Some new-hamster-mom-concerns!

[dwarfhamstermom]

Hello!

I've had hamsters when I was a child but I didn't know how to properly take care of them. My girlfriend and I adopted a dwarf hamster 1 month ago, her name's Bobi, we believe she's 3 months old. She's so sociable with us and we love her! We visited the vet twice: one as a "first visit" in order to see if she was healthy, since she was adopted and we didn't know anything about her health. And the second because her urine was a bit orange-red coloured and we were scared, luckily it wasn't anything important, it wasn't blood in there, the vet told us it might be because of something she may had eaten.

Our concerns are the following:

- She chews insistently on some wooden houses/platforms in her cage (she digs underneath and chews the part underneath -as the wooden houses have no "floor"-). She lives in a 100x58 cms cage (Pawhut) and has more than 20 cms thick bedding, a big wheel, reptile sandbox and different hiding places, bamboo branches, cork, we try to have enrichment for her.... We are worried that she might still be stressed or we don't know why she chews the wood and if it is bad.
We have thought about varnishing the wooden things with Plastikote Enamel Clear to prevent her from urinating as it is difficult to clean the wood and also to prevent her from chewing it, but we are afraid that it might be toxic because as I said she is quite insistent on chewing it.

- We live in Barcelona and the truth is that it is very common here that hamsters live in small plastic cages and are fed with pellets. I'm fluent in English and I watch a lot of hamster care videos (German care) where I learnt about giving them a big space (more of a DIY terrarium type cage), giving them more cms of bedding, natural environment... And something that worries me is also the feeding as even the exotic vet recommended us to give her pellets in addition to the fruit/vegetable/animal protein in 10%. I know a lot of people are not in favour of giving them pellets and give them seed mixes, but I haven't found websites that deliver to my house.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Maz]

Hello. It sounds like she might just be a chewer Maybe the underneath of the house/platforms are in her way and she's decided she wants to tunnel there One of my syrians chewed through one of the legs on his house as it was obstructing his chosen nesting area.

It's not actually bad for them to chew wood - in fact it's good for them to chew generally as it keeps their teeth from overgrowing. The problem is sometimes they chew things they shouldn't and I'd be slightly concerned she might chew her way out of the pawhut (which is quite common but usually with Syrians rather than dwarf hamsters!). So keep an eye on the floor and corners of the pawhut! If she does chew at them they can be strengthened.

It doesn't seem likely that she'd still be stressed after a month, although they can be at first when moving to a new environment. Some female dwarf hamsters are really active, crazy little characters!

One thing that can give them stress behaviours though is if they are cleaned out too much. We have an article on cleaning tips to avoid stress on the home page, if you weren't already aware of avoiding big clean outs, but you probably are if you've watched hamster care videos. But I'll link it below anyway.

Assuming the wood is safe to chew, I wouldn't worry too much. You could try giving her some boredom breakers - we have a thread on home made boredom breakers - especially anything made from cardboard. Things like treat parcels.

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

Cardboard creations

This is a thread to show how many things you can make for your hamster or enclosure, out of cardboard :-) Cardboard is your friend.

www.thehamsterforum.com

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Hello. It sounds like she might just be a chewer Maybe the underneath of the house/platforms are in her way and she's decided she wants to tunnel there One of my syrians chewed through one of the legs on his house as it was obstructing his chosen nesting area.

It's not actually bad for them to chew wood - in fact it's good for them to chew generally as it keeps their teeth from overgrowing. The problem is sometimes they chew things they shouldn't and I'd be slightly concerned she might chew her way out of the pawhut (which is quite common but usually with Syrians rather than dwarf hamsters!). So keep an eye on the floor and corners of the pawhut! If she does chew at them they can be strengthened.

It doesn't seem likely that she'd still be stressed after a month, although they can be at first when moving to a new environment. Some female dwarf hamsters are really active, crazy little characters!

One thing that can give them stress behaviours though is if they are cleaned out too much. We have an article on cleaning tips to avoid stress on the home page, if you weren't already aware of avoiding big clean outs, but you probably are if you've watched hamster care videos. But I'll link it below anyway.

Assuming the wood is safe to chew, I wouldn't worry too much. You could try giving her some boredom breakers - we have a thread on home made boredom breakers - especially anything made from cardboard. Things like treat parcels.

Article 'Cage cleaning tips'

Cage cleaning is a very important issue for hamsters. As in - not too much of it and not too much all at once. Yes we need to clean hamster cages but our human instinct is to clean the whole lot in one go and have everything new, clean and fresh. While that might work in our house, for us...

• Maz
• Oct 26, 2022
• 8 min read
• Reaction score: 8
• Comments: 31
• Category: Hamster Care

https://www.thehamsterforum.com/threads/cardboard-creations.32/

Hello! Ok, we will change the place in where the house/platform are.

The thing is that we would like to varnish wooden stuff to prevent them to smell and get urine stains -which some wooden stuff already have- with Plastikote, but since she is such a chewer we are a bit worried about if she "eats" too much Plastikote and can be dangerous even its safe (as I read). We try to keep an eye on the cage itself and we try to make sure that she doesn't chew it and make holes that allow her to escape... The last time I checked a week ago everything was fine.

The description "active, crazy little character" actually describes her so well! She sometimes makes weird things

We don't "clean" the bedding just sometimes when the bedding is dirty or smelly we change a small amount, BUT she usually hoards food in a small ceramic hideout in her sandbox and then she urines there... We think that's gross and we clean that hideout and throw away her food, I don't know if its the best thing we can do but we don't want her to eat a seed that has urine... And the same with her wheel, we clean it when we smell urine in it (which is almost everyday), maybe we shouldn't... But we don't touch anything else in her cage, just the wheel and that ceramic hideout.

We tried the boredom breakers done with willow sticks + a glue made out of buckwheat/water + seeds and the same with a wallnut + the edible buckwheat/water glue + seeds. She actually eats the seeds and then she goes back again to chew the house/platform. Also, we bought her the Niteangel wooden carrot toys and she doesn't even look at them

 

[Maz]

Typical hamster - they never chew what you want them to chew Does she pee in her sand bath at all? Some of them will use a litter tray or sand bath. They nearly all pee in their wheel. Gross as it is, I would try to leave the wheel a few days between cleaning and then just wipe it rather than a full wash. Sometimes the more you clean things, it makes them want to pee on them more to "claim" them or scent mark them.

Peeing on hoarded food is a typical behaviour if they are afraid someone is going to steal it! That can become a vicious circle. So next time she pees on the hoard in the ceramic dish, then yes throw it away and clean the dish, but put a new handful of food next to the dish. And put some sand in the ceramic dish. This sort of trains them eventually, not to hoard in the toilet/dish. By putting sand in it you turn it into a toilet. It can take time but they start to learn not to put the food where they're going to pee. If ever throwing any hoard away it's always best to replace it with a new handful of food either in the same place or very near it or they do get stressed as their hoards and nest are their precious things

What kind of house and platform is it? I tend to just plastikote the inside of a house so it's wipe clean. Is it the bottom of the actual house she's chewing and is it on legs? Or just the legs? It's true it wouldn't be great if she chewed plastikoted wood.

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Thank you so much for the advice! We’ll follow them, but we have to say we’re so surprised that our hammy actually likes to run in her urine

One platform is a Niteangel one which has two small rooms connected by holes, like chambers. It doesn’t have legs (we will put it in the very depth of the cage making a platform function). Now it’s just working as a platform but “lifted” in the bedding. I know is a bit dangerous so that’s why we’ll change it soon.

The other house is one that came with the Pawhut cage and we believe it’s for rabbits or guinea pigs since it’s quite tall… As I said, the legs are already ordered and we are also waiting for receiving the Plastikote in order to varnish a new 6-chamber Niteangel hideout to change it for the “rabbits wooden house”. I know at the moment this are not the best supplies but we’re hoping this changes for the next week and give her a cage-supplies-update. We learn something new about hamster care everyday

 

[Maz]

I'm sure she'll love the house Yes they will pee and run at the same time ha ha. But are usually quite good at cleaning themselves up and wash a lot.

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

I'm sure she'll love the house Yes they will pee and run at the same time ha ha. But are usually quite good at cleaning themselves up and wash a lot.

Thanks again . I would like to ask you something else: our hammy usually takes naps during the night. These days usually wakes up at 12-1 am and stays awake until 10-11 am and even sometimes wakes up during the afternoon, but during nights also sometimes takes naps, is that normal??

And btw do you know any website which sells good mix seeds to anywhere in Europe?

 

[Maz]

With dwarf hamsters it varies. Some will sleep all day and get up early evening. Some will get up during the day. She'll just have her own pattern. It's rather nice when they're awake during the day

I get the Bunny Dream food online from Vetsend (which is in Holland). Zooplus also sell it but only ship to certain european countries - they probably do ship to Spain. For a dwarf hamster, the Bunny Dream Dwarf Expert is very good. It's a little low on protein but you can supplement that with the odd bit of fresh food two or three times a week - eg chopped hard boiled egg, or a bit of plain cooked chicken if you've had chicken (no sauces or spices).

Also Rodipet in Germany do a good dwarf hamster mix especially tailored for hybrid dwarf hamsters. I used that one when I had a dwarf hamster. It's not that cheap though and the postage makes it more expensive (so I used to buy three at a time as the postage is the same whether you buy one or three). The protein levels in that are good so you don't really need to supplement regularly - maybe just the occasional nut or pumpkin seeds as treats.

She will almost certainly be a hybrid dwarf hamsters as they virtually all are unless they come from a pedigree breeder with an ancestry chart for her. That means that over the generations, they are crossed between winter whites and campbells hamsters and will have genetics from both. The only real thing to know about that is that hybrid dwarf hamsters can be prone to diabetes. Some will be, some won't - but there is no way of telling. That comes from the Campbells genes. So they need a sugar free diet. Recent research shows that parsley helps prevent diabetes as well, so a small parsley leaf once a week is a good supplement.

The Rodipet mix is supposed to be specially tailored to the hybrid species. But the Bunny Dream mix is very good as well and also sugar free.

Rodipet – Innovation leben. Zukunft gestalten. Tiere verstehen.

Bunny ZwerghamsterTraum Expert günstig kaufen bei zooplus

Bunny ZwerghamsterTraum Expert

www.zooplus.de

Also Getzoo sell dwarf specific hamster mixes. Although I wasn't so keen on theirs.

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Thank you so much

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Hi! I tried what you said about not cleaning the ceramic hideout where she keeps her food and adding sand in it, and she has started using the same litter box where the hideout is to urinate. She still does it in the wheel too, though, which I've thought about cleaning only once a week or every 2 weeks if it doesn't smell too much (I don't know if that would be the right thing to do or if it would be better to wait longer). As for the litter box, we can see that there is sand stuck to the bottom, as there will be urine there. How should I clean it and how often? Should I empty the whole litter box and renew it? I see it difficult to clean only one "deep" area with so much sand on the sides, it would end up wetting everything? And sorry for the disgusting picture

Thanks!

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Hello!

My dwarf hamster usually urinates on the platforms or upper parts of wooden houses or hiding places, at least on the first day, I imagine to mark his territory. So there are some urine stains that are difficult to remove and that's why we had thought about varnishing with Plastikote Enamel. But our hamster also loves to chew insistently on the underside of wooden houses or platforms. We are worried that it might be toxic because although Plastikote is safe, we insist that she loves to chew. We have thought of varnishing only the upper part (as the lower part is unlikely to have urine stains).

What do you think?

And sorry for posting too much, I just find this forum super helpful!!! Thank you so much!

 

[Maz]

Hi! I tried what you said about not cleaning the ceramic hideout where she keeps her food and adding sand in it, and she has started using the same litter box where the hideout is to urinate. She still does it in the wheel too, though, which I've thought about cleaning only once a week or every 2 weeks if it doesn't smell too much (I don't know if that would be the right thing to do or if it would be better to wait longer). As for the litter box, we can see that there is sand stuck to the bottom, as there will be urine there. How should I clean it and how often? Should I empty the whole litter box and renew it? I see it difficult to clean only one "deep" area with so much sand on the sides, it would end up wetting everything? And sorry for the disgusting picture

Thanks!

If she is using the litter box then that's good isn't it? It means she's using the sand as a toilet. You don't need to throw it all away. Just take the clean sand out, clean out the litter box, make sure it's dry and put the clean sand back again What a lot of people do when they see a damp patch on top after a few days, is use a small sieve or spoon to scoop out the damp patch and leave the rest of the sand.

 

[Maz]

Don't worry about posting too much! We all have these questions when we start out! Yes I would just plastikote the top of the house and platforms. She is not likely to chew a hard flat surface like that

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Thank you!!

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Hello!
I know we discussed the issue of avoiding cleaning his urinated wheel so that she continues to urine there. The truth is that she uses the litter box to urinate but she still does it in the wheel and sometimes in empty cardboard toilet paper tubes that we use as hideouts (until we get a log or branch of natural wood or cork). The thing is that when we haven't cleaned her wheel for 3 days or so, it smells quite bad in the cage and even in the room. We don't like to clean it if she ‘likes it’ or if it can create stress for her. We are using a specific cleaner for rodent cages that is safe for them and very effective in removing the smell of urine and that does not need to be rinsed in water so that the wheel bearing does not rust. The truth is that we would like to clean the wheel more often, the last week we tried to go 6-7 days without doing it but the smell bothers us more and more.

 

[Jain]

If she is using the litter box then that's good isn't it? It means she's using the sand as a toilet. You don't need to throw it all away. Just take the clean sand out, clean out the litter box, make sure it's dry and put the clean sand back again What a lot of people do when they see a damp patch on top after a few days, is use a small sieve or spoon to scoop out the damp patch and leave the rest of the sand.

Tea strainers make good sieves

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Tea strainers make good sieves

Yeah I use that! But how often can we clean her wheel and avoiding her stress? It smells

 

[Maz]

Ok rather than give it a full clean or wash, removing all the scent, maybe just wipe the inside with a damp cloth every few days but no cleaning stuff. That should remove most of the smell but the outside will still smell familiar. I tend to do that. Water/damp cloth is quite effective.

 

[dwarfhamstermom]

Hello!
We ordered the Rodipet food above that you recommended. As it is a very nutrient-dense seed mix (and we have also ordered dried worms), should we also give her things like boiled eggs, and should we keep the fruit and vegetables as we have been giving her? We used to give her every 2-3 days vegetables like broccoli, cucumber which she loves, carrots... And we are planning to introduce parsley and some other vegetables later on. We only give her fruit once a week or even more time since we’re a bit afraid because of fruit’s sugar, we gave her: pear, apple and banana. Once a week we give her half a walnut.
She is currently eating this which is the "best" I could find in the stores around us: https://www.versele-laga.com/en/gb/nature-all/products/nature-minihamster

Should we make changes regarding fruit, vegetables, nuts and animal protein like egg when we start giving her Rodipet's food?

Thank you!

 

[Maz]

Is it the Rodipet hybrid mix? If so that has good protein levels so you don't need to do much supplementing You could give her the occasional mealworm as a treat and the occasional nut And just the small piece of veg daily.