Fury.

[Jim]

My kids decided to use their allowance money to buy a hamster.

Personally I've owned ~14 Syrians in about 30 years (I've lost count), and they grew up with two at home, so makes sense why they wanted one.

He's about 2 months old. Currently in a 20 gallon aquarium for the transition until he gets used to being in a cage bigger then 20x20cm it's lived in it's entire life. Then it will be moved to his 75 gallon forever home.

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome Fury is a great name. He looks gorgeous. Is he a golden hamster? He's a lucky boy if he's going to be living in a 75 gallon tank. Personally I wouldn't leave it too long before upgrading him as a 20 gallon tank is very small!

If you've had hamsters for a long time, you'll know a lot about them. However, as I've found, quite a few things have changed in hamstercare, particularly in the last few years. The home page articles are just general care, but a lot of Uk pet charities now recommend deeper bedding and larger cages and plenty of enrichment (which isn't that new but more widely accepted now ). Which presumably you already know if you're getting a 75 gallon tank.

 

[Jim]

He's been home 5 days now and lets me take him out anticipating the half hazelnut reward.

I find a smaller habitat, rightly or wrongly, makes out of cage time more enticing to a hamster and makes taming easier.

I already own the larger tank. So as he adapts to us and his out of cage time, he'll start to explore the bigger environment until he gets "settled in". Normally 2-4 weeks for most hamsters.

One thing I do like to see is no one recommends 6 inch wheels anymore. Syrians looked like a "U" in those. My own back hurts looking at it.

 

[Maz]

Yes they were awful weren't they?!! They were never big enough for any hamster really. Possibly robos. I think most people have been using 11" or bigger wheels for Syrians for a long time now, but some cages are still sold with very small wheels - and unless someone does their research, they might end up using them! Mind you I think the really large wheels 32cm and up, aren't really necessary.

Having said that I did have a 32cm wheel for my previous Syrian (the 30cm one was out of stock and I wanted that particular wheel) and he did really love it and used to sit and rock in it

 

[ponyo]

Hi Fury, welcome!
Looking forward to your journey