Cherrry123

I'm getting a hamster tomorrow at Petsmart, I have a cage, a water bottle, what else do I need? I am a little bit new to hamster keeping and I have one picked out if they have it, a female panda one. Any advice on keeping one? And what else I'll need?

MagpieTear

Go with carefresh as the bedding instead of wood chips. Pine and Cedar oil bother their lungs, aspen's too expensive to use all the time.

Make sure the cage is locked down tight. They're not called Hairy Houdini's for nothing.

Cherrry123

Ok, and we decided to get a bigger cage there, my old one was just two small.(Also I didn't want to clean it out) Any other ideas on toys or anything? I'm making a list!

MagpieTear

Well, I've never had a Hamster, had gerbils and mice when I was a kid and now a guinea pig. So I can't help with toys and diet, but got to say rodents do make great pets if you spend the time with them.

Cherrry123

Ok, I know I am getting a kit type thing, with the mazes in stuff, along with a wheel and a ball I can put her in when I clean her cage, anything else?

Frogger

Make sure to get something for them to chew on, their teeth never stop growing so this is very important. They sell little chew sticks at the store or you can even give them dog biscuits. I've done both with my hamsters in the past.

As for their diet its whatever you pick out any of the food they sell at the store will do well. Just make sure to give them fresh veggies and fruits every few days. My guys used to love carrots, as did my dog. Hamsters are great pets and once their tamed they each of a unique personality. My last little guy Calvin would sit up on my shoulders. I think it made him feel big.

Cherrry123

That's really cool! I wanted a chinchilla, but I decided to get a hamster instead, because on wikipedia it says they make barking noises early in the morning, and are nocturnal(sp). This is my list so far: Habitrail cage, chew sticks/wood block, hamster food, carefesh bedding, wheel, and hamster. Anything else?

Drea

Yep, hamsters are busy all night long while we sleep. So, I'd check the cage wheel to see if it squeeks, or you might not get much sleep. I had alot of fun with my hamster, Marmaduke! And ditto the chewing stuff, they get quite out of sorts, cause their teeth grow, and grow and grow.

Cherrry123

Ok, I'm so happy, one I'm getting a hamster, and two, my new laptop came!!!!!

Cherrry123

Yupp, I got her, she is a short haired female. Her coloration is like a panda's, sortof not exactly like a panda's, but close. She is very mean, I named her Star, and when I tried to pick her up to put her in her cage, she bit me. I thought she was nice and was going to sniff my hand. She came close and I moved my hand, and then put it back again, then it felt like a thorn went into my finger. She had bit me really hard. Then she ran around my room for the next half hour well I was trying to catch her.

Drea

oops! they do bite, she's probably just scared with everything that she's going through. Make sure you wash that boo boo out good with soap, and put a little antiseptic (bactine like) on it.
Give her time, she'll warmup to you, specialy if you give her some treats, and nice talk. She just doesn't know you yet....

Cherrry123

Yup! I'm giving her the week to get used to the cage. It would help more if my cat didn't dart out from under my bed and nearly gave her a heart attack. Luckliy I grabbed my cat and set her outside my bedroom door. But today I had a babysitting course and she kept me up all night running on her wheel. The strange thing is there is a hamster maze type thing that goes straight up to her food bowl, and she refuses to go into it. I've tried everything to get her to go up it, I put a tiny piece of a peeled carrot in the tunnel, and she ignored it. Then I heard, cling, cling and I saw her climbing the back of the cage. Then she jumped on top of her wheel and then onto the platfor with the food and ate. Then she climbed down the tunnel, and ate the carrot. Lol.

Cherrry123

Ahhh, she's finally gotten used to me. I've done the "read to it outloud to get it used to your voice" method(sp). I used a cloth to pick her up, but she jumped out and fears forgotten I grabbed her, pet her and put her in the ball. Now she's currently running around the living room in the ball. My cats don't like it very much though,...

Shaina

Good luck: in junior high school my friend got a hamster from Petsmart and picked out the "friskiest" one. A week or two later she had 10 hamsters: the original and 9 babies. That hamster had been friskier than she knew...

Lucy

Gerbils are the same way. Someone abandoned a pair, cage and all on my street. I gave them to a teacher at the elementary school. The next thing we knew, all the teachers had gerbils, kids took home gerbils and so on and so on........
I think every gerbil in town can be traced back to those 2! lol

The whole hampster escape thing is why we bought my daughter a guinea pig, they are easier to catch.

Congrats on your new pet, hampsters sure are cute. What did you name her?

Cherrry123

I named her Star, and that's funny. I didn't see the guinea pigs when I was there, but as we were leaving, I saw them. And Shania that's soo funny! The Petsmart here only sells female hamsters. But that must have been really funny.

ShaynaB

That's cute. I think you'll be very happy with your hamster. I had a black and white one when I was in high school (it was the only animal I could convince my parents to let me have) and she was great! My friends ended up naming her Moo cause she looked like a little cow and ate like one too. I hope you enjoy your Star!

Cherrry123

Well it turns out she died she had something wrong with her tummy, and when I woke up she was dead. I'm really upset I googled it, and they said they only thing the vet would be able to do was to put it asleep. I'm getting a new one due to the fact that she was sick when I got her.

ShaynaB

Aww, that's too bad. My first hamster (not Moo... I had 4 of them. They never seemed to live very long. Maybe a thin strain from overbreeding?) had a tumor on his tummy. That always hurts, doesn't it. Go get yourself another pretty girl (or boy) and enjoy!

Lucy

I'm so sorry to hear you lost Star.

Cherrry123

Thanks I'm leaving to get one in a few minuets... I knew something was wrong when the one I picked wasn't moving when the other one in the cage was out running through the wood chips. I guess I will have to try my best to pick a healthy one. I had a dream about Star last night, it was sad.

Cherrry123

Ok, got her yesterday, and she is wayy healthier than Star was. She even comes out in the day time! Although she is very active... she was on her wheel all last night and it kept me up! I was looking at the mixed dwarf hamsters and had the guy working pick up all the shelters in them, the first one had two fluffy gray teeny tiny hamsters in it. Then he picked up one that had two bigger white and gray ones. I saw one moving in the wood chips so I asked the guy to uncover that one. It was brown with a black skunk stripe. It decided it didn't like being uncovered, so it tunneled underneath the wood chips back into the shelter type thing. Lastly he picked up one shelter which had one lonley hamster, or that's what I thought before it hissed at him. I had to take the


Brown one.
I named her Biscuit because of the color brown she is, with the little black skunk stripe. Biscuit is happy, but I have to make the wheel stop squeaking...... And Biscuit is afraid of me, more my cats, but still whenever I say " Biscuit" softly she puts her head up, and goes tunneling through the wood chips. She does like Yogurt Chips though, I put one in her food bowl last night, and in the morning it was gone! How often should I feed her Yogurt Chips

ShaynaB

Congrats on Biscuit!

Try some oil on that wheel... (Stuff that won't harm the hamster, like vegetable oil) That's what stopped my wheel from squeaking. My hamster tried to chew at the wheel when I first put it on, but she got bored after a while. I got used to the squeaking...

I'd say give the Yogurt Chips as a treat... At the most 2 or 3 times a week. They like them a lot!

Cherrry123

Thanks! I got a book out from the school library and she's a Djungarian hamster. My cousin who is very very jealous that I got a hamster and she didn't. Lol, she is coming up and I get to stay up till midnight! That is good because she is only staying a few days, not on the weekend when I can stay up that late, she lives in Hershey. She is also jealous that I have fish and she can't.!

Cherrry123

Ok, last night, I picked up a pile of gravel, oops umm bedding I mean, and she was in it. I took the bedding off and let her climb on my bed for a bit. Then I held her and let her walk on my hands, and then she crawled onto my shoulder, and sat there for like two hours waiting for my cousin to get here. She is here now.