New hammie owner- advice appreciated

[PaperNestKeeper]

Hi everyone! I’m Elz aka PaperNestKeeper and this is our Syrian hamster, Nibbles.

He’s my daughter’s hamster, but we’ve all completely fallen for him! He’s almost 8 weeks old and we’ve had him for 12 days.

My husband bought him from Pets at Home and thought he was getting good advice but after bringing Nibbles home I quickly realised some of it was quite outdated. That led to a bit of a spending spree… We’ve upgraded him to Carefresh paper bedding, a bigger wheel, platforms, a sand bath, a better food mix and a new house. We’ve also got sprays, more burrowing substrates and a large playpen arriving. Last week we changed his enclosure to give him much deeper bedding and he’s absolutely loved burrowing and redesigning his home. We’re adding the rest gradually so we don’t overwhelm him.
Since the bedding change we’ve seen much less of him because he’s coming out later which has been sad but I guess means he's happy and it’s become much harder to find where he’s toileting. Before he always used one corner but now everything disappears into the bedding!


I have a few questions:
• Should I dig around looking for poos and any stored fresh food or is it better to leave his burrows alone? I’m especially worried about fresh food going mouldy.
• How often do people deep clean? I’ve seen everything from weekly to every three months, so I’m a bit confused. I want to keep his home clean without stressing him out.
• We’re starting taming but I’m unsure about treats. He loves mealworms, although I know they’re only an occasional treat. I also bought some Hammykins forage, but it contains quite a few mealworms. Is that still okay? Are seeds fine to give regularly? How often can I give small amounts of veg? I want to offer him treats to incentivise him but without upsetting his tummy.
• If you’re scatter feeding, how do you deal with old food that’s hidden in the bedding?

I read the taming guide on here, which was really helpful! During his first cage clean he unexpectedly launched himself out of the box we had him in, which gave us quite a fright. We had no idea they could jump so high! Thankfully he was absolutely fine.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated. I’m trying to give Nibbles the best life possible while also honouring my husband’s request not to bankrupt us over our tiny furry friend!

 

[Maz]

He's gorgeous Looks like he has a lovely home. So I wouldn't worry too much for now. It's normal for them to build a hoard. Any fresh food like fresh veg, they usually eat straight away rather than hoard. Providing it's just a tiny piece - eg no bigger than his ear. Whether it's cucumber or broccoli etc. Don't worry about poops just yet, they're not really unhygienic - they can actually eat them, which is normal behaviour (they have two stomachs and can redigest vitamins etc from them). He won't eat all his poops though obviously. But the only real unhygienic thing is their pee. Otherwise they are quite clean little things.

Normally it's 10 to 14 days for a settling in period and during that time, you might spot clean the pee area once or twice, but no other changes or cleanouts during the settling in period or it stresses them out. So if he's had an enclosure change recently, I would give it 10 days from that before changing anything else or doing anything other than the occasional spot clean of the pee area. If you can't find it at the moment, don't worry - wait until you can smell it! Then you'd need to check where he's sleeping or feel around under the bedding if it's not an obvious toilet area.

Does he have a sand bath? They often use that as a toilet. Then it makes life easier.

Treats, I find pumpkin seeds are good as treats I've added the cleaning tips guide below. Otherwise it sounds like all is fine. Just give him a good hamster mix - about a tablespoonful a day - and a tiny piece of veg daily. Again if it's a recent enclosure change I would start slowly with the taming and go back to giving him treats through the bars for a few days, as he'll be a bit skitty for taming sessions if he;s adjusting to a new set up.

Hamster cage cleaning

Tips on how to clean your hamster cage and avoid causing stress to your hamster. It's best to have plenty of depth of substrate and mainly spot clean your hamster cage. Avoid disturbing your hamster's nest and hoard.

www.thehamsterforum.com