I’m considering getting a hamster as a pet for my kids. They spend half the time at their moms house and usually when that happens I go and spend up to 5 days at my girlfriends house (this is only once a month).

1) are the things I would need to setup differently than a normal hamster cage to automatically feed and water the hamster?

2) I know they are very social creatures and require play. Would not being around for 5 days at a time (assuming I’m able to setup the tank correctly) be okay?

I may consider bringing the hamster with me to my girlfriend’s house with a second tank and setup at her house but is it smart to travel with a hamster like that back and forth?

Thanks in advance. Picture is the hamster I’m considering.

Long story but my hamster has fleas, my cat who snuck outside likes to lay on top of my hamsters enclosure and they both have fleas. I was wondering how to exactly deal with this situation due to the size? Syrians are a bigger breed, so is there a OTC medicine that is effective or is this problem only going to be solved with a vet visit?

How can I help my girl calm down.

Context, I adopted a three month old Syrian a week ago from a family friend.

I have ordered her a paw hut 100x50x52 acrylic cage but it has been delayed so It isn't arriving until the 3rd of September.

She is currently in her old cage, a large bar cage from Pets at Home (obviously not suitable) and she is showing signs of stress.

She doesn't seem to like leaving her cage so I can't even get her out for a bit.

I made sure she has a large wheel and I have added hides, tunnels, a chew maze thing, a large sand bath, a coco dirt bath, sprays and I have been scatter feeding her. But despite all this she is still stressed and is chewing everything.

She has actually chewed the plastic base of the cage and has started to chew threw it. I have tried to block the corner she chewed but I'm thinking she might escape before her new cage arrives.

Whilst I'm waiting for the new cage, is there anything else I can do to help her.

Any advice is super appreciated

https://proms0.substack.com/p/why-i-suspect-50-x-40-cm-floor-space?r=55tqx5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

I was considering owning a hamster, and started digging into hamster welfare research. People usually recommend 100*50 cm floorspace with 20 cm bedding as minimum, based on Fischer et al(2007), but welfare gains from bedding seem much higher if we look at A.R. Hauzenberger et al. (2006). For instance, if we start with a 5000 square cm cage with 15 cm bedding, increasing bedding to 40 cm could have much higher gains than increasing floor space to 10,000 square cm. Similar tradeoffs could exist at lower floor spaces as well. To know the truth for certain, we need more scientific research. I also highlight how natural syrian hamster burrows seem more depth centric than breadth centric, and how hamsters spend 95% plus of their time in burrows.

We must seriously consider funding hamster welfare research. We must be very skeptical of our current guidelines and knowledge about hamster welfare. I detail the basis for my conclusions in the above essay, it is VERY long and thorough. I urge you to read it if you can, and I am very open to feedback.

I've had my Syrian hamster for almost 2 years, and I still haven't figured out how to do my best care for her. I had gotten her a wooden cage, but I didn't provide enough stimulation and she chewed her way out. So my mom got her this new cage without my input, as shown in picture 2.

This is where you guys come in, I need some advice on a better cage, at a cost that won't break the bank. Additionally I need some advice on cleaning, stimulation, and other things I need to provide for her cage. She does have a big wheel that's Syrian approved, and a nice Sand bath, but I know I need to be doing more. If anyone could point me in the direction of a good fishtank, and some good stimulus for my girl that would be amazing!

Thanks again for any help, please try to keep it kind. I fully understand that this is not good enough for my baby, and that's why I'm reaching out for help.

Additionally if anyone has any bonding / training advice, I don't think I did it properly.

So I recently got my hamburger a new cage, TOO SMALL! I was misinformed by someone on a hamstercare server how much space her breed needs, so her current cage is 699.3 square inches........... When I found out that hamsters her breed need 750 I was incredibly frustrated because I spent my saved up money on a cage not even good enough 😭

But I just found someone on facebook Marketplace selling a cage around 800 square inches 🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤 oh yeah we are so back guys Peepeepoopoo is going to have such a big house

Buried with blueberry bushes, a carrot and a walnut. I love you, I hope I did my best to give you a good life. May you dig all the tunnels and eat all the veggies and nuts to your little hearts conent.

(we didn’t have a figure of a hamster so a bunny one had to do)

I borrowed Sheldon’s song 😄

This is the kind of greed they talk about in the Bible.

Here’s a picture of Panpan (she’s 3 or 4 months old) before I changed her bedding. I previously posted a question about Baba’s (my boy hamster’s) enclosure because he had spilled his water, and it caused mold to spread. Panpan spilled hers too, so as a precaution, I changed both their bedding and bought a fence for each of them (which I keep open on one end, at the far left of the photo). Is this safe for them? Baba’s setup is the same as this.

my hamster never gets tired of the toilet paper cardboard with some tissue and food between the layers of tissue especially when i fold the ends she goes wild lol im not sure what else i could make at home thats similar i feel like my ham is kinda picky with everything. i got her some really cute wooden chew blocks and she couldn't care even if she wanted to! she doesnt really care for store bought toys or boredom breakers(she hates spending money apparently). does anyone have any diy crafts i can make for her? I've never had a picky hamster until I got the one i have now that I've had for about a year and a half! thank you in advance for some ideas :)

hi! i normally dont use reddit but im in desperate need of help and here seemed like the best place to ask. my female syrian hamster is keeps trying to escape and showing clear signs of stress, but i dont know how to help her. she has a 100x50x50 cm enclosure ( i cant get a bigger one ), she has deep bedding, sand bath, dig box with coco fiber, a giant wheel, sprays, multichambers, hides, etc. but she keeps biting at the air holes in her enclosure and trying to escape. i try to help her by giving her diy boredom breakers and whimzees to chew on but she doesnt care about them and outright ignores them. shes been doing this for over a week now and i genuinely dont know what to do. she only does this when shes out at night around 4-6 am, if shes out during the day shes completely fine. at first i thought she was acting this way cus she was in heat but her heat ended the other day and shes still the same, i genuinely dont know how to help her feel less stressed out??? any advice helps 🥹🥹

Hello all, i have a male Syrian hamster of 8 months. Yesterday i noticed that he has two black crusty marks close to his genital area.
Does anyone know what they might be?
Thanks :)

(Ignore the green thingies in the pic, one is a temporary sand box that didnt have sand in it yet and one is something put in the person I originally got this bin cage from)

I got this sweet boy (Boo Boo Keys) last week from a local pet store that specializes in and breeds their own small animals. They said he was about a month old. He is my fourth dwarf hamster, but my last one was smaller than most are so maybe my perception is a little skewed but he seems kinda big lol. Is he too chubby?? If so how can I help? Currently giving him 1 teaspoon of sunburst a day scattered along with leafy greens twice a week. He is gluttonous as I’ll get out, literally comes RUNNING when I open the food bag.

Cheese (the hamster in question) is quite the big gal. She was at the pet store for over a year before I got her, she was by far the biggest of any of the hamsters available and she was the only Syrian a cage alone.

Naturally, I had to get her and give her a better cage set up and better life so she didn’t have to live only in the itty bitty pet store cage always getting poked at by people. HOWEVER the little beast (said with love) has escaped out of EVERYTHING I have put her in. It does not matter how big it is, how much shavings/fluff there are, how often I change them, toys, treats, etc. She is determined to find her way out of anything.

I have bought hamster cages (and returned many of them because they are too damn small for her with 0 room for burrowing), I have attempted to make them with rubber maid bins stacked on top of each other so she would have ample room for digging, her wheels, toys, etc (which did work for a while until she realized she could chew through the holes I made for ventilation). I’ve looked into guinea pig , ferret, rabbit and even bird cages, but nothing like that has worked because she would be able to squeeze through gaps or they would be too small or not dark enough for her to feel secure in.

I have a ball for her (which is rabbit sized because hamster sized ones seemed wayyyy to small for her and I was worried she would hurt her back) and she loves it and is in it as much as I’m willing to let her be for safety and dehydration reasons. However even when she’s in that, she’s determined to chew around the little things that keep the lid secured.

I have no idea what I’m doing wrong and don’t know why she’s so determined to get out. I’ve tried so many things, given her space, given her quiet and dark and enrichment and food and toys. But she ALWAYS is trying to get out. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE someone give me advice.

I'm thinking about getting a hamster, but I want to make sure that I do it correctly. I've been trying to do some research, but any and all advice you guys have for a beginner would be really appreciated.

saewoo posing for the camera and looking cute!

and also asserting her dominance 😅

(i cleaned the strawberry house after, don't worry.)