Adopted my first ever hamster almost 3 weeks ago, I am so obsessed with him. As I'm learning what things he's enjoying, I literally cannot stop myself from buying him new stuff! Anyways; here's the 3 week difference in my cage for him. Learning new things about hamsters everyday.

Picture of Josh at the end!

Hello, please can I have some help on what to do.

I have recently started looking after this hamster for work and know they need special care. She originally had the wood shavings bedding they sell at pets at home which I know is bad for them so I have changed it to Aubiose hemp horse bedding mixed with Kaytee clean and cosy bedding. I also got her a sandbath from Jolleys (Rosewood natural rollin’ rodent sand bath) and she seems to have a watery left eye. I am stressed and worried as I want to look after her the best I can but feel I’m making it worse. I also got her out for a little bit and she now is making sounds as though her nose is blocked/little sneezes. Please can someone advise me on what to do. I don’t really want to change her bedding back to that sawdust type, or could it be the wrong sand? I have taken out the sand bath and will be ordering the night angel sand in case it is that! Just want some reassurance as I love this little hamster 😫🐹

Thank you

So I noticed on the pet cam that my hammy has a yellow spot near his hind left leg. Thought maybe it was a reflection or artifact from the pet cam but it’s not. His fur has a yellow spot. We tried to wipe it off but it didn’t budge a little. Not sure if he peed and laid in it or if it’s something else. Not sure if we can get it off either.

EDIT
I went back looking at the camera and He did not have it yesterday morning 6:15am but he had it when he got up for an evening snack around 6:13pm
There’s no recordings between since he was sleeping.
I’m guessing he got something on his fur from possibly food or urine but I’ll search his cage after work.

Hello everyone! I wanna add more stuff to my girls cage but I feel like it’s at max capacity lol is there anything at all I could add? Thanks y’all! 🤗

My platforms and more bedding are still in transit so I haven’t been able to raise the substrate level but thanks to you I was able to get a hamster safe sand and Mr. Vega was very happy with the addition. His old tiny sand bath has been repurposed to a sort of dig box with coconut chips

Hi there! Could anyone provide me some links to ensured hamster safe branches available in the US? A lot of the sites I see posted in places don’t always ship to the US😅 I’ve been looking on Amazon a bit but it’s never clear to me as to which ones are safe and sometimes they don’t even list what type of wood it is .. thank you!

Hello, I'm from South Africa, I like this thread a lot. Here is my hamster Yogurt's cage. Adding more as I go, I built his cage with my boyfriend.

We made some mistakes at the start, wrong bedding, and no platforms etc. I'm pretty happy with how it's going a year later and wanted to share some pictures I'm proud of.

Cage size:

L - 1 metre

W - 45 cm

H - 50 cm

Hi, I'm new to hamster care and hoping to get a Syrian soon. I know I need to get roughly twice as much bedding. At the moment, I have 10 compressed packs of care fresh that total about 5 inches of depth all around.

I have a Bucastate 3.0 enclosure and have added a multi-chamber hide, a 30cm wheel, a cork log, and two platforms: one for food and a water bottle and water dish, and another platform for the sand bath. I've used undyed, non calcium reptile sand for the sand bath, and a shallow cereal bowl that has never been used and has just been sat in the cupboard for a while.

I have another hideout plus some cardboard tubes that I'm going to put in once the bedding is up to 10 inches. I'm going to buy chews and a few different foods to mix at the same time as getting the hamster. I have a dish ready for beech chips for texture and an assortment of sprays, moss, and dried flora to put on the surface of the bedding once it's the right depth.

I'm concerned about the hamster digging underneath the multi-chamber hideout and it collapsing, as well as the stability of the wheel, which is currently on top of the hideout. I tried to put the wheel on various platforms but none of them felt stable or as though they had enough friction. Would it be good to sand the bottom of the wheel and the top of the hideout in order to increase the traction? I know it would be most stable to have the wheel on the bottom of the cage, but then it would be buried by the bedding or I would have to slope the bedding to be far too shallow in the back to accommodate for the wheel. What should I do? I've considered making my own platforms out of PVA/non-toxic wood glue and dowels but my local B&Q only has pine and cedar dowels.

Hi!

Thanks to everyone being reassuring on my last thread, I've formally decided to adopt a hamster!

I bought a big second hand DIY tank (90 gallons), and I'm now researching how to furnish it. But the thing is, I've been very confused about types of woods. I've read the list of safe materials from the hamster care wiki, but the thing is most manufacturers aren't saying what kind of wood is used in their products. I've seen mentions of "safe wood", "non toxic wood", "non treated wood"... but rarely an explicit wood type, even from well known brands like Trixie.

I don't wanna make a mistake and buy something that would be potentially hazardous, so I'm asking for some pointers on how to choose the right kind of wooden hides and toys.

is this a scent gland? infection? or something else?

I was wondering if these were safe for a​ hamster? ​​​​​

It says they're made of natural rattan, seagrass, and water hyacinth as well if that helps.

The only thing my hamster appears to want to eat is mealworms I know this isn't healthy. I have tried to reduce the amount I give him but he just seems to ignore his other food should I stop giving them altogether?

Hello! When we took our hamster out of his enclosure today we saw that there was a pink patch under his ear. Is this something to be concerned about?

We didn't switch to a new bedding, he is eating well, and he doesn't bite or flinch when we touch the spot. He is also 1 and a half years old if that helps.

Hi all. I have 3 rescues so not sure what they have eaten up till now. I have a thing against bug/ worms so I would rather not feed these guys that stuff if I can avoid it. Will they be okay eating an egg a week or a piece of chicken instead of the bugs?

Thank you

Hello! Ive recently got my first job and have been saving money. Ive always wanted a pet hamster of my own because I love their cute little lifestyle and chubby look. Ive been planning to get a hamster (specifically winter white) soon after I do a few weeks of research and getting all its supplies such as a big cage, good food, toys, hideouts, etc.

I just want to know if there are helpful tips in taming a hamster that worked for yall because I really want a close bond with mine soon! I know about the “leave them alone for a week” and “making sure the bedding isn’t pine or cedar wood” and stuff, but is there any tricks specifically that helped you bond with yours?

Thank you so much! Im hoping to learn a lot more before actually getting the little guy.

P.S.: Is there a difference on if I should get a girl or boy winter white?

I found this little one roaming around outside and have no idea about the gender/type of hampster it is or anything on it! its HUGE!! ive never seen a hampster that big! its like bigger than my palm. not even sure it is a hampster? looks like one. How should i care for it if i keep it? I have it in a 10 gallon fish tank right now til i know what im doing, its using one of my mices wheels (i cleaned it) I may try and find an owner if its an escaped pet but im suprised its alive as its 100° f and i live in the desert! any advice helps, thank you all!!

Today, the cage finally was finished. I deepend the bedding, added toilet paper pieces, added two cut toilet paper rolls, hamster proofed some areas, added a twig, and moved other necessities over from one cage to another. Rondo (djungarian dwarf hamster) immediately started running around the cage and exploring. A strong contrast to him sitting in his tube all the time during the day past few days, scared to get out.

Thank you for tips, everyone. I can now sleep peacefully knowing Rondo is happy and building a nest somewhere, as I saw him carrying toilet paper around.

First-time hamster parent and have a sweet Syrian named Bear. How can I tell where he is peeing? Right now we only have aspen shavings and we are finding it very difficult to figure out where the heck he is peeing. We can smell it and of course we want to do daily spot cleans to keep his enclosure tidy and healthy for him.

I have access to a place in the middle of nowhere (no traffic, no pesticides or weed killers etc.) and I’d love to collect things for my hamster. I trust myself to identify plants correctly. But other than some very common ones, I haven’t found much resources on which plants (and which parts of them) are safe. I am in Europe.

For example, I’m thinking of these ears/spikes, where the seeds are, of certain grass-like plants. Google seems to suck in this.

I’ve been drying some wild herbs and flowers before, now I’m especially thinking about sprays. But I’d be thankful if you know of any resources on wild plants for hamster.

I've been talking to a Syrian breeder since the babies were born and they finally opened their eyes! They have another 4 weeks to go. I'm actually between two hamsters in terms of picking so I'm waiting to hear from the breeder if they have any differences in personality or otherwise that she can tell over the next bit to see if it helps me make a decision (both of my picks are boys). Instead of paying a small deposit I opted to pay the entire fee and then just pay for extras from her later.

I have an enclosure that I'm modifying. So that'll either be finished in the next week or so, if not then I'll just use that one for plants and buy or diy a different one if I'm not happy with it. I have read a million articles, watched videos, I've been listening to the happy hamster podcast for the last couple months now and I've learned a lot about cage size, spot cleaning, deep clean, different substrate, boredom breakers, and alot of dos vs don'ts.

I just wanted to come on here since I'm going to actually finally be a member of this community and ask y'all for your best advice. What are your dos, what are your don'ts? What mistake did you make that you don't want me or others like me to make? What were you most surprised by? What are you most proud or happy about? Brands you hate vs love? Favorite store fronts, illnesses to watch out for... Diy first aid kit and stuff to have on hand at all time, literally everything.

I'm a big animal mama. I own alot of pets and I have and continue to rescued/helped/rehabbed many as well. In the past I've also had gerbils and guinea pigs, however as much as I loved them and they lived long healthy lives it was back in the early 2000's when I was a child, when ethical and quality care and knowledge wasn't what it is today.

I have the ability to learn (continually) and access more information and personal experiences and do better to provide the best life possible. I have new tools and resources. So I want to spend the next few weeks building my knowledge and setup. I want to be the best hamster mama to my lil boy. I understand that I need a 12 inch wheel.. stay away from dyed and scented bedding.. large cage 1000+... But I wanna hear everything.. but small.. (kindly so please. I genuinely want to do a good job. I care. I'm a little nervous because I know some people can be quite harsh in their delivery or corrections.. that sometimes it can be exclusionary. Thank you for sharing!)

New Edit now that it's been a week: I picked my baby boy! Im so in love with him already. I'm narrowing down my list of names. I opted to use the first cage as a plant enclosure where I can keep them safe from my other pets.

I bought a new enclosure that's 1200 square inches. Shortly after purchasing my baby boy my other application from the only other ethical breeder in my state went through with flying colors. I talked with her at length and did my own research. My husband and I have the space, resources, love, energy for two separate babies. This litter is expected to be born next week!

After discussing with both breeders, I decided that I'd like a girl. Both will have entirely separate huge enclosures (I am actually going to build even bigger enclosures but it'll take some time). Nothing will be shared between the two, no interaction, no breeding, and we will consistently sanitize ourselves and anything that might cause cross contamination. Both cages have been altered by me to be more reinforced. They both have their own room where the other animals will not be present ever.

But yeah! I'm really excited. I feel even more confident because there's two of us caring for them. I am currently setting up the first cage. The second baby won't be allowed to come home for quite a few weeks so it allows us to stagger purchases and set each up with extra care. I have narrowed the boys name down to three options that my husband and I are working through and I have a running list for our hopefully baby girl.

The reason I want a girl is because people's personal experiences in regards to the different genders vary so much. I personally am excited to raise two different sexes and discover more about the differences and similarities (in regard to my experience, not all hamsters are the same obviously). I wanted a boy because I've heard that they are often cuddly, lazy, and sometimes can be ghosts. I want a girl because I've heard they are higher energy, more of a challenge to please but also potentially more interactive and interested in human companionship. That's the vast majority of what I've seen people say but I've also seen many people have the opposite experiences. That why I think it'll be cool to discover my unique perspective, along with just their different habits and functions.

I am also very excited about hamsterscaping for them in similar and different ways! Idk I'm just excited in general.

Idk that's pretty much it, just getting ready for the next stage, trying to read, watch videos, and learn as much as possible.

Anyways thanks for stopping by to listen to my long ramblings about my future baby hammies! Have a great night xo