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yummychinchillatoys.com

yummychinchillatoys
Joined
Mar 25, 2009
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464
Location
Visalia,ca
I got my son a hamster for christmas. I have done some research on them but everything seems to be different. Does anyone on here have hamsters? Any advice on the best food, what they can and can't have would be great.
 
I'm interested to see responses I am looking into get a hamster myself. Sorry I can't help more!
 
Some of the info will depend on what type of hamster you have. Is it a dwarf or Syrian? Most of the care is the same, but dwarf hamsters are more prone to diabetes so you have to be careful with foods that are high in sugar. Some good foods for hamsters are Mazuri and Carefresh Complete. Both of those brands can be purchased at Petsmart or Petco. They can also have fresh veggies, you just have to be careful about giving too many leafy greens as they can cause diarrhea. I hope that helps a little bit.
 
I have 11 hams at the moment, nine Winter Whites and two Robos.... I´ve heard that some good American brands of food are Hazel Hamster (think you need to add sunflower seeds though) and Carefresh Complete (steer clear of Katyees, it´s junk) Like Future DVM says dwarf hamsters are more prone to diabetes (especially Winter Whites). I pick the peas and fruit pieces out of my food mix and also feed a balanced pellet formula to my diabetic WW. You can monitor blood sugar levels using the strips they sell at the chemist to test on humans.

Some people feed very small amounts of natural yoghurt as well but none of mine seem to take to that.

Carefresh bedding is a good idea too since I´ve heard that pine can cause respiritory problems.


I hope your son enjoys his new pet, would love to see photos!
 
Oh, and there are different schools of thought on how many sunflower seeds to feed per day but mine get 1-2 each. They are fatty but contain a lot of essential fatty acids, which is beneficial.
 
Here are some pictures of her I took with my phone so they aren't the best. The pet store just said she was a short haired hamster. Any ideas on what she really is? She's so cute though.
 

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My brother had a hamster when we were little, and it would hop a ride on our dog all the time and escape. We would always find him in the dog food stealing his food, it was the strangest thing...lol
 
Thanks guys. Glad I now know what kind she is. I don't know why pet stores sell animals they can't even tell you anything about. Seems stupid to me. Lol. But I'm glad I have you guys. :)
 
I wanted to get him the robo but the lady at the store said they have a tendency to bite more often. And with 4 kids, I didn't want to take that chance. They are super cute though.
 
Syrians are the one type of hamster that come in different variations, they are often sold as teddy bear hamsters or pana hamsters as a marketing ploy, but she is definantly a Syrian (not too sure of the colour variation since I dont have Syrians myself) She looks gorgeous though, hope the kids are enjoying her :)

Scrambeled eggs are good for protein, in small amounts to get her used to it. I wouldnt feed them every day, maybe once a week or so as a little treat and be sure to remove the egg after an hour or so to prevent any bacteria forming.

Robos are great to watch but I wouldnt recommend them for people who want to handle their hams on a regular basis, mine will accept a treat from my hand but they are much, much too quick to have out unless I sit in the bath tub with them to prevent escapes and they don´t seem very happy about being touched so they get left alone a lot of the time.

I am biased (having 9 of them, lol) but I swear by my Winter White hams, have never been bitten and they are the sweetest things. I might get a Syrian oneday when I have a spare cage, hopefully one as cute as your new girl!
 
dragsil said:
Syrians are the one type of hamster that come in different variations, they are often sold as teddy bear hamsters or pana hamsters as a marketing ploy, but she is definantly a Syrian (not too sure of the colour variation since I dont have Syrians myself) She looks gorgeous though, hope the kids are enjoying her :)

Scrambeled eggs are good for protein, in small amounts to get her used to it. I wouldnt feed them every day, maybe once a week or so as a little treat and be sure to remove the egg after an hour or so to prevent any bacteria forming.

Robos are great to watch but I wouldnt recommend them for people who want to handle their hams on a regular basis, mine will accept a treat from my hand but they are much, much too quick to have out unless I sit in the bath tub with them to prevent escapes and they don´t seem very happy about being touched so they get left alone a lot of the time.

I am biased (having 9 of them, lol) but I swear by my Winter White hams, have never been bitten and they are the sweetest things. I might get a Syrian oneday when I have a spare cage, hopefully one as cute as your new girl!
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My son named her Kylee. Lol. She seems very sweet. I will take her out after all the kids go to bed and let her run around on me. She actually likes to be rubbed on her cheeks. She does one of those chin lifts like the chins do. She likes to be out of her cage with us. She will sit by her cage door and when we walk by she will stand up like as if she's saying "look at me, I want out". We bought her on Christmas eve, so I haven't let the kids handle her yet, I want her to get use to me handling her first before I let the kids. I'm hoping by doing that, that it will lessen the chance of her ever biting.

I do have a couple questions about hamsters though. I read somewhere that you should feed them milworms a few times a week. Is this true, or will the egg be good enough for the protein she needs. Also I read that I should put some blue cloud chinchilla dust in a bowl or dust house for her to roll around in. Is this true?
 
You can feed them mealworms if you want, but you don't have to. If you pick a good quality hamster food, it should have plenty of protein to keep your hamster healthy and happy. As far as the dust baths, I could be wrong but I think that is more recommended for the dwarf hamsters (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).
 
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