Hamsters bring so much joy into your house, but they also demand a lot of devotion and responsibility. You should become familiar with hamster care before deciding to bring one home. Find out more about how to take good care and keep a healthy hamster.
How To Take Care Of A Hamster?
Hamsters come in a variety of varieties, and the majority have a lifespan of two to three years. As nocturnal animals, hamsters like to sleep all day. Dwarf hamsters, on the other hand, are crepuscular, which means that dawn and dusk are when they are most active.
You should feed your hamster properly, encourage it to receive adequate exercise and playtime, and keep its cage clean regularly to keep it happy and healthy.
Read More: How Long Can A Hamster Go Without Food?
Setting Up Your Hamster’s Home
Choose The Proper Cage
The ideal cage size for your hamster is 600 square inches, while the minimum size is 450 square inches or 30 by 15 inches.
To accommodate a wheel of the proper size, it should also be taller than 12 inches, more specifically, greater than 10 inches for Syrians and 8 inches for dwarfs.
A glass aquarium is an excellent place for a hamster to live, provided it has the required amount of floor space. The lack of ventilation is a drawback, so make sure the lid is made of wire mesh to allow for airflow.
Put The Cage In A Secure Location
Ensure that there is adequate ventilation. Place the cage away from a warm window. Make sure the location is peaceful and devoid of any other domestic animals, such as dogs or cats.
Your pet hamster’s stress level will go down as a result. You must never allow your dogs or cats to engage with your hamster.
Read More: How To Bathe A Hamster?
Recognize The Territorial Urges Of Your Hamster
Separately keep female Chinese and Syrian hamsters. They become aggressive and territorial at the age of 5-8 weeks, and if another hamster is kept in the same area, they frequently engage in fatal combat.
As long as they are appropriately linked from an early age, several dwarf hamsters can live in the same space.
Prepare The Bedding For Your Hamster
There needs to be a minimum 6-inch layer of bedding on the ground. This may sound excessive, yet hamsters in the wild create substantial tunnel systems.
If there isn’t enough bedding, many hamsters won’t dig, so always add a thick layer. Even if your hamster doesn’t seem to be digging, keep the bedding inside just in case they are or want to start.
Providing Water And Food
Give The Hamster Food Each Day
To avoid selective feeding and make sure your hamster gets all the nutrients it needs, hamsters need a pelleted meal rather than muesli or seed mix.
Each day, give your hamster enough food to fill both cheeks or around 15g (1/2 oz) for Syrian hamsters or 8g (1/4 oz) for dwarf hamsters. Make sure to fill their bowl with fresh food every day.
Use Block-style Meals Or Enriched Pellets
The hamster can be fussy and choose the tastier, less healthful foods thanks to seed combinations.
Provide the seed mixture as a supplement and the pellets or blocks as the primary or staple diet. Before giving the hamster the seed combination, make sure it has consumed a sufficient amount of pellets or blocks.
Read More: How To Find A Lost Hamster?
Skip “Human” Meals
Pasta, sugar, raw meat and fish, candy, and desserts are examples of this. Diabetic hamsters are a possibility.
Your hamster will be unable to handle foods that you might not think to have a high sugar level. Their health could be harmed by this.
Keeping Your Hamster’s House Clean
Put Your Hamster In A Secure Location
Put your hamster in a playpen or their hamster ball while you clean their house. While cleaning, you should take your time and use both hands.
Try not to use one hand to clean and the other to hold your hamster. Both your cleaning endeavor and your hamster will suffer as a result.
Completely Clean The Cage
Use water and ordinary dish soap. Even the smallest amount of other forms of soap, such as hand soap, can make your furry friend uncomfortable.
Use hamster or rodent-specific cleaning soap, which is readily available at most pet stores.
Dry The Cage After Rinsing It
Verify that all the water has evaporated, and the cleaning agent has been completely disposed of.
Keep in mind that hamsters have delicate nostrils, so the smell of vinegar or soap will irritate them.
Observe Its Sleeping Schedule
Hamsters are nocturnal creatures, however, they do move about a little during the day to gather food and other things.
If you don’t observe that it feels different, even if it may appear awake, it isn’t in the mood to play.
Giving Your Hamster A Workout
Purchase An Appropriate Hamster Wheel
Your Hamster Cage should include exercise wheels that are frequently too small and bad for the hamster’s back. If your hamster’s spine curls upward, the wheel is too tiny.
Purchase one that is at least 28 cm (11 in) long for a Syrian and 20 cm (7.9 in) long for a dwarf hamster. Don’t be hesitant to aim higher.
Make Sure The Hamster Has Plenty Of Toys To Play With
Your hamster will like playing with toys including empty tissue boxes, toilet paper rolls, tubes, tunnels, PVC piping, and hamster chew toys.
Read More: When Can You Give Your Hamster A Bath?
Tips For Pet Safety
- It is possible for animals to harbor human-transmissible bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic illnesses.
- Before handling any creature or its environment, thoroughly wash your hands with warm, soapy water.
- Following interaction with a pet, its environment, or water, adults should help kids wash their hands.
- Animals can bite or scratch, so exercise caution when handling them (especially when stressed)
- Never grab your pet’s tail or fur.
