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Help and advice please.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frida
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Albert the Dwarf Hamster said:
I might look into that. My son says I should get a camera. If I go to the toilet during the night I go down stairs and check on Albert.
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I find having a camera really helps with me feeling anxious. Sometimes when I wake up it does not even look like my hamster has been out as everything looks how I left it. I then find he has been really busy and it helps. :)
 
Hello and welcome to the forum!

Albert sounds adorable and i like the name.

I wouldn't worry about cleaning if there's no smell. Once a week sounds plenty to me. I spot clean less than that.
Some substrates are more absorbent than others. I use white Kaytee clean and cozy.

It's easy to worry. Hamsters are so small and we want the best for them. I think Albert is a very lucky dwarfie to live with you and your family.
 
I have a night cam too :) It's also nice (and interesting) to see what they've been up to in the night! When they're most active. I don't use it all the time these days, but it can be reassuring. At one time I had two hamsters who never got up until after the lights were out and it was all quiet - when they were younger. So I used to sit in bed and watch what they were up to on my phone (the night cam links to your phone as it works via wifi). They are very simple to use - people get them as baby monitors or pet monitors if they're away for the day etc (for dogs and cats as well).

I have this one. It takes a mini SD card, so it records to the sd card continuously - so next day you can look back at the previous nights recording. When the SD card is full it goes back to the beginning and overwrites it - so it never runs out. One of the best Christmas presents I ever had! We also had fun with it, trying it out at first. It's actually a good home security monitor as well - if you go out for the day. I used to leave it pointing at the back door (if you need to sell it to your OH lol!). It's not ridiculously expensive either. If you have a look at Orko's thread, Rainbow has lots of night videos of Orko on there!

It's infrared so it can see in the dark! Just has a tiny little red light on the front (hamsters don't see the colour red).


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Orko's adventures

Orko is an 8 month old robo whom I adopted from the adoption centre at a pet shop when he was 4 months old. His previous family had to surrender him as they were moving overseas. Orko is my first hamster so I am still learning. He is a very sweet and happy boy and so shy. I have 2 cameras in his...
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This is a short clip of my Syrian at night

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And my Robo at night!

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One thing that helps with reassurance as well. Do you give him a bit of fresh veg daily? They like a bit of fresh veg every day. Just a tiny little piece. I usually give a tiny cube of cucumber or broccoli floret - occasionally a bit of leftover carrot if we've had carrots. About 1cm cubed size, maybe even a bit smaller for a dwarf hamster. They tend to eat fresh veg straight away and not hoard it.

The reason that's reassurance is - if you can see the veg has gone in the morning, you know they're ok :) The only time I worry is if I can see the veg hasn't been eaten. The bit of fresh veg is their most exciting thing every day - they can smell it and get up for it!
 
Beryl said:
Hello and welcome to the forum!

Albert sounds adorable and i like the name.

I wouldn't worry about cleaning if there's no smell. Once a week sounds plenty to me. I spot clean less than that.
Some substrates are more absorbent than others. I use white Kaytee clean and cozy.

It's easy to worry. Hamsters are so small and we want the best for them. I think Albert is a very lucky dwarfie to live with you and your family
Click to expand...

Beryl said:
Hello and welcome to the forum!

Albert sounds adorable and i like the name.

I wouldn't worry about cleaning if there's no smell. Once a week sounds plenty to me. I spot clean less than that.
Some substrates are more absorbent than others. I use white Kaytee clean and cozy.

It's easy to worry. Hamsters are so small and we want the best for them. I think Albert is a very lucky dwarfie to live with you and your family.
Click to expand...
Hello Beryl, thank you for your reply.
 
Maz said:
One thing that helps with reassurance as well. Do you give him a bit of fresh veg daily? They like a bit of fresh veg every day. Just a tiny little piece. I usually give a tiny cube of cucumber or broccoli floret - occasionally a bit of leftover carrot if we've had carrots. About 1cm cubed size, maybe even a bit smaller for a dwarf hamster. They tend to eat fresh veg straight away and not hoard it.

The reason that's reassurance is - if you can see the veg has gone in the morning, you know they're ok :) The only time I worry is if I can see the veg hasn't been eaten. The bit of fresh veg is their most exciting thing every day - they can smell it and get up for it!
Click to expand...
Albert loves veg. He's not very interested in fruit. I've read veg is better than fruit for russian dwarf hamsters because of diabetes. So I guess it doesn't matter he's not interested in fruit.
 
That's correct. Most dwarf hamsters are hybrids of two Russian dwarf species (Winter Whites and Campbells). They may look like a Winter White or look like a Campbell, but they are a genetic mix of both. Hybrids and Campbells are both prone to diabetes. So giving them a sugar free diet is considered to help prevent the onset of this. The amount of sugars in veg is fine, but fruit does have quite high fruit sugar content.

The same goes for a hamster mix - you want a sugar free one. Which one does Albert have at the moment? There is very little choice in dwarf specific hamster mixes in the Uk these days. Harry Hamster is fine for them (it's sugar free). Really that is a Syrian mix but fine for dwarf hamsters too. Specific dwarf hamster mixes contain more small seeds and small pieces. Some people get dwarf specific mixes from Germany - Bunny Dream dwarf expert or rodipet. They are not as easy to get hold of since Brexit though (less places importing).
 
Maz said:
That's correct. Most dwarf hamsters are hybrids of two Russian dwarf species (Winter Whites and Campbells). They may look like a Winter White or look like a Campbell, but they are a genetic mix of both. Hybrids and Campbells are both prone to diabetes. So giving them a sugar free diet is considered to help prevent the onset of this. The amount of sugars in veg is fine, but fruit does have quite high fruit sugar content.

The same goes for a hamster mix - you want a sugar free one. Which one does Albert have at the moment? There is very little choice in dwarf specific hamster mixes in the Uk these days. Harry Hamster is fine for them (it's sugar free). Really that is a Syrian mix but fine for dwarf hamsters too. Specific dwarf hamster mixes contain more small seeds and small pieces. Some people get dwarf specific mixes from Germany - Bunny Dream dwarf expert or rodipet. They are not as easy to get hold of since Brexit though (less places importing).
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Albert is on Harry Hamster. He was already on that mix when I adopted him. Because it's sugar free I decided not to change.
 
Beryl said:
Hello and welcome to the forum!

Albert sounds adorable and i like the name.

I wouldn't worry about cleaning if there's no smell. Once a week sounds plenty to me. I spot clean less than that.
Some substrates are more absorbent than others. I use white Kaytee clean and cozy.

It's easy to worry. Hamsters are so small and we want the best for them. I think Albert is a very lucky dwarfie to live with you and your family.
Click to expand...
Hello, where do you buy white Kaytee clean and cozy from? On the Pets at Home website it's £20.00 for a 49.2 Litre bag. Is that about the right price? I've now upgraded Albert's cage. He is now happily living in a Savic Hamster Heaven. I was just wondering how long a 49.2 bag would last in a cage that size.
 
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I'm lucky to live near an independent pet shop and a garden centre that stock 85l bags of Kaytee for £22.99.

Fitch is similar and works out cheaper. There is a thread on substrate on here with links to suppliers.

A Hamster Heaven is a great cage for a dwarf and so practical for us with the big front door. I've just moved my dwarf Eddie into a Hamster Heaven.
 
He'll be much happier in a hamster heaven - it's so much easier to interact with them with that big front door. The tubes and penthouse aren't good really though - especially for dwarfs - they end up blocking them up and them getting stinky plus they can't have enough substrate under their nest if they decide to nest in the penthouse. So the cage is better with those removed really so it's just a standard cage. Do let us know how he settles in. It helps them settle if everything is moved across without cleaning first and some of his old substrate is moved across too.
 
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Beryl said:
I'm lucky to live near an independent pet shop and a garden centre that stock 85l bags of Kaytee for £22.99.

Fitch is similar and works out cheaper. There is a thread on substrate on here with links to suppliers.

A Hamster Heaven is a great cage for a dwarf and so practical for us with the big front door. I've just moved my dwarf Eddie into a Hamster Heaven.
Click to expand...
Thanks I'll have a look for the thread on substrate.
 
Maz said:
He'll be much happier in a hamster heaven - it's so much easier to interact with them with that big front door. The tubes and penthouse aren't good really though - especially for dwarfs - they end up blocking them up and them getting stinky plus they can't have enough substrate under their nest if they decide to nest in the penthouse. So the cage is better with those removed really so it's just a standard cage. Do let us know how he settles in. It helps them settle if everything is moved across without cleaning first and some of his old substrate is moved across too.
Click to expand...
I'm only using the pink slide and some of the tubes under the substrate. The rest of the accessories are no good for Albert. He makes me laugh when he uses the slide. I've hook the slide to side of the cage. He climbs on his wooden log to get to the top and then slides down on his side. He loves the the tubes under ground too. I moved all his substrate, nest, toys etc over. Just had to top-up the substrate because the base is bigger. He's so happy. I also kept the poop scoop to clean his bath. I've cleaned his old cage and boxed it up. It's now up in the loft. Never know if I might need.
 
The old one could be very useful - if you ever need to do a big clean out and need somewhere to put him temporarily. It would make a good temporary holiday cage - for a Syrian even, in future.

I bet he is really happy in the HH! I think it is much easier to tame them in that cage as well. Not tame them exactly but get them used to human interaction. That big open door - they get used to you being there - and a hand from the front is less intimidating than a hand from the top.
 
Aww Albert sounds so adorable and very happy. I would love to see more pictures of him.
 
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