Preparing for your hamster's arrival.
If you are bringing a hamster home, you must have the following ready in your home before it arrives.
1. Cage (plastic or wired)
2. Water bottle
3. Sawdust
4. Running wheel
5. Hamster food mix
There are many different type of hamster cages, but they can be sub divide into 2 main categories. The wired ones and the plastic ones.
I personally prefer the plastic tank ones because they are much cheaper than the wired ones, gives you a clearer view of the hamsters, easier to clean and are better at preventing your hamster from escaping.
I bought my 30 cm long, 20 cm wide plastic fish tank from an aquarium shop for $8.
It comes with a cover that is useful to protect your hamster from prying animals like a bird that fly into your house, or a stray cat looking for food.
Before you put your hamster in, cover the base of the plastic tank with about 2 cm thick of sawdust. The sawdust acts like the hamster's bed and help keep the hamster warm. On cold days, they enjoy digging into the sawdust and hide underneath for warmth.
Do bear in mind that the Roborovski hamsters are the smallest hamster in the world. Therefore, they can easily squeeze through the openings of a wire cage.
You must also know that they are not called "speedy Gonzales" for nothing. They run mighty fast too! IF you take one out from your cage to play, you might find that it would jump out of your hands and you might never find it back again.
You must also provide a running wheel for the hamster to exercise, so that it may amuse itself while living in his new home. It will also help keep it healthy. IF you do not provide a running wheel for the hamster, it might find living in the new home boring and it would find ways and means to escape. Worse, some hamster might even die from lack of exercising!
Always leave enough food for your hamster in the cage. Hamsters like to store their food in their pouches. This is because in the wild, hamsters move from one place to another. By storing food in their pouches, it ensures them that there is always food for them to eat while they travel.
If you see your hamster store food in their pouches, do not forcefully push its pouches to make it empty it. This will cause severe hurt to your new pet.
Do not only feed one type of food to your hamster. Like human beings, hamsters need a variety of food in order to be healthy. Buy hamster food mix from your supermarket or from your nearest pet shop. There are a variety of them to choose from. The cheapest brand costs $3 to $4.
A hamster eats about 20 grams of food each day. I always put about a bowl of food of food in the cage and I only add in more when there is no more food in it.
Water bottle is also important to the hamster. It is from the water bottle that the hamster get its water supply. Make sure that there is always water in the bottle and that there is no sawdust stuck in the tube.
I provide the inside of a toilet roll for the hamster to play with. Sometimes they sleep in it.
Apart from giving your hamster a home to live in , proper food and water, you must also make sure that you keep it clean, so that it may stay healthy.
You can help to make sure the cage is clean by washing the cage and all the other things inside the cage with soapy water every week. When you do this, make sure you remove your hamster and place them in a dry clean pail. A hamster cannot take baths. This is because they do not know how to swim and if water gets into their nostrils, they might choke and drown.
When you wash the cage, throw away all the old sawdust and toilet roll, for they might be soaked with the hamster's urine and manure. Once you have finished cleaning up the cage and its other equipments, dry the them with a piece of clean towel.
When it is dried, cover the base of the tank with fresh sawdust again before placing the other equipment in.
Make sure you clean the water bottle and replace the water in the bottle with clean water. Clean out the food bowl and put in fresh food.
After you have done all these, then put the hamster back into the cage.
Your hamster would be extremely grateful to you for keeping its home clean.
.
I think my roborovski hamster is very happy, dont you think?
1. Cage (plastic or wired)
2. Water bottle
3. Sawdust
4. Running wheel
5. Hamster food mix
There are many different type of hamster cages, but they can be sub divide into 2 main categories. The wired ones and the plastic ones.
I personally prefer the plastic tank ones because they are much cheaper than the wired ones, gives you a clearer view of the hamsters, easier to clean and are better at preventing your hamster from escaping.
I bought my 30 cm long, 20 cm wide plastic fish tank from an aquarium shop for $8.
It comes with a cover that is useful to protect your hamster from prying animals like a bird that fly into your house, or a stray cat looking for food.
Before you put your hamster in, cover the base of the plastic tank with about 2 cm thick of sawdust. The sawdust acts like the hamster's bed and help keep the hamster warm. On cold days, they enjoy digging into the sawdust and hide underneath for warmth.
Do bear in mind that the Roborovski hamsters are the smallest hamster in the world. Therefore, they can easily squeeze through the openings of a wire cage.
You must also know that they are not called "speedy Gonzales" for nothing. They run mighty fast too! IF you take one out from your cage to play, you might find that it would jump out of your hands and you might never find it back again.
You must also provide a running wheel for the hamster to exercise, so that it may amuse itself while living in his new home. It will also help keep it healthy. IF you do not provide a running wheel for the hamster, it might find living in the new home boring and it would find ways and means to escape. Worse, some hamster might even die from lack of exercising!
Always leave enough food for your hamster in the cage. Hamsters like to store their food in their pouches. This is because in the wild, hamsters move from one place to another. By storing food in their pouches, it ensures them that there is always food for them to eat while they travel.
If you see your hamster store food in their pouches, do not forcefully push its pouches to make it empty it. This will cause severe hurt to your new pet.
Do not only feed one type of food to your hamster. Like human beings, hamsters need a variety of food in order to be healthy. Buy hamster food mix from your supermarket or from your nearest pet shop. There are a variety of them to choose from. The cheapest brand costs $3 to $4.
A hamster eats about 20 grams of food each day. I always put about a bowl of food of food in the cage and I only add in more when there is no more food in it.
Water bottle is also important to the hamster. It is from the water bottle that the hamster get its water supply. Make sure that there is always water in the bottle and that there is no sawdust stuck in the tube.
I provide the inside of a toilet roll for the hamster to play with. Sometimes they sleep in it.
Apart from giving your hamster a home to live in , proper food and water, you must also make sure that you keep it clean, so that it may stay healthy.
You can help to make sure the cage is clean by washing the cage and all the other things inside the cage with soapy water every week. When you do this, make sure you remove your hamster and place them in a dry clean pail. A hamster cannot take baths. This is because they do not know how to swim and if water gets into their nostrils, they might choke and drown.
When you wash the cage, throw away all the old sawdust and toilet roll, for they might be soaked with the hamster's urine and manure. Once you have finished cleaning up the cage and its other equipments, dry the them with a piece of clean towel.
When it is dried, cover the base of the tank with fresh sawdust again before placing the other equipment in.
Make sure you clean the water bottle and replace the water in the bottle with clean water. Clean out the food bowl and put in fresh food.
After you have done all these, then put the hamster back into the cage.
Your hamster would be extremely grateful to you for keeping its home clean.
.
I think my roborovski hamster is very happy, dont you think?
posted by Michelle | 9:23:00 PM
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