Hamster Do's & Don'ts

Hamsters are a very popular pet in the pet trade. So with owning one comes a lot of misinformation. So today we're going to be talking about the do's and don'ts of owning a hamster. Number one, don't just feed your hamster sunflower seeds and corn. While these two foods are very popular with hamsters and they will quite enjoy them, this should never be a hamster's main diet. And unfortunately a lot of commercial seed mixes for hamsters contain pretty much just these two ingredients and that is not a balanced diet for a hamster and can very easily lead them to obesity. Do feed your hamster a wide variety balanced diet full of grains, seeds, nuts, animal proteins, fruits, vegetables, and more. Number two, don't give your hamster a small cage. I know hamsters are these tiny tiny animals but that does not determine how much space they need. They are very high energy animals and in the wild can run up to five miles every single night and you should be able to tell this by how much they use their hamster wheel every night. A small enclosure does not allow you to provide your hamster with the enrichment they need to be happy such as a properly sized wheel, different substrates, sand bath, deep substrate. Hamsters are burrowers so they typically should have at least six inches of bedding. Ten inches would be more preferred but you can't do that when your base is only three inches tall. Small cages can also cause stereotypical stress behaviors in hamsters such as barbiting, monkey barring, cage pacing, wall scaling, and lethargy. Do give your hamster a large sized enclosure. This way you're able to provide all of the enrichment they need to perform their natural behaviors and in the end that is Number three don't wake your hamster up. This is a pretty big one because hamsters are nocturnal slash crepuscular. They are going to be sleeping pretty much all throughout the day unless they wake themselves up for a quick drink or snack but other than that they are going to be sleeping during the day. This does not mean you should wake your hamster up just so you can interact or play with them. It's not nice. Think about when you're trying to get a good sleep and somebody came into your room and wakes you up to play or do something. Think about how grumpy you are or how upset you are. So do wait until your hamster is awake themselves to play with them. If you are not a nocturnal type of person or you just can't stay up late a hamster may not be the best pet for you. Number four don't take your hamster outside. There are so many dangers with taking your hamster outside. One being hamsters are tiny so when they want to be they can be very very quick. This means they can escape and be lost forever outside and a hamster lost outside is pretty much a death sentence to them. There are other things such as bugs and parasites that you don't want your hamster to come in contact with as well as predators, hawks, eagles, cats, dogs. Just because you think your area doesn't have any doesn't mean you don't. I didn't think that eagles existed where I lived until the one day I pulled into my parking lot and there was an eagle sitting on top of the tree waiting for his next snack. And as we previously talked about hamsters are nocturnal so to take them outside during the day you're likely going to have to wake them up which is another don't. If you're waiting until it is dark to take them out that is another added danger because it's dark humans have terrible vision in the dark gives you even more chance of losing your hamster. So do wait for your hamster to wake up and then take them out and put them into a playpen inside. Number five don't bathe your hamster. Hamsters are very clean animals and just like cats will groom themselves multiple times throughout the day. Bathing your hamster in water is very stressful and can be very dangerous to them. Not only is it wrecking the beautiful coat that they've made it also can very easily send them into shock. Instead do give your hamster a sand bath. This is a safe way for your hamster to remove any excess oils as well as any smells from their coat. Number six don't fully clean your hamster's enclosure. This is a very stressful process to a hamster because they use their scent glands and their poop to mark their territory and to orientate themselves on where everything is in their enclosure. When you remove all of the bedding and wipe down everything you're removing all of their scent so it's a brand new environment for them again. There was even a study that showed when the hamster's enclosure was fully cleaned out and put back they had a heart rate of 150 beats per minute and it took almost an hour for them to fully calm back down. Instead do spot clean. A hamster's enclosure does not need to be fully cleaned because hamsters are quite clean animals. They specifically choose different areas to use their bathroom so that makes cleaning up things pretty easy and you don't need to remove every single piece of bedding just the ones that have been soiled. Number seven don't let your hamster interact with other animals. Hamsters are prey animals so pretty much any other animal out there is a threat to a hamster and can potentially harm them. Even if your animal is the most innocent harmless animal in the world and you think they would never hurt a fly don't let them interact. You cannot fully communicate with another animal so while you may think that they're harmless they may not hurt your other animal there is always that one slim chance where something can go wrong the animal reacts badly they bite them they scratch them. Hamsters are so small it can pretty much kill them or at least injure them very very easily and there's no reason to have your two animals interacting with each other. Instead do interact with them separately. If you want to take your hamster out go to an area where you're able to close the door and have the other animals on one side and your hamster on the other so that you're able to just interact with them. It's pretty simple to keep two animals apart. Number eight don't use cotton fluff for nesting. Cotton is a long stranded fiber so it can very easily get wrapped up and tangled in limbs and cut off circulation and if you're not there soon enough to help your hamster get free they will go ahead and chew off their own limb to free themselves. Another thing is hamsters do have cheek pouches so they're constantly pouching things to take with them back to the nest wherever this means things can easily accidentally get swallowed. Cotton is not digestible and can cause blockages and unfortunately many hamsters have already suffered through deaths from cotton fluff. Do use safe materials that are easily digestible like toilet paper or paper-based bedding that if they do get accidentally swallowed they will just digest and go through the system and they're not going to be able to get wrapped around limbs because they're very easily rippable. Number nine don't house hamsters together. Hamsters are very solitary animals and they can be very territorial. It doesn't matter if they are siblings or mother and daughter or father and son they should not live together and they can very easily end up injuring each other. Hamsters are not like humans they are solitary animals. They don't have the same type of feelings humans do. It's very easy to look at a single hamster and say that they're lonely but that is just projecting your own human emotions onto an animal who could not care less if there is a friend for them that in fact they're likely to end up killing. Instead do keep your hamsters in separate cages if you'd like to own multiples. And number 10 don't hold your hamster too high. Hamsters can be pretty unpredictable and suddenly they could just squirm out and jump. They also have poor vision so they have zero depth perception. They don't realize that they are jumping to their literal death so it's important that when you are handling your hamster either you're sitting on the floor so it's not too high of a drop or if you're carrying them make sure you're carrying them very very close to your chest or I recommend using a hamster taxi. This can be a measuring cup a mug or a carrier where you just use that to transport your hamster to an area where then you're not too high up and they can't jump from it. Those are just some of the do's and don'ts of owning a hamster. There are certainly plenty more out there but those are some of the main ones and I really hope this video has been able to help anybody out there who owns hamsters. So I will see you guys in my next video. Bye. Sadie it's not toy time. Ow! That's my foot. It's in for me. Number two. Sadie you are falling asleep right there.