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I've got a thread about this elsewhere, but I'm interested in getting a little more specific and this seems like the place. I've got an empty 29 gallon glass aquarium, 30 inches from one end to the other, 12 from front to back, and 18 high. I'm interested in using it to house a hamster. I've got SOME experience with hamsters, but not in an aquarium, so I'm wondering if anyone would even recommend it as a possibility, and if so, what I'd need to get to make it work (I currently have nothing but the aquarium itself that a small mammal might need).
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Mar 19, 2010 23:02
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How many could I keep in there? I assume to keep any together it would have to be females unless I wanted babies or flying fur.
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Mar 20, 2010 00:32
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That much easier for me, I just didn't know how social they were. I haven't had hamsters for a long time, and the last time was in a smaller enclosure that I couldn't have fit more than one if I wanted to. Is a hamster going to be stressed out and terrified by a curious young cat who will probably spend a great deal of time staring at it? Our cat does this to our Betta fish, and she's managed not to knock him over yet, but I'd rather have no hamster at all than one whose terrified all the time.
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Mar 20, 2010 04:29
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Well, I'm sold. It's going to be a few months before I can get my aquarium from home in Wisconsin to apartment in Michigan, but once that happens I think a hamster is going to be the ticket.
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Mar 20, 2010 17:57
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Last hamster/aquarium questions, I swear. I know one of the big issues with putting a hamster in an aquarium is air circulation to keep ammonia from building up. If I planned on getting a wire top to prevent escape, etc., in my 18 inch high tank, what would I have to do to make sure that air circulation doesn't become a problem? Is it just a matter of more diligent cleaning than with a cage? Also, and I don't know if my tank is tall enough to warrant this, if I were inclined to add a second floor or something, do they make things like that fitted to various enclosure sizes, or is there a particular way to make them yourself?
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Mar 22, 2010 19:04
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Any advice on how best to keep a Syrian hamster healthy in a 29 gallon aquarium? I'm interested in keeping it in an aquarium since I already have one, I've heard it's easier to clean, and it seems like it'd be better for watching the little bugger. I don't have the hamster yet (I work at a pet store and our Syrian just had babies, one of which I've called dibs on). I know that aeration can be a problem in aquariums, and I'm willing to just go ahead and get a more typical cage if the aquarium really isn't a good idea.
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Apr 18, 2012 00:03
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I just bought a golden hamster and she's fantastic. She lives in a re-purposed 30 gallon aquarium and I've got a question: I realize that hamsters are fairly nocturnal, but it seems to me that Daisy gets active unusually late, usually around 10-11. Once she does emerge from her house she's as active as can be. I don't want to change her sleep cycle because I don't want her to run at night or anything (the noise from the wheel actually helps me sleep, believe it or not), I'm just wondering if there's some reason she comes out so late, and if there's anything I might do to influence her to start waking up earlier so I can interact with her more before I go to bed. I wake up pretty early and work for much of the day. Also, regarding taming: I've had her for a week today. She'll take a treat that I'm pinching between fingers and eat it without me dropping it. She'll also take a treat off the end of my finger. She also no longer runs away when my hand gets near. While I feel she's gone fairly fast so far, I haven't been able to get her beyond that stage, to where she'll start taking a treat that's slightly further back on my hand. My goal is to be able to pick her up as soon as possible, because I have to take her out of her terrarium for cleaning and I don't like to stress her out by grabbing her when she isn't ready.
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May 3, 2012 08:01
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Awesome Kristin posted:I don't have a lot of advice for taming her, but I do have some for getting her out of the cage without too much stress for now. I had a robo that never liked people, so what I did was get a tupperware container she could fit in with some bedding. Poke holes in the lid and put some treats in the container. Hold the lid close to the top with enough room for her to get into while tipping the container toward her. When she climbs in just lower the lid and set her aside to clean. Thanks, I'll do that; I've got the materials already  . I've just been a little worried since, in my research, I ran across some people saying that prey animals like hamsters and other rodents aren't so forgiving as animals like dogs and cats when you upset them. I don't want to mess her up for life or anything by handling her before she's ready.
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May 4, 2012 01:59
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I'm beginning to think I own the world's smartest hamster. I bought her a ball yesterday and got her into it using a treat. After she ran around for about 10 minutes (mostly crashing into walls), I gave her an hour of rest and then wanted to have her in the ball again so I could take some pictures. No treat she went right in. If only I could get her to do that with my hand.
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May 6, 2012 15:59
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I bought my hamster a new hidey house, since I felt the old one was taking up too much floor space in the cage, but she doesn't want to use it. I bought it two days ago and both yesterday and this morning she's rebuilt her nest in a corner of the cage near her wheel. She seems to be sleeping fine, so I guess I'm not worried about that, but is there anything I can do to convince her that the new house is safe? I put some of her nesting material in there along with her favorite chew stick and a treat. I started putting the treats in there yesterday and she seems to go in, take them, and go right back out.
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May 16, 2012 13:54
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I seem to have solved both my house problem and my floor space problem in one stroke. I bought a lazy lookout attachment for her cage, which she loves the ever-loving poo poo out of. Up and down the tube all night. I put some of her nesting stuff in it, so I'm hoping that when I wake up in the morning I find her asleep up there. Since it's connected to her cage from the outside by a tube, she has more room since there's no need for a house on the floor. Edit: Worked perfectly. She's snoozing away up there right now. McCloud24 fucked around with this message at 13:07 on May 17, 2012 |
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May 17, 2012 04:44
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Finally got a picture of my hamster, Daisy, that's worth uploading. She's about seven weeks old at this point, and I've had her since she was about a month old, though I've known her since the day she was born. I got her from the little independent pet store I work at, where she was born to a golden mother and a grey teddy bear father. You can see the grey around her cheeks, and she also has a big grey spot smack on top of her head. This is her eating a treat off of my fiance's hand; this was her first time ever meeting her, so I figure it says good things about her. She's not terribly keen on being picked up yet, so I usually take her out via her ball, and we work on our handling after she's had a bit of a roll-about.
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May 20, 2012 19:45
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I was handling my hamster just now (as I said in the post above, I take her out of her cage via her ball and then after she's run around for a little while we work on our handling) and she started nibbling on my hand. I say nibbling because, while she did bite me, it didn't seem to be out of fear, as she didn't make any noise, and didn't try to run. She was just sitting on my palm and started nibbling on the area of fat between my thumb and index finger. I'm thinking it's because my hands were sweaty (it's hot out) and therefore salty, but I put her back in her cage afterwards in case it was due to stress or fear. I'm not too concerned about it, I'm just curious if I'm wrong about the fear issue; I've been working really hard on taming her, and I feel like I've been making some progress. Just a few minutes earlier she nibbled off of a treat in my other hand, so I know she's getting more comfortable. That said, she does seem to be a bit more skittish over the past week, though she doesn't appear sick or hurt in any way. Again, she's a Syrian, approximately seven weeks old. Edit: I should also say, perhaps, that she didn't pee on me or anything during the entire time we were playing. Double Edit: I just sat by her cage with the door open for a bit while having a phone conversation and she walked out and onto my hand, so I think she's fine now, even if she was scared before. She's just never bitten me before, so I was a bit weirded out. McCloud24 fucked around with this message at 04:47 on May 21, 2012 |
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May 21, 2012 02:55
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kazmeyer posted:Rodents nibble your fingers on occasion because they can't afford to ignore the extremely small but non-zero chance your fingers have turned into baby carrots. Most of them quickly come to understand the difference between a cute little nibble and something that might require stitches, but until they do, you definitely want to be careful with them once they start licking you. And licking is a good thing? I assume it isn't quite the same as with dogs, but a lick here and there is a pretty regular occurrence over the last few days.
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May 22, 2012 05:56
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So Daisy appears to have come down with a case of wet tail. I'm thinking that one of three causes is to blame: 1. I may have been handling her too much. We work on handling every night, and yesterday we worked for a fairly long time, comparatively, but she seemed to be having fun. 2. I gave her a new treat, a miniature ear of corn, and put the husk in her nest for bedding. I'm wondering if she ate too much of it, or too much of the husk (it was chewed on) and that might've caused it. 3. My apartment had some work done today to fix some water damage in the bathroom; this involved two strangers coming in, scraping down my walls, and repainting them. All in all, it took them from about 9 AM-2 PM. I'm thinking that the stress from the noise and smells, which I did my best to isolate her from, is the most likely culprit. Other than her butt being all matted, she's drinking, and just came down out of her house to grab some food and take it back up, and I can hear her chewing it right now. Is this something that can resolve itself, or is it a vet call every time? Edit: Awake, alert, drinking, and running like a mad woman in the wheel attached to the new cage attachment I bought her today. She seems to have cleaned herself up as well. McCloud24 fucked around with this message at 03:05 on May 26, 2012 |
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May 26, 2012 00:44
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My hamster currently has two wheels, a lazy lookout that she nests in, and a loop-de-loop that she uses as a watch tower. For toys she has a ball made of wooden sticks that she rolls around to try and get the nut inside it, and then she has a hanging toy (actually a bird toy I think), with a bell on the end that she loves to smack around. She's also got a couple of cardboard tubes that she shoots in and out of constantly when she's awake. I have her in a pair of crittertrail cages that I've got connected with tubes, for reference.
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Jun 2, 2012 21:39
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Greyish Orange posted:We just got 3 mice a few hours ago - we already have 2 gerbils so I think we're happy with the basics of keeping them. It's definitely worth observing for a while. It could very well just be a little bit of wrestling and dominance play, but you don't want to take the chance that it's something more serious.
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Jun 10, 2012 15:16
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Should I be worried?
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Got a second hamster. Daisy's mother, whose name is now Sunflower. She's had two litters for our store because she's got an amazingly sweet personality, beautiful colors and markings, and she's enormous, even for a Syrian. After her second litter was weaned it was decided she should retire so now she lives at my house. It's all super exciting. Pictures when I can get some batteries for my camera.
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Jun 18, 2012 02:21
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furushotakeru posted:I believe papaya actually contains an enzyme that aids their digestion, but my Kiki will murder anyone between her and a piece of papaya regardless of whether this is true or not. It does. We sell it in tablet form as a digestive aid for all kinds of small animals at my store. My hamsters get a half tab each daily as part of their health-food regimen.
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Jun 19, 2012 05:53
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Bear Rape posted:
A kid came into the pet store I work at (we sell supplies, food, etc. and as far as animals go we adopt out rescues that we pick up from animal control shelters) and literally said to me, "My friend hates his guinea pig, can he bring it here and leave it?" I just had no idea what to say to him. I had a conversation with someone about this today though, since we have a lot of guinea pigs right now and nobody seems to want any. My theory is that because they aren't as small as hamsters and aren't as inherently social as rabbits a lot of people just don't get them. They don't like the idea of having a pet that may always run and hide when you first enter a room, no matter how well they know you. My guinea pig did that her whole life, but it didn't stop her from lying next to me on her blankie at night while I did my homework without making a peep. It just blows my mind that people don't seem to want to give them a chance, and I can't wait until I'm in a position to have one again. Right now it's just me and the hamsters, but one day I hope.
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Jun 27, 2012 05:04
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There's been a ton of abandoned guinea pig stories lately from my area as well, I wonder what's up with that.
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It's also interesting how many people think they're gerbils. At least once a day I have people point at the guinea pigs and go, "Are those gerbils?" Points to a general lack of understanding, I think.
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Jun 27, 2012 13:31
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Fraction posted:I'm not sure about Lactaid, but I'd definitely increase her protein somehow. You could get a little bag of low protein puppy kibble (think really poor quality puppy food), or a small tub of mealworms, and some more seeds to mix into her food. She needs plenty of protein and fatty stuff so she can produce milk for the bubs. Poultry flavored cat food works really well if you can swing it. Chicken is best, but duck would work, and dog food is okay if you can't get your hands on that. Stay away from beef or fish formulas. And for the person who mentioned Oxbow hamster food, they do make a hamster/gerbil food. I forget exactly what they call it but they're little brown rings; no artificial colors or anything. The big bag that we got for in-store use says "Small Animal O's" on it, but I don't think that's what they call it. Comes in a red bag.
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Jul 20, 2012 06:13
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Frobbe posted:yeah ill get some of that tomorrow. carefresh also looks cooler than regular shavings Kaytee's granule bedding is pretty nice too. Made of the same stuff as carefresh, essentially, just formed into smaller shapes. One of my hamsters is a real digger, so she prefers that. They've also got a couple of kinds that are made with different flowers that smell really good. I use lavender, and I know there's also rose.
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Jul 22, 2012 20:06
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Fraction posted:I dunno about hamsters, but I know guinea pigs (and rabbits?) produce two kinds of poop; one that they can eat, which is softer and full of stuff that they didn't digest the first time, and normal poop. Maybe hamsters do the same thing? They do. I once saw one of my hamsters pull a poop out of her own butthole and eat it. And baby hamsters start branching out from mom's milk pretty quickly.
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Jul 24, 2012 14:06
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Captain Invictus posted:One question though, one baby managed to get a large, round yellow seed in his pouch and doesn't seem to be able to get it out. Should I leave him and he'll hopefully get it out on his own, or should I try and do it myself? He's been trying to get it out for ten minutes now. With an adult you wouldn't worry until they'd had something pouched for a fairly long time (about 24 hours I think), but a baby might be different since they're so small and might stand a risk of choking as well as getting an impacted pouch. If he really seems to be struggling you should probably look up how to deal with that for a baby. With an adult you'd just scruff them so their mouths open and fish it out, or take them to the vet, but the whole no-touchee thing would make that problematic with a baby.
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Jul 28, 2012 14:11
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Pardalis posted:I swear to god that Paul Bunham, my little black dwarf hamster, actually outright enjoys running around my store in his ball. He does fast laps, follows people, checks in with me, and tries to jump into the ball once he sees it. Does anyone else have a ham who seems to love their rolly ball? My girls like to race each other. I'll make a little track out of shoes. Sunny usually wins, but she's like twice the size of her daughter Daisy, so I'm not surprised by that. Daisy tends to enjoy the ball more. She'll bomb around steadily for as long as I'll let her. Sunny will sit still for a while, then tear off into a wall or a table leg, then sit still again. Both of them will jump right into their ball when I put it up to the open doors of their respective cages.
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Sep 3, 2012 06:05
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So I have two Syrians, in separate cages of course, a mother and daughter pair. I bought the younger one from a pet store and then was given her mother for free later when it appeared that no one would want to buy a slightly older hamster. I realize they can't be caged together, but I'm wondering if there's any possibility of having them interact in a neutral environment where no one's food supply or nest is involved. I find that my bathtub is a good place to play with them, so I wonder if I might be able to put them together in there, with adequate supervision. Their cages are next to each other and they always seem to want to get closer to one another, but knowing what I do about hamster behavior I'm wary of putting them together, also considering that both (mama especially) are huge even for Syrians.
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Dec 3, 2012 19:19
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Fraction posted:I wouldn't advise risking it tbh. Even if they don't kill each other they probably won't get much out of it. That's pretty much what I thought. I've had them for a few months now without attempting it, but I just wanted to see if it was something they were missing out on.
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Dec 3, 2012 21:12
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My hamsters got a gym for Christmas from my parents. It's basically a separate wire cage that has little exercise toys (including a pedometer on the wheel) like ladders and teeter totters. They each get an hour or two a night in it once they wake up.
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Dec 27, 2012 05:54
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Captain Invictus posted:No I mean my hamsters, all of them, will take the bottle in both paws, stand up, and just bang it against the glass for hours on end, even if there's something else for them to do. One of mine does this too. She has toys, she has all sorts of hidey holes, even her food bowl is a chew toy, so she can't be bored, but she just likes to whack her bottle against the glass.
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Feb 25, 2013 08:18
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