As with any other animal, the suitability of a hamster depends on your own lifestyle. For many people, hamsters make brilliant pets because they’re relatively low maintenance and don’t need as much attention. This also makes them popular first pets for children.

Hamsters As Pets | RSPCA Keeping Hamsters As Pets | RSPCA

One very important thing that you need to remember, when you’re setting up a home for your hamster, is toys. Hamsters love to have something to keep them occupied; a wheel on its own isn’t enough. Like any animal, and most humans too, a hamster needs time to settle into their new environment. You should put your new hamster in their cage with enough food and water, bedding and a place for them to hide away, and leave them totally alone for 24 hours. This gives your pet time to relax and get used to being in their new home. 3. Your hamster’s home One very important item in a hamster’s cage is somewhere for them to hide away; like a specially made hamster house. Your pet will want a place to escape to, especially for daytime sleeping, so you need to provide this for them. A word of warning, with any plastic items in your hamster’s cage you need to keep an eye on your pet’s interaction with the item. If your hamster starts to chew and swallow the plastic, this is bad for them. Great fun and great exercise! But watch your hamster closely… Having a ball! Hamsters typically keep themselves clean and do not require additional bathing with soap and water, unless instructed to do so by your vet. However, some hamsters, especially Dwarf breeds, do enjoy regular sand baths, using chinchilla sand products. It is important to remove sand from the cage when hamsters are finished bathing to not be a constant respiratory irritant. Hamster Handling Wet Tail (Diarrhoea) — This kind of diarrhoea in hamsters is associated with stress, especially when first bringing a hamster home for the first time.

Enrichment

Once a week you can consider giving your hamster an edible treat by providing some meal worms, or a small amount of boiled egg. These are favourites with most hamsters, and they are also rich in protein so they make an excellent addition to your pet’s diet. A commercial hamster mix is a good basis for your hamster’s diet. Adding small pieces of fresh food will have nutritional benefits and keep your hamster's diet interesting. The best choice for a hamster wheel is a flat surface wheel (also known as a saucer wheel) which is made from plastic, wood, or acrylic and has a smooth running surface like the one pictured below. If you choose one of these wheels, the recommended size for all hamsters is 11-to-12-inch (27-30 cm).

The ideal home for your hamster - PDSA The ideal home for your hamster - PDSA

According to the National Hamster Council, a Syrian hamster should ideally have a cage that has floor space of at least 1000cm 2 and a height of 19cm. Campbell’s dwarf hamsters are the dwarf hamsters that are most often found in pet stores. In the wild they are found in China, Russia and in other areas of Central Asia. Their dark grey appearance is very similar to that of the Winter White, and they have a similar lifespan; averaging around 2 years. Hamsters can be supplemented with additional fruits and vegetables, but these foods should not be the mainstay of their diet. Hamsters enjoy: Space — Another reason why hamsters are popular pets is that people believe they don’t need much space. However, hamsters are very active animals who love to explore and burrow, so ensuring they have the proper space to do so, in or outside of their cage, is an essential part of responsible hamster ownership.Impacted Cheek Pouches — this occurs when a hamster has lodged food in their cheek pouches and can’t get it out again. If left too long, this can lead to an infection, or sharp food may pierce through your hamster's cheek pouch.

Hamster advice - PDSA Hamster advice - PDSA

Hamsters love to be able to explore, dig tunnels, create nests and forage for their food. Providing deep bedding material with a variety of textures will make your hamsters environment more interesting. You’ve probably seen the brightly coloured hamster cages that consist of a collection of tubes joined together. It is not usually a good idea to house a hamster in one of these cages. There are several reasons for this. A hamster needs to have plenty of room to run around, and these cages don’t have that; running up and down tubes is not the same thing. It’s important for your pet to have plenty of floor space available. Now that you have a good idea of what types of foods your hamster likes to eat, how much of each food should they have? Syrian hamsters are the largest of the captive hamster breeds and they are often the most popular as pets. They have a lively personality and can be really fun to watch and interact with. If you handle them from an early age Syrian hamsters can be trained well, if you have a little patience. They are generally slower paced than dwarf hamsters so they are easier to keep up with, especially during the training process.Jungle pets small animal tank – this tank comes in various sizes. The correct size for your hamster is 100cm x 50cm x 50cm. It’s really important to give your hamster a deep (approx. 25cm/10 inches) layer of bedding so they can burrow like they would in the wild. They use the burrow for sleeping, hiding and storing food so it’s important to use a bedding that will hold its structure when tunnelled into. Examples of safe bedding include: It’s not a good idea to put them in a hamster ball unless there is someone else there who can watch them. You can’t concentrate on cleaning the cage and keep an eye on your hamster’s ball manoeuvring skills at the same time. 8. What can you do if your hamster is ill? Learn common symptoms of illness and be ready to treat your hamster at the first sign of a problem

Hamster | RSPCA What To Feed a Pet Hamster | RSPCA

They need fresh food daily but instead of feeding them from a bowl, scatter their food around their living space and hide some in tubes – this will keep them entertained for hours and is a much more natural way for them to eat. preparing the cage before you bring your hamster home and leaving them undisturbed, except for feeding, for the first two or three days Hidden away - in the wild, hamsters are hunted by other animals so their natural instinct is to sleep out of sight. Small cardboard boxes, ceramic pots or multi-chambered hamster-safe wooden hides are ideal for this. If your Roborovski hamsters begin to fight, you will need to permanently separate them into different cages. Hamsters never play fight, so a fight will usually be quite serious. The best bedding for hamsters is anything that is dust-extracted, as the dust found in most wood shavings or sawdust can be bad for your hamster’s small respiratory system. If you want to use wood-based bedding, it’s recommended you use Aspen bedding as it’s low dust and very absorbent, so is better at controlling odours.

Hamsters are prey animals — As such, many hamsters can become stressed simply by the presence of another animal in the home. Hamster housing should provide at least a 15-20 gallon cage, with at least 150 square inches of solid (not wire) floor space, but bigger is always better. Wire cages, aquariums, and plastic habitats can be used as long as they provide a safe, escape-proof home for your hamster—hamsters are escape artists! By working with a variety of trusted Range Plus Partners, we’re able to offer our customers a wider selection of products. It can happen if they get too cold, or if their food is in short supply. This can be very dangerous as they will not have enough fat reserves to survive without food for an extended period of time. Therefore, it's important to ensure your hamster’s home is away from draughts and in a room where the temperature is stable. One of the main toys that a lot of people buy when they first get a hamster, is a hamster ball. Most people have probably seen the brightly coloured plastic orbs careering around someone’s floor, run only on hamster power.