A Hamster Diary

[Maz]

This is a historic piece written a number of years ago.

A Hamster Diary – confessions of a new, inexperienced hamster owner

Subtitle – Don’t do what I did!

Note: Hamster balls are not really recommended these days.

Below is a diary of how we got our first hamster and all the mistakes we made, along with some insights into these wonderful little creatures. It’s quite long but hope you enjoy.


So we just acquired a hamster - I was so naive! Let's get a Hamster. Ok. We went to the local petshop which had two Hamsters and were recommended "this one because it's not a biter". The lady in the petshop kept telling us over and over how this one was just a baby. It looked big for a baby. I still don't know how old he is but he has grown to about 5 or 6" long and is too big for the Rotastak Space Command which I ordered before going back to pick up our bundle of fluff (or rather leaping, wriggling major handful of fluff that didn't like people holding him).

So - how to buy a Hamster. Do not do what I did. Do not find the only bit of space in the room where a Hamster home might possibly fit, measure it and then order something that fits the space. The Rotastak Space Command did - it wasn't too big, but went - up - different levels - I kidded myself this would be fine - Hamster would have plenty of floor space in a maisonette kind of way. All the levels are connected by yellow tubes. The dome at the top was yellow. I kidded myself that maybe it would be nice for the Hamster to see the world in yellow - or that maybe Hamsters were colour blind and had no idea what colour the world was. I knew nothing about Hamsters. We came home with Hammy the Hamster, and a bag of Hamster food. I have no idea what is in Hamster food. The Space Command was set up with bedding and water bottle and in went the Hamster. He looked very nervous and just sat at the bottom of the Space Command. After a couple of hours he went up a tube to the next level. But couldn't get down again - he kept bottling out. So he went up to the next level and got stuck at the top. Eventually we had to put a cardboard kitchen roll tube in the top unit, kindly given to us by the petshop, which he crawled into and we deposited him back in the bottom. Next morning he had got the hang of it and was shooting up and down the tubes and having a whale of a time.

Over the next two weeks he was taking treats from our hands and walking from the cardboard tube into the Hamster ball and running round the room in his ball. We still couldn't pick him up - I tried once putting my hand in the cage and he charged at me - I screamed and shut the lid. He was seeing me off. But by the third week he looked depressed - yes Hamsters can look depressed. Slept all the time and only got up for a wee or to get some food from the top unit - and then we noticed - he was almost getting stuck in the tubes. Hammy had grown into a giant Hamster and we reckon his Father must have been a guinea pig. By the second night of watching him struggling to get out of the top of a tube, and so clearly half stuck, I worried and had to do something and stayed up most of the night reading up about Hamster habitats, cages and sizes and had something ordered by 4am on Sunday to arrive Tuesday. I realised that Hammy had no option but to use the tubes - to get to his food in his yellow dining room. I was a terrible Hamster owner! I had chosen a unit that fitted our floor space instead of researching what kind of thing Hamsters need or how big they grow! Well they do sell them for Hamsters, but ignorance is no excuse - one size doesn't fit all and as I now know Rotastak units aren't suitable for Syrian Hamsters (or any hamsters). I spent the rest of the week-end getting creative with storage and rearranging the room to make a good place for the big cage I had ordered. This was quite a challenge, but very satisfying! Not only did I make space for the big cage but I now have more room space and a tidier room. Thank you Hamster, for giving me a challenge and making me creative.

The minimum cage size needs to be 80cm x 50cm apparently. We live in a rural area and get the odd mouse sometimes so I ordered one that was suitable for mice and Hamsters - keeps the odd mouse out. Having read up about what Hamsters need I realised that Hammy had been using a wheel that was far too small and would give him a back problem - a 29cm wheel was needed - it arrived with the cage. It took me all afternoon to set it up - and it looked - enormous! And rather good. The big 29cm wheel in one corner, a platform with a little pod house and a slide/ladder down to the base, a hanging bridge, a sputnik pod hanging from the top of the cage and a friendly log with dried carrot in the middle. That night, after Hammy had been out in his ball, we put him in. He had a good look round, seemed to enjoy exploring it, then got back in the ball and looked at me. I didn't put the lid on the ball. I didn't pick the ball up. I could see the look on his face changing to surprise and panic - he had been kidnapped! Tricked! I left him in the new cage and closed the door and oh the pangs of anguish I have now! The pangs of anguish, horror, shock in the look he gave me when he realised I was going to leave him in there and it wasn't just an adventure playground. In fact I think he can hear me thinking this now! He has suddenly stopped running in his wheel! Not only had I got him a totally unsuitable cage in the first place, I had traumatised him by moving him overnight into totally different surroundings. I went to bed feeling like a criminal.

Next morning we came down and he was sitting in the little pod. Realised he was going to have to sleep in the cage that day and started making a nest in it with the nesting material I had put in. For 10 days he ignored me. 10 days! He would come out, sit there shivering and looking terrified at all the space, wouldn't take a treat through the bars and completely cold-shouldered me. We were all getting a bit upset and anxious, thinking we had broken his trust and done something terrible. Hamsters get stressed by cage moves apparently. Black looks - lots of them - not hurt shocked looks any more - black looks and - disdain! Oooh it hurt! I would talk to him and say - I'm so sorry Hammy, we did it for your own good - you couldn't spend another night in there or you'd have got stuck in a tube and died. It made no difference - black looks. My other half, who didn't even want the Hamster, was getting worried about him and saying maybe we should put a cloth over the cage so he didn't feel so exposed. He hardly came out of his pod except to eat and then go back in again, but did seem to like the giant wheel, which he ran around at night. Hammy hated the cage and had turned into a distant, nervous Hamster. Other half said - maybe we should put him back in his old cage, it was cosier. Can't - he can't fit in the tubes. Maybe we got the wrong kind of cage - maybe we should have got an aquarium type tank cage like he had in the pet shop. By this time I had already forked out for two blooming Hamster homes - the first one was £40, the cage and extras was about £90 - getting to be an expensive exercise for a Hamster which cost £12. We decided to stick it out a few more days while the whole family worried about Hammy and couldn't enjoy watching TV in case the noise upset him. Then suddenly, almost to the dot of two weeks, he came alive again. Suddenly started looking brighter, took a treat from me - but still gave me a look as if to say - how could you do that to me - explored his cage, seemed to be having fun, started climbing the bars and jumping off things. Yay - he's happy! He loves the new cage now. We're all happy now.

 

[Maz]

Hamsters give you ups and downs - but they are so much better than the ups and downs of life generally that it is enriching. We still can't pick him up. We respect him more - he is clever. I covered up a pot in one corner of his shelf because it was supposed to be a food pot and he thinks it is a toilet and kept weeing in it instead of his potty tray (yes he is toilet trained! Yes Hamsters use potty litter trays). So I googled for advice and found the thing to do is put the potty tray over the pot and put a new food bowl somewhere else on the shelf. It worked! Success! He loves the cage, he's weeing in the potty tray and eating out of the food bowl. Great. For about a week. He never stopped wondering where the little inset pot was and went under the shelf looking for it and tried to push it up from below. A couple of days later other half came upstairs looking anxious and said "Hammy has moved his potty tray and flipped the yellow pot out of it's holder". Hilarious - for about 2 minutes. He can MOVE things on his own, and take things out of their holder on his own? Ooer. We had a new worry - if he kept doing that he might try to go down the hole the pot was in and it isn't big enough - he might get stuck half way down the hole and die in the night! For two days I put the little pot back and potty tray back on top of it. Each morning Hammy had moved it back again. Meanwhile he had discovered the "hanging bridge" which hangs quite close to the top of the cage and is supposed to be a fun toy for Hamster. It was a ladder, not a bridge with huge gaps between the rungs and chains and metal rings holding it up. I have now read lots about Hamsters and lots about Hamsters catching their legs in things, getting broken legs and having to be put to sleep. Hammy jumped off the ladder bridge ended up somersaulting by accident and managed to land on his feet, but very nearly got his leg caught in a metal ring when jumping off. That's it - the bridge has to go - and it has.
Next thing not to do what I did. Don't buy Hamster toys and accessories from Internet shopping sites or pet shops without doing research and reading advice about Hamsters first. Because you know what - most of them aren't suitable for Hamsters - or they are only suitable for mice or dwarf hamsters. They are either dangerous (some have nails in that stick out especially if chewed), badly made and fall apart, have woodworm (yes I bought a wood hamster house that had woodworm!), some houses are too small. Some logs with holes in 'for climbing and tunneling fun' are too small. The kitchen roll tube is the best, safest toy and they love crawling through it. Hamsters get stuck and trapped in holes that are too small and rigid. And extreme stress gives them a nasty condition called wet-tail. A bit like having the runs permanently but worse because their backside starts rotting (and it’s fatal).

Finally Hammy actually wanted to come out of the cage and into his ball again. He was hanging from the bars of the cage giving us this look of "please let me out now". We almost had a party - two weeks and he was finally ready to come out of his cage and run around in his ball. All was back to normal, we were a united family again and Hammy loved us again - in his independent disdainful kind of way. A few nights later I took the opportunity, while he was out of the cage, to remove the hanging "bridge", which he had just jumped off the night before, and put a big corner hammock in instead - made by a cottage industry that specialised in making rat and hamster hammocks out of thick fleece. It looked nice and cosy, camouflage coloured so very boy Hamster look. Big mistake.

Mistake number 1 - Hammy, once back in the cage, looked around in horror. I had messed with his stuff! He gave me that look of surprised shock "how could you do this while I was out" thing and shot into his pod. I knew, I just knew - we wouldn't see him for days now - cold shouldering, avoiding. Oh boy can a Hamster make you feel guilty. And that was the case - almost a week of hiding from us. But I sneaked down one night and saw him sitting in the hammock. Aha - so you like it then!

Mistake number 2 - fabric is dangerous for Hamsters. By now I had researched a lot of very useful information. My potty litter was dangerous, the fleece hammock was dangerous. But they're all sold as Hamster products? How could I be so naive - it's just business. Fleece or any kind of wadding or material can't be digested by Hamsters (who chew things) and they die. Oh great, so now I either leave the hammock to avoid freaking him out again for messing with his cage, and having him hate me forever, and keep watching like a Hawk in case he starts chewing - although he hasn't done much chewing so far. Or I take it out and he hates us forever and could get wet tail with the stress - too much change. I am keeping an eye on the hammock for now. He hasn't chewed yet. Maybe another week when it is time for the next cage clean and I will whip it out and put a nice log there instead.

Now this all might sound a bit twee, but can you imagine coming home and finding someone has stolen some of your favourite furniture, moved everything around in your house and left some other furniture that you have never seen before. They have invaded your territory and messed with your stuff, and it's weird and freaks you out. Well, that's what it is like for Hammy. He has a brain, and quite clearly has feelings as well.

So why, I ask myself, do they sell potty litter for hamsters, made of clay which swells up in their stomachs and kills them if they eat it - and hamsters do try eating lots of things they shouldn't. And perfumed with deodorising stuff, when perfumed things give them respiratory diseases? Unbelievable. It's called Hamster potty litter so you buy it.

Surely there is a regulatory standard for what is a suitable Hamster product. It appears not. So it is buyer (and Hamster) beware. Just because a toy is dangerous for a Hamster, you can't expect a Hamster to know that - they will try and squeeze themselves into holes or tubes that are too small. They will leap off hanging bridges because they got up but can't get down. They don't know what metal clips and loops are or that these are things that can break your leg if you get it stuck in there while leaping off. They eat what you give them, they sleep in what you give them. They are babies who need looking after. Surely the pet shops sell you the right stuff? Pet shops are businesses.

So in the space of six weeks I have learned a lot and I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. I thought - Hamster - great - asleep all day - no hassle. Now I feel like I have a new baby and we have bonded and I love him.

 

[Maz]

It is strange how perspectives alter - I don't regret a minute of the hassle, worry, time-consuming extra things to do and think about - it has made our lives much more fun having Hammy around and to look after. But - perspectives on size. If you climb a mountain and look down everything looks much smaller - buildings that seemed big and imposing or ugly look like toy town. Looking at the Space Command - which seemed quite big, next to the new cage - suddenly the Space Command is obviously far too small - terrible! I feel so guilty. Might be ok for a mouse but not a Syrian Hamster whose Father must have been a guinea pig. I now know that most Syrian Hamsters, when fully grown after 6 weeks, are quite big. Ours is just on the big side of big!

Even stranger perspectives now are - the cage doesn't seem big enough. People are buying 100cm cages - some have two connected ones - some have giant habitats from hacked Ikea furniture. I can see that we could end up moving house so Hammy can have his own room!

I now wish Hammy had a 100cm cage. I wish I had bought the 100cm cage. More space to walk around in freely, more rocks, logs, platforms and nooks and crannies to explore - more space to build tunnels in his substrate - to have a life. I keep thinking of the Truman Show - when Truman finds the walls to the edge of his world - the world inside is big and plenty of space, but once he knows there are walls he wants to be out on the other side in the bigger world.

It's a bit like that for Hamsters - they need a lot of space of their own - and they can come out into the wider world in a playpen or to free roam (if you Hamster-proof house the room).

So - don't do what I did. If you want to get a Hamster, do what you would do if you were going abroad on holiday. You read the brochure first, get a travel guide, book the accommodation and tickets, and then pack and go. You don't just turn up at the airport with an empty suitcase, ring from your mobile to see if there are any cheap flights, get one and end up in the wrong place with no accommodation and wearing the wrong clothes for the weather. You plan it and do things in the right order.

So - get a Hamster - but be prepared to have a new member of the family who is your new baby and needs you to think of everything, pay for everything, and put them before yourself sometimes. Do your research, read everything. Find out the best cage to get (not always the most expensive) - I still think I could have got a better one for less money and rushed into buying this one in a panic. Check the bar space measurements. Make sure it has no tubes whatsoever - and provide large cardboard ones in the cage. Get a small padlock for the cage door (Hamsters can open them with their teeth). And love your little baby - they are so gorgeous to look at - but really not interested in you sometimes. It's like having a teenager. You work to house them, pay the bills and feed them, and they don't appreciate you, but are such fun and a joy sometimes.

Within 3 months, and after bathtub taming, Hammy was fully tame and would sit between us on the sofa and sit for a stroke. That bond is very special. They communicate – they are very good at non verbal communication. Watch and take note. Sometimes they are trying to tell you something important. Like the water bottle has emptied itself.

 

[Maz]

So if you have nothing to read one dark evening, I hope this brightens it up. The point being. We have all been there and made mistakes.

 

[Hammie Heart]

Goodness, Maz, you've been typing a long time!