Guest viewing is limited

New Hamster

Newbietooldboyhammi

New member
Member
Messages
1
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Hello. I have a new Syrian hamster. He is 8 weeks old. I've had experience with an elderly hamster that a friend gave to me. He died last week at 2 years 5 months old. I did a lot of research for elderly hamsters care but I've not had one this young. Can my little hamster eat hamster treats yet? We don't know much about him as we only got him today. I checked he has everything he needs, the pet shop say our set up is perfect. Any advice for anything to do with young hamsters, is good for us and welcomed.
Thank you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Maz
Hello and welcome :-) It's always such a big change going from caring for an elderly hamster to caring for a baby hamster :-) I've been there.

So he's still a baby if he's 8 weeks old. He'll be a bit scared and they also need a couple of weeks to adjust to their new cage and new enviroment and new humans, so it's best not to change anything around in the cage or clean out in the first couple of weeks while he's settling in. During that time, it's a good idea to just talk to them through the cage until I get used to your presence and your voice and your scent and maybe offer the odd treat through the bars If it's a barred cage or lower your hand in if it's an enclosure. Pumpkin seeds usually go down well:)

Pet shops don't always get it right and they sometimes sell cages that are too small or items that are inappropriate. If you'd like to post a photo of your cage we can have a look and maybe make the odd suggestion but it does sound like you've made it really nice for him :)

Generally it's best not to try any out of cage taming for the first couple of weeks either, unless he really shows signs of wanting to come out. Then you could maybe have him in the bathtub with some taming time with a few items, or in a play pen. I usually find that even if they do want to come out in the first couple of weeks they get very skitty because they haven't quite felt at home in the cage yet so don't feel at home out of the cage yet.

I'm so sorry your older Hammy passed away - it was such a grand age, and he was lucky to have you care for him in his old age.

Fire away if you have any questions. If you're not doing it already I would start giving him a bit of fresh veg as well as his hamster mix, once every three days at first and then after a couple of weeks you could go to every day.
 
Back
Top