Hi folks. Here is Kage - with a K.

[Kage]

Hi folks I thought it time to introduce my hamster to you His name is Kage. I usually introduce him as Kage with a K. Apart from the avatar I have no other photos of him yet. He was born 23 July 2025 and I collected him from the breeder last Friday - 5 September. He is absolutely adorable, with beautiful markings around his face. I sadly had to have my beloved cat, Chhaya put to sleep on 6 August, 2 days after her 11th birthday. Naturally I was devastated, but I quickly realised I needed to have company, not to replace her, but to take over from her. I am a single man, happily retired and Kage fits the bill perfectly. You see his set-up as it is now. The cage is a Ferplast Multipla Hamster Large. I wasn't aware at the time of the minimum recommendations for cage size when I bought it. I thought it was big enough. Long enough - 104cm yes, but 34cm wide falls short of the 50cm. I quickly bought two extensions, one of which you can see added. When the second extension is added, the floor space will be 5,800+. I want the best for Kage, the best I can offer. I'm not rushing him. I'm trying to take things slowly. He is taking treats from me through the wires, and soon I hope to be able to put my hand inside his home and stroke him, get closer to him, get him more confident with me. Up to now, he only comes out for about an hour each night, usually between the hours of 11pm and 2am. He seems to enjoy his home, exploring when he's out, burrowing in the bedding which is 7inch in depth. I have red light bulbs in all the lights specially for him. I hope the little chap is settling down, and enjoying his new home as much as I love having him here with me, and I do hope I am doing right by him. Any, all, constructive comments and advice will be greatly appreciated

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome Exciting having a new baby hamster - how is he settling in? He has lots of nice things to do in there and plenty to do. Yes the Multipla cages are a clever design and seem well-made, but they got the dimensions wrong! It is still a great set up for him, plenty of length, and you've added the extension as well Male Syrians can be quite amenable, so I'm sure you'll be fine. I like the way you have the wheel in the extension as it makes a lot more space everywhere else

Looking forward to seeing photos of Kage I guess he's a bit shy at the moment, being so new and young maybe? It can be hard at first when we just want to handle and stroke them, but give him a couple of weeks settling in time and you might find he's out and about more, and more adventurous. Meanwhile you could talk to him through the cage so he gets familiar with your voice, scent and presence, which helps, and offer him the odd treat through the bars if you see him.

Does he have a bit of fresh veg daily? They love that - it's their main reason to get up I find - smelling the fresh veg. With a shy hamster, I sometimes put the veg on a separate dish (eg a jar lid or just on a tile or shelf) at the end of the cage opposite to where they are sleeping. That gets them in the habit of being brave enough to cross the cage at feeding time and because they have to go the length of the cage, it can also be an opportunity to offer them a tube to walk into on the way back - eg for out of cage time/taming/handling (in a secure area). I'd give it a couple of weeks though.

Another thing you can do is maybe keep to a regular feeding time - maybe 8pm - they soon get in the habit of waking/coming out at feeding time, when the smell the veg and hear the odd bit of cage noise (it helps to make a slight bit of cage noise while doing it). Cucumber and broccoli are favourites here, and the occasional blueberry. Just a tiny piece about the size of his ear - so they eat it rather than hoard it.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Lovely to have lots of new owners and their hamsters joining the form ❤ I am very sorry to hear that you lost your lovely cat It's great that Kage is taking treats from you and is happy and healthy

 

[Kage]

Hello and welcome Exciting having a new baby hamster - how is he settling in? He has lots of nice things to do in there and plenty to do. Yes the Multipla cages are a clever design and seem well-made, but they got the dimensions wrong! It is still a great set up for him, plenty of length, and you've added the extension as well Male Syrians can be quite amenable, so I'm sure you'll be fine. I like the way you have the wheel in the extension as it makes a lot more space everywhere else

Looking forward to seeing photos of Kage I guess he's a bit shy at the moment, being so new and young maybe? It can be hard at first when we just want to handle and stroke them, but give him a couple of weeks settling in time and you might find he's out and about more, and more adventurous. Meanwhile you could talk to him through the cage so he gets familiar with your voice, scent and presence, which helps, and offer him the odd treat through the bars if you see him.

Does he have a bit of fresh veg daily? They love that - it's their main reason to get up I find - smelling the fresh veg. With a shy hamster, I sometimes put the veg on a separate dish (eg a jar lid or just on a tile or shelf) at the end of the cage opposite to where they are sleeping. That gets them in the habit of being brave enough to cross the cage at feeding time and because they have to go the length of the cage, it can also be an opportunity to offer them a tube to walk into on the way back - eg for out of cage time/taming/handling (in a secure area). I'd give it a couple of weeks though.

Another thing you can do is maybe keep to a regular feeding time - maybe 8pm - they soon get in the habit of waking/coming out at feeding time, when the smell the veg and hear the odd bit of cage noise (it helps to make a slight bit of cage noise while doing it). Cucumber and broccoli are favourites here, and the occasional blueberry. Just a tiny piece about the size of his ear - so they eat it rather than hoard it.

Thank you for the advice, Maz I do talk to him whether I can see him or not. I told him part of my life story the other night/morning. Not sure he appreciated it though. Didn't know hamsters could snore

 

[Kage]

Lovely to have lots of new owners and their hamsters joining the form ❤ I am very sorry to hear that you lost your lovely cat It's great that Kage is taking treats from you and is happy and healthy

Thank you, Socks' Mum. Yes, it broke my heart losing Chhaya ,but Kage has definitely lifted my spirits again

 

[Maz]

Oh they are very good listeners! And I swear they understand some of it They seem sensitive to nuances in voices. Like any other pet really - even if they don't understand the words, they understand the tone and feeling behind the words. They can actually learn some words actually - like No!

 

[Kage]

Oh they are very good listeners! And I swear they understand some of it They seem sensitive to nuances in voices. Like any other pet really - even if they don't understand the words, they understand the tone and feeling behind the words. They can actually learn some words actually - like No!

Maz, a thought occurred to me - there's talking to them, being there... He's been with me for a week now and I've been up with him until 4, 5, 6am each night/morning. Might he appreciate a bit of "me time" to get used to his new home on his own, in his own time? Like I say, it's just a thought.

 

[Rescued One]

Oh they are very good listeners! And I swear they understand some of it They seem sensitive to nuances in voices. Like any other pet really - even if they don't understand the words, they understand the tone and feeling behind the words. They can actually learn some words actually - like No!

Indeed, I sing little songs to my hammies - each has their own song and they seem to recognize their songs. I sing their songs all the way home when I first get them and anytime I go near their habitats. They learn to associate the song with interaction. of course, I change the words to be all about them (audience appropriate)

 

[Maz]

Maz, a thought occurred to me - there's talking to them, being there... He's been with me for a week now and I've been up with him until 4, 5, 6am each night/morning. Might he appreciate a bit of "me time" to get used to his new home on his own, in his own time? Like I say, it's just a thought.

Yes I'm sure he'll need some me time and settling in time as well so if you're up with him in the early hours it might be better to do the talking maybe 10pm to midnight the night before and let him do his hamstery things at night Although 6am might be ok as that's the end of his night/day ish.

They also like listening to music Certain things can be relaxing or calming or they can sit looking interested and listening. I think it moves them. They are sensitive little things with much more intelligence than they are sometimes credited with. Mind you they can do daft things as well! But that's age rather than species! Like young people do daft things before they get older and wiser.

Singing songs to them sounds lovely too @Rescued One

 

[Yorkie]

Kage is soooo adorable,welcome to the forum.

 

[Kage]

Kage is soooo adorable,welcome to the forum.

Thank you. You are sooo right. He looks even more so in the fur

 

[Kage]

The correct temperature, I know, is important to hamsters I see the temperature needs to be in the 18-24 degrees Centigrade, but it can be tolerated short term down to 15, up to 28 degrees Centigrade. At the moment, I keep my living room at 20-21 degrees. Just how critical are these temperatures? Any comments will be appreciated

 

[Maz]

It’s best not to let the temperature go below 16 degrees in the room. Keeping it at 20 degrees is ideal for hansters - or even a bit more.

It can be difficult at night in winter and you may have to have heating come on for an hour at night. I have an oil filled radiator on a timer overnight.

 

[Kage]

It’s best not to let the temperature go below 16 degrees in the room. Keeping it at 20 degrees is ideal for hansters - or even a bit more.

It can be difficult at night in winter and you may have to have heating come on for an hour at night. I have an oil filled radiator on a timer overnight.

I keep a close eye on the thermometer. When I go to bed I leave a heater on to keep the temperature steady. I had to leave Kage to his own devices at 2am last night. I hadn't had an afternoon nap for a couple of days - I was shattered! I'm still working out my schedule so I can watch out for him throughout the night. Fortunately I'm retired so there's no strict routine for me to keep up with. It's just after half past midnight where we live here in the UK, and I haven't seen him yet, but I've heard him. I think he's at the very bottom of his home.

I'm looking at different ways to heat the room for him At the moment, I'm using an electric heater. I have a solid fuel fire that heats my radiators when I need heat throughout the day, but at night that burns out eventually. I'll work it out.

Having Kage here with me is wonderful, and of course I wouldn't swap him, but he's making me think how best to look after him. This is one whole new adventure I didn't see coming a few weeks ago, and I'm loving it

 

[Maz]

Hamsters are wonderful little companions Maybe you could get a hamstercam Some of us have those. It's just a small indoor security camera/baby monitor type thing. They cost between £30 and £50. I have a Eufy one and it's really good. You put a micro sd card in it and it records constantly. It connects to wifi so you can view live on your phone wherever you are. I used to like to go to bed and watch what the hamsters were up to on my phone. Sometimes they don't really go into their night phase until the lights are out and we've gone to bed and it's quiet. It's usually a routine of foraging, wheeling, snacking, a nap and then more wheeling and foraging

Or you can watch the recording the next day and see what they've been doing during the night. Mine only records movement so you can see on the recording, which bits to watch and which bits to skip (ie the movement sections are a different colour). I found this really helpful when I had a roborovski hamster as he hid away lot for the first few weeks, so at least I could watch the recording and see what he'd been up to!

It can also be reassuring - so you can spot if something needs sorting in the cage (eg a wheel jammed up with bedding) which might not get noticed for days otherwise.

 

[Kage]

Kage and I have so much to learn about each other's life. I have thought about a camera but not I won't be getting one for a while at least. It's almost 3am and he hasn't come out yet, but I do hear him, I think deep down in his bedding. I put red bulbs in all of the lights thinking that would help him instead of using ordinary bulbs.

Up until the last couple of days if I listened to the radio, or put the TV on, I'd use headphones. I've been as quiet as possible for him. But for the last couple of days I haven't used headphones. The sound is always low, never loud. I have my daily routine as well. Kage needs to get used to the usual sounds in a day. I can't tip-toe round all the time.

If he chooses to stay out of the way until "the coast is clear", how do I get him used to me? He needs to come out of his home at times such as for deep cleaning, and for socialisation. I need to be able to handle him. I think you said about ways to transport him from cage to play pen, but if he doesn't show, I doubt I can make him, unless I can find certain treats with smells that attract him.

My waking hours and sleeping hours have changed a lot since he arrived, and I believe they will continue to change until we find hours to suit both him and me.

I thought the other night he was really coming out of his shell, but apparently not just yet. This relationship is going to be a very interesting one. I've read some owners have very social hamsters, while others don't. I wonder how Kage will turn out? I know it's going to take patience and more understanding, and hopefully Kage and I will find common ground and form a relationship built on trust and love