Hi, I'm going to buy a couple of hamsters for my daughters birthday but I'm a bit wary as I did the same thing last year. We went to Pets at Home and the poor hamsters only lasted two months! I have heard Pets at Home arn't very good, (to say the least) so I'm planning on getting them from somewhere else (looking online) but i m still concerned. Don't want them dying on us again, well not that quickly anyway!
We kept them in the living room and though it can get cold overnight I don't think its anything extreme. I made sure I did everything right and they were well looked after.
If any of you have any tips on anything I can do to try and either look for regarding health or preventthem having a premature death I'd be very greatful.

Best advice is search out and ask on some of the rodent forums...

They will almost certainly tell you that most cages sold as "hamster cages" are far too small, which they are, and to give them plenty of rodent safe toys. Oh and don't keep them on sawdust as it can cause respiratory problems in rodents...

We adopted one ourselves over Christmas to go with the rest of our menagerie.... she's quite sweet but she does nip a bit. You really need to get them used to handling ASAP.

Syrian hamsters should never share a cage, buy one or two cages, the hammies I have had from PAH have always lived to a ripe old age, the last was well over 4.

I did wonder about that....

Thank you I didn't know either of those things and I did use sawdust in the cage. I hope that wasn't what killed them So glad I asked now

dwarfs can share with the same sex of their species, except chinese. if you do get too go for a large narrow barred 1 levelled cage they can get territorial about shelves or modular cages. you have to have two wheels, two water bottles and two houses(basically 1 for each hamster) and a large food dish big enough for each hamster to sit in. this will prevent fallouts and hamsters fighting each other to death and having a blood bath on your hands, also a spare cage is a good idea in case they do fallout.

as for cold you can put an old towel under the cage and go extra deep with substrate and give them lots of plain unscented loo roll, wool type bedding is a hazard and can strangle of cause amputation.

if you can get to a farm shop or equestrian shop you can get an 85ltr bag of megazorb horse bedding lasts ages for about £8, it says horse bedding but its a perfectly safe alternative to saw dust you can get it online delivered for about £12 as well.

They may have been dwarf hamsters as they had long tails. I know the person who sold them to us said they should be sold as a pair. The cage I bought sounds like the one you described, phill but i will buy another 'emergency' cage if we get two, as well as two of everything. I do appreciate the help you have given me, its invaluable

Thank you I will

if they had long tails then i think they would of been chinese, they can be kept in pairs but they are more likely to fight than the other pairs, so you have to keep them in a perfect environment.

We bought our first Syrian hamster from Notcutts pet section last year.

We also bought a two tiered cage, here's a pic with him Nigel Henry the hamster.

are you sure you don't mean wood shavings rather than saw dust?
you can buy both, apparently the dust is used for mice, but i don;t have a clue why anyone would want to use that to bed an animal on at all

i've had all four of mine on shavings, as well as all my breeder mice and i've never had any problems, so i wouldn't worry about that being the cause of their passing

the first two hamsters i had were from pets at home, one, Mr. Moorely, lived to 1 and a half, the other Mrs. Hammersly to two and a half
third, Matilda, was from the local pet shop, only lived for a year
and Doris, my current i got given from a lady on preloved out of an unwanted litter, she's just passed the 14 month mark
all of them females

if you go for syrians then only one to a cage as they will fight and try to kill each other

try to get the biggest cage you possibly can for them, as they love to climb
with wheels as well, the standard sized ones supplied with cages can often be too small for a full grown syrian hamster too, their backs should be straight when they run in their wheel, in the smaller ones it's often curved upwards into a U shape, which really isn't good for them

^ This ^

They are not social animals and WILL fight to the death if kept together.

Had hamster balls for my brood to run about in when theyd had enough of their cages. Check them out well worth the couple of quid for them. My first (Hammy- cream) was 2 when he went, 2nd (Nibbles-skewbald 1 and a half) 3rd (Snuggles -cream and white) was 2, then we had Hammy2 (golden), and then I bought Snibits (skewbald) made 2 yrs, Ron (over 3- brown) then we had Hammy2, and Blackie a piebald, both lasted abt 2 yrs. The first half bought from local breeder, the 2nd half from local pet shop. Hamsters dont have longievety in their favour, the more they are handled the more tame they become. And finally I never had more than one in a cage.

The dust or shavings should not be used for either. Many of the woods contain phenols, it is that and the fine dust that causes the issues...


Many people get away with smoking for years, but you won't find too many doctors recommend it.

Or Ecobed, which the mice and rats in particular love as they build with it...

http://www.ratrations.com/bedding-an...770aa5ff840396

Note: As someone else mentioned, do not use synthetic cotton as a replacement for the real thing. It can cause horrible injuries to small animals.

well that's fair enough

it's each to their own to be honest, i use what i can afford & what does the job, i was just pointing out that i've not had a problem with it, not that the dangers aren't there.
a 25kg dust extracted bale for £6.50 lasts me two weeks cleaning out 13 guineas, 9 rabbits, 30 mice and my hamster, as well as sending a bag full off to my brother every other week for his rabbit

Again, thank you all for the invaluable advice. I want to know as much about them as I can and its been such a help hearing from you all.I'm going to keep this thread bookmarked so I can refer to it especially just before, and during when I get the hamster(s) which should be round about the end of February.

All the supplies I got before for the hamsters were from the supermarket and were labeled as being for hamsters so I'm sure I did get shavings rather than sawdust. I've always had pets but they were mostly cats and not rodents (I don't have any pets at the moment so don't worry that I may already have a cat, I don't lol) so I want to be sure I'm doing the best for them as I am pretty much a novice and hamsters seem so delecate I want to look after them as well as I can. You are all helping me to do that

Personally is steer clear of hamsters fr kids. They are nocturnal, an so grumpy when woken up to be played with. They alao walk miles in the ild so bet bored and frustrated easily.I can't count he scars on my hands from hamsters! (I'm an animal behaviourist) as others have said if your intent on ha,alters make sure you don't keep Syrians together and other species must be same sex and bought together, you can't really introduce them later on.

If you can be steered away from evil hamsters id suggest gerbils, they are social, friendly and good fun. The othe option is rats but not everyone likes thm.

Thanks. I always thought that the balls were found out to be unsafe for hamsters, or is that just a type where they can get their feet caught?
Funny how when you get a small pet for your child that they end up being one of the most hardest to look after in the way of giving them proper care. It shows that people should always do lots of research before buying ANY type of pet, especially one that you have no experience of.

Hello.

I know of pet shops that don't stock these due to the safety. It was to do with the momentum of them in which the hamsters have to keep going even when they stop due to the ball still rolling, causing heart attacks.

Another thing to bare in mind is that they do hibernate if cold. Lots assume they are dead and bury them. I had one that did this, it was kept in my bedroom and I found it looking liefeless. I brought it down and put the hair dryer on it, seem to remember nothing happened for around 15 minutes then it came round and lived for a further year.


Advise keeping them separate due to fighting

mine were from pets at home, they will (hopefully as starting to show signs of old age) be 2 years in may.

Ahh hammy's are not evil, they are so lovely.
But yes, not for small children.
Perhaps 8 and upwards

Yes, my daughter is going to be 10. I'll probably do most of the looking after though and I will handle it so it becomes more sociable. I also have no problem with rats though I know even less about them lol. I also have a hamster cage and I very much doubt its big enough for a rat.