Maia <3

The truth is that after the loss of Bobi (our previous hamster), my partner and I were really sad and felt guilty for not having done more for Bobi in the face of his sudden death... But I think fate intervened.

As some of you may know, we live in Barcelona, and I thought that in Spain in general, no one was aware of what “hamster German care” or more “natural care” was. Just keeping hamsters in decent conditions: habitats measuring 100 x 50 cm, substrate of at least 15 cm (ideally 20 cm), feeding them seeds, vegetables, fruit, nuts (not pellet), large wheels and wooden or ceramic hiding places, textures and logs, free roam outside the cage, etc.

Well, one day I was scrolling through Instagram and I came across an account that was sharing all this in Spanish! I clicked the follow button and while looking at other posts, I saw it: they were advertising hamsters for adoption in Barcelona.

And there she was: a female dwarf hamster only 1 month old (now 2), from irresponsible breeding... I knew we had to adopt her. It was just like a special connection.

We emptied Bobi's cage, cleaned all her stuff, filled it with new substrate, and eagerly awaited the day we would go to pick up Maia It's pronounced ‘Ma-ya’.

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of ignorance about what it means to have a hamster... And we can't stop thinking about all those furry, whiskered little animals that don't have a family to love them and provide for them.

We are still a little concerned about the issue of vets, as at least in Barcelona, we don't know any vets who don't say such basic things as to give them pellets to eat. And after what happened with Bobi (those of you who have read the post where we explain his death), we are on alert and will be more insistent at the slightest change in behaviour or strange thing we see in Maia...

We will be sharing Maia's adventures here, thank you for reading

Maia is very beautiful Congratulations ❤

She's gorgeous So glad you gave her a home. Looking forward to hearing more about her, and great you found a rescue in Barcelona

Thank you!! She’s only 2 months old

She's still a baby Is she settling in ok?

She's a real beauty, and so lucky to have a loving home, and you are lucky to have such a beautiful hamster

Maz said:

She's still a baby Is she settling in ok?

Click to expand...

She’s been at home for less than 24 hours and she came at the afternoon and we could see for an hour (around 9-10 pm) running like a crazy girl in all the enclosure In her Foster home she was living in a bin cage (those that are clear and usually used to keep stuff) and she didn’t have much things or space so I think almost everything was new to her.

She took seeds from my wife’s hand so we think is a good start We’ll see this week. Any advice apart from obviously leave her space, dark room, silence…?

Kage said:

She's a real beauty, and so lucky to have a loving home, and you are lucky to have such a beautiful hamster

Click to expand...

Thank you, that’s true

You could try putting a piece of tissue paper in your picket to get your scent on it and then putting it in the cage to familiarise her with your scent. Also if you use a taxi tube or mug, leaving it in the cage with treats in it to get her to go into it ❤

I think maybe give it the usual two or three days settling in time without changing anything in the enclosure and keep talking to her, but if she’s already quite tame and taking seeds from your wife then just carry on as you are. The only time I had a dwarf (also female) she was already tame - the fosterer had done very well there - and she just sat on my hand from day one

Socks' Mum said:

You could try putting a piece of tissue paper in your picket to get your scent on it and then putting it in the cage to familiarise her with your scent. Also if you use a taxi tube or mug, leaving it in the cage with treats in it to get her to go into it ❤

Click to expand...

We already use the mug with treats in it as a taxi hahah thanks

Maz said:

I think maybe give it the usual two or three days settling in time without changing anything in the enclosure and keep talking to her, but if she’s already quite tame and taking seeds from your wife then just carry on as you are. The only time I had a dwarf (also female) she was already tame - the fosterer had done very well there - and she just sat on my hand from day one

Click to expand...

The foster’s house had two 6-9 year old girls so I think Maia is really used to people, luckily she was just “abandoned” but since she was 5-6 weeks was in the foster house and has had a good socialisation I think and she didn’t experience mistreatment

First time I actually hold Maia! I used a taxi-mug so she doesn’t feel invaded. We want to be very gentle and respectful with her but she’s actually doing everything so easy, since day 1 she’s been a bit scared but veeeery curious She also tried broccoli and cauliflower and she loved it. Tomorrow is time for carrots and next day parsley Of course she has already tried worms and pumpkin/sunflower seeds As a funny anecdote: we offered flax and she looked at us like: what the hell is this???? and my wife “opened” it for her and she could try the seed inside (she loved it) and now she’s and older girl who can eat flax all by herself

Lovely seeing her so trusting ❤

That sounds great and she sounds lovely and tame. It made me laugh as they can give such looks!

Hello!
Maia has been living with us for a month this Friday! She really is an incredible hamster. She lost her fear very quickly and always climbs onto our hands, even when we're not offering her food. We feel like she enjoys being in our hands... She has never screamed, bitten, or anything.
Here you can see how adorable she is!
In this picture she might look a bit chubby but she’s 36 grams (she is around 3 months old).

That's such a gorgeous photo of her! And she really is adorable - makes me want to cuddle her ha ha.

Maybe you could start a whole thread/diary thread for her in the Dwarf hamster section

Maz said:

That's such a gorgeous photo of her! And she really is adorable - makes me want to cuddle her ha ha.

Maybe you could start a whole thread/diary thread for her in the Dwarf hamster section

Click to expand...

The best thing is that she’s so sociable that she would let someone cuddle her hahah

I will when I have some time

She is gorgeous.

I also have a dwarf hamster, Cindy. She will eat from my hand and I am working on getting her used to being stroked.

What a sweetie!