kind of flattens her back and lets us stroke her. Is this a looking for a mate thing? She also occasionally sweeps all her bedding into her wheel with her back legs.

Yes, our female was doing the very same things last night as she was on heat. She does it a lot but then we have a male in our house too!

Hamsters tend to have annoying habits with food and bedding, countless times I've had to clear out a wheel which has been used as a food store.

Oh thanks for that. I feel awful now. Am I denying her a bit of sex or have I saved her from some male hamster plonking himself on her!

Don't feel guilty at all, it's best for her, as encounters can lead to them giving each other serious injuries.