Hamsters characters

[Amy]

I would love to hear about your hamsters characters; their times of waking uo ect
My first hamster 30 years ago, was a teddy. He was fierless, gentle and quite lazy.
Sadly we didnt have the knowlage of how they should be kept and no internet to look things up,
I bought a book for advise, but it wasnt very helpful. He didnt have a large cage, but he spent most of his time
free roaming. He had his own small room and in the evenings he was in the frontroom with me.
He loved curling up on my lap and playing with me. He died ar the age of three years and 2 months and i was
heartbroken.
Nibbles is a complete different typ. From the beginning on he didnt seem to be frightend just of course a bit shy
He wakes up at aprox, 8 in the evening and goes back to sleep between 5 and 6 in the mornings so far.
He is full of enery, curious and loves to listen to me,
He does not hide when i put my hand in the cage, he sniffs and has taken a treat, but thats as far as
I have got, i doubt he will be the cuddly typ though. He is extremly picky about his food and if he doesnt like
Something he trows it out of his dish. He loves foraging, and in the earliy morning his little pouches are full before
He goes to bed. He doesnt like his houses. He prefers tu dig a tunnel and you can sometimes see him curled
Up in tbe corner at the bottom of the terrarium. He has roughly 20 cm of bedding, which i will fill up to 30cm.
I would love to hear about your little friends

 

[Socks' Mum]

I would love to hear about your hamsters characters; their times of waking uo ect
My first hamster 30 years ago, was a teddy. He was fierless, gentle and quite lazy.
Sadly we didnt have the knowlage of how they should be kept and no internet to look things up,
I bought a book for advise, but it wasnt very helpful. He didnt have a large cage, but he spent most of his time
free roaming. He had his own small room and in the evenings he was in the frontroom with me.
He loved curling up on my lap and playing with me. He died ar the age of three years and 2 months and i was
heartbroken.
Nibbles is a complete different typ. From the beginning on he didnt seem to be frightend just of course a bit shy
He wakes up at aprox, 8 in the evening and goes back to sleep between 5 and 6 in the mornings so far.
He is full of enery, curious and loves to listen to me,
He does not hide when i put my hand in the cage, he sniffs and has taken a treat, but thats as far as
I have got, i doubt he will be the cuddly typ though. He is extremly picky about his food and if he doesnt like
Something he trows it out of his dish. He loves foraging, and in the earliy morning his little pouches are full before
He goes to bed. He doesnt like his houses. He prefers tu dig a tunnel and you can sometimes see him curled
Up in tbe corner at the bottom of the terrarium. He has roughly 20 cm of bedding, which i will fill up to 30cm.
I would love to hear about your little friends

Nibbles is very sweet. Socks, my black male Syrian hamster is similar in many ways. He is almost two and a half now, and spends a lot of time sleeping in his nest inside a shoe box. He hardly comes out, sadly, whereas not that long ago he was keen to come out for playpen time once, or even twice a night. Usually at 3am though 🫩. He is very well mannered and a real gentleham. One of his favourite things has always been to collect pumpkin seeds and similar items from me to take and store in his stash

 

[Maz]

Nibbles sounds adorable and it's early days My experience might be similar to yours. I first had a hamster in the house (that wasn't actually mine - the hamster came with a boyfriend) a long time ago - over 30 years ago. He had a 3 tier rotastak with virtually no bedding, just a pile of nesting material, but the door was left open all the time and he free roamed and came and went as he pleased! I knew no different and was told that was ok. The room was hamstersafe. Ironically I could hear him running in his wheel most of the night, so he went back to his "cage" to use his wheel anyway! He was a lovely little thing, not very tame as in not really handleable, but he would follow me round the room trying to sneakily get out of the room by hanging on to the end of my dressing gown! Then one day he got stuck in one of the tubes when he was about two years old. He was quite small but had a lump on his neck. He had to go to the vets for an op - I'll say no more - I cried a lot!

Our next hamster was my stepson's when he was 6 but ended up being mine mostly as I was responsible and had to sort everything. He was incredibly shy and nervous. But I'll tell you now, of the two I've had who were the most shy and nervous, they have ended up being the mostly cuddly affectionate ones It took time.

 

[Amy]

Nibbles is very sweet. Socks, my black male Syrian hamster is similar in many ways. He is almost two and a half now, and spends a lot of time sleeping in his nest inside a shoe box. He hardly comes out, sadly, whereas not that long ago he was keen to come out for playpen time once, or even twice a night. Usually at 3am though 🫩. He is very well mannered and a real gentleham. One of his favourite things has always been to collect pumpkin seeds and similar items from me to take and store in his stash

Aww Nibbles loves dried pumpkin too and the seeds. Two and a half is a good age, I suppose it’s normal that he needs more sleep. It’s such a shame that they have such a short life. But I tell myself, as long as we make that short life a happy one as much as we can, that’s what counts.

 

[Amy]

Nibbles sounds adorable and it's early days My experience might be similar to yours. I first had a hamster in the house (that wasn't actually mine - the hamster came with a boyfriend) a long time ago - over 30 years ago. He had a 3 tier rotastak with virtually no bedding, just a pile of nesting material, but the door was left open all the time and he free roamed and came and went as he pleased! I knew no different and was told that was ok. The room was hamstersafe. Ironically I could hear him running in his wheel most of the night, so he went back to his "cage" to use his wheel anyway! He was a lovely little thing, not very tame as in not really handleable, but he would follow me round the room trying to sneakily get out of the room by hanging on to the end of my dressing gown! Then one day he got stuck in one of the tubes when he was about two years old. He was quite small but had a lump on his neck. He had to go to the vets for an op - I'll say no more - I cried a lot!

Our next hamster was my stepson's when he was 6 but ended up being mine mostly as I was responsible and had to sort everything. He was incredibly shy and nervous. But I'll tell you know, of the two I've had who were the most shy and nervous, they have ended up being the mostly cuddly affectionate ones It took time.

Yes years ago we knew far less about hamsters and their needs, but funnily enough most of them t knew lived a very long time. Sometimes I think today they are more prone to illnesses through breeding…? I dare not write where my first hamster hid a few times he squeezed himself behind the oven and made a nest there. We were looking for him for days and I was concerned as he was only kept in the spare bedroom, but somehow managed to get out… anyhow one day I wanted to bake a cake and preheated the oven. After five minutes he came out, it must have started to get a little warm I was so happy to find him and made sure no one entered his hamster room. He taugt me the biggest space was not big enough for a hamster I used to take him out for a walk he loved curling up in my hoodies pocket. He loved that. He was really an unusual little hamster. He hated his cage and slept curled up on my old teddy. He was never very interested in his wheel, but back then they were not as nice as today’s. I hope to bond with Nibbles but definitely won’t let him free roam without supervision

 

[Maz]

I think they would love to just live in the house with us, but an enclosure is for safety really. Your hamster and our old one clearly had careful owners but many hamsters had the most awful accidents or got trodden on in those days - many injuries - climbing and falling from curtains etc, or escaping under floorboards or outside or being got by other pets.

One of my Syrians two or three years ago was the most gregarious male I've ever had (Raffy), not very cuddly but very friendly and cheeky and he wanted to be out EVERY night, as soon as he saw me, for hours. He owned the living room basically and would have quite happily lived in it I think, but it wouldn't have been safe. It is difficult. But even then even if a hamster did have a whole room safely, they always want to go further - if there's a door they want to be on the other side!

Glad your hamster came out when the oven came on They're not stupid.

I still think it's really important they have regular out of cage time personally, either in a playpen or an area to free roam if possible. But now they have better larger enclosures and more bedding (and they do need space overnight), some are less inclined to want out - except when we're asleep! But they can be trained and got in the habit. I think it's tricky, to learn trust and bonding they need to be out. If they keep hiding away they never learn that.

 

[Amy]

I think they would love to just live in the house with us, but an enclosure is for safety really. Your hamster and our old one clearly had careful owners but many hamsters had the most awful accidents or got trodden on in those days - many injuries - climbing and falling from curtains etc, or escaping under floorboards or outside or being got by other pets.

One of my Syrians two or three years ago was the most gregarious male I've ever had (Raffy), not very cuddly but very friendly and cheeky and he wanted to be out EVERY night, as soon as he saw me, for hours. He owned the living room basically and would have quite happily lived in it I think, but it wouldn't have been safe. It is difficult. But even then even if a hamster did have a whole room safely, they always want to go further - if there's a door they want to be on the other side!

Glad your hamster came out when the oven came on They're not stupid.

I still think it's really important they have regular out of cage time personally, either in a playpen or an area to free roam if possible. But now they have better larger enclosures and more bedding (and they do need space overnight), some are less inclined to want out - except when we're asleep! But they can be trained and got in the habit. I think it's tricky, to learn trust and bonding they need to be out. If they keep hiding away they never learn that.

I agree with you. I will get a playpen as soon as he gets used to me. Yes there are awful people treating their animals badly. That makes me furious