home Calculators How to care for a hamster at home? Caring for hamsters: reviews, photos. An unpretentious pet - how to care for a pet hamster Tips for caring for a hamster

How to care for a hamster at home? Caring for hamsters: reviews, photos. An unpretentious pet - how to care for a pet hamster Tips for caring for a hamster

There are several types of hamsters. Most of them live for about two years. Hamsters are nocturnal animals, which means they need to sleep during the day. To give your hamster a happy and healthy life, you will need to feed him properly, provide him with adequate exercise and play time, and clean his cage regularly.

Steps

Part 1

Buying a hamster

Find a place that sells hamsters. If you want to buy a furry hamster as a friend, go to a pet store, a hamster breeder (if you are looking for a special color hamster) or an animal shelter. Hamsters are relatively inexpensive. You will spend significantly more money on purchasing a cage, toys, and veterinary care for them.

Choose a healthy hamster. A healthy hamster should have clean ears, a clean and dry butt, a small rounded tummy, no bald spots or tumors (except for scent gland areas on their thighs that can be confused with cuts or scabs), clean bright eyes and healthy teeth that should not be overgrown or curled upward.

Think about the size of the hamster you want to purchase. Syrian hamsters can reach 12.7-17.8 centimeters in length as adults. Campbell's dwarf hamsters and winter white hamsters grow to between 7.6 and 10.1 centimeters. Chinese hamsters can grow up to 10.1-12.7 centimeters in length. Roborovsky's hamsters barely reach 7.6 centimeters as adults.

Think about the coloration of the hamster. Syrian hamsters are mostly golden, but they can be found in other colors. Campbell's hamsters are usually grayish-brown with a black stripe on the back and a white belly. Winter white hamsters have a white color with a red or grayish tint. Roborovsky hamsters are sandy brown in color with a white belly. Chinese hamsters are dark brown with a milky belly.

Ask permission to put your hand in the hamsters' cage. If the store staff or breeder (depending on where you go) reacts negatively to this, ask the person to put his hand in the hamsters' cage himself. Avoid getting a hamster that bites or scratches aggressively. Also, do not buy a very timid hamster that prefers to hide and not come out of hiding. A good choice would be a hamster that dares to sniff your hand, although it won't reach into it. Another option would be for your hamster to become curious and gently chew on your hand (similar to what some puppies do).

Make sure the hamster cannot escape. You'll be amazed how smart hamsters are when it comes to planning escapes. Make sure that all openings are closed to prevent the hamster from opening the movable or removable parts of the cage. If you use a metal cage, make sure your hamster cannot slip through or get stuck in between the bars.

Understand the territorial instincts of hamsters. Keep Syrian hamsters alone. They begin to exhibit territorial behavior as early as 5-8 weeks of age and will fight (often to the death) with other hamsters if housed together. Many dwarf hamsters can be housed together if they are properly introduced at an early age.

Provide your hamster with bedding. The bottom of the cage should be covered with a layer of bedding about 7.6 centimeters thick. Pine and cedar shavings are not suitable as bedding for hamsters as they can cause many health problems. They may contain harmful essential oils and cause respiratory problems. However, aspen sawdust does not contain harmful essential oils and is ideally safe for use in a hamster's cage. Never use cotton wool as bedding. This is very dangerous for your pet as it will not be able to digest the cotton wool when consumed, and the cotton fibers can wrap around your hamster's paws and restrict the blood circulation, which is potentially fatal to your pet.

Part 3

Providing feed and water

Feed your hamster daily. Provide your hamster with enough food each day to fill both cheeks, about 15 grams for a Syrian hamster or 8 grams for dwarf hamsters. Fresh food should appear in your pet's bowl every day. Particularly practical hamsters will stock up on food. Cleaning out these supplies can be stressful for your pet, so if you are concerned about the quality and safety of the food in your hamster's supply, simply remove the old food and replace it with new food in the same place where the hamster stored it.

Ensure constant availability of water. The hamster doesn't drink much water, but when he gets thirsty, it is important that water is always available. Do not put water in a bowl, as this will quickly become dirty, or the hamster will simply knock it over. Instead, use a special wall-mounted waterer. If possible, change the water in the water bottle every day to keep it fresh, or at least once every three days maximum.

Use pelleted or pelletized feed. Grain mixtures allow hamsters to eat selectively and choose what is tastier, but usually less healthy. Provide the primary diet with pelleted or pelleted feed and use grain mixtures as a supplemental feed. Be sure to check that your hamster has eaten the pelleted food well before offering a grain supplement.

Distribute food throughout the cage and hide it in toys and tunnels. Make the hamster look for it. Simply putting food in a bowl may cause your hamster to become overweight and less interested in physical activity.

Do not give your hamster “human” food. This includes candy, pasta, raw meat/fish, sugar and desserts. Hamsters can develop diabetes. Even foods that you don't consider very sugary may be too sweet for your hamster. And this is harmful to his health.

Give your hamster treats. Give your hamster treats regularly 2-3 times a week. Hamsters' favorite treats include cucumbers, carrots, apples, bananas, peppers, lettuce, celery, kale, collards and dandelion leaves, as well as many other vegetables and fruits. Some of them can be used in the daily diet of hamsters. You can also purchase special treats for hamsters at pet stores, such as yogurt chips, hamster chocolate, or pieces of wood that hamsters like to chew on. Some vegetables and fruits are not safe for hamsters. For example, onions, garlic, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and citrus fruits.

Provide your hamster with a stick to grind down his teeth. They come in a variety of sizes, colors and flavors. Since your hamster's teeth are constantly growing, he needs to grind them down. These sticks are suitable for this purpose. Try offering your hamster different types of sticks to see which ones he likes best. Some hamsters completely refuse these sticks. If this happens in your case, be prepared for the fact that the hamster will chew other objects in the cage, for example, its bars.

Part 4

Hamster acclimatization

Leave your hamster alone to explore its new home. When you first bring your hamster home, place him in a cage with fresh food and water and leave him alone. Cover the cage with a thin cloth so that your pet can explore its new home without anxiety. Make sure he has enough food, water and toys to keep him occupied for a few days as you should not disturb him during this period. If there are children, friends or guests in the house, let them know that they should not disturb the hamster either.

Start getting to know your hamster gradually. After about 3 days of solitude for the hamster, you and your pet can begin to get to know each other. When approaching the cage, speak slowly to make the hamster aware of your presence. The hamster may be nervous at first, but you should not be upset, remember that he is not used to you yet. Start doing normal things like changing the water and food, and replacing old toys with new ones. Also, try to remove contaminated litter. The hamster will begin to get used to the fact that your hand is periodically present in his cage.

Start taming your hamster. Starting from the second week of your hamster's stay at home, you can begin giving him short taming lessons. For the most part, hamsters are active from early to late evening and at night. Try to study the individual characteristics of your hamster and conduct taming lessons when he is most active.

Respect your hamster's need for naps. Despite the fact that hamsters are nocturnal animals, they periodically run around the cage in search of food during the day. Although they may appear awake, they will not be in the mood to play with you unless you can tell otherwise by their behavior. For the same reason, try to minimize the attention of other people to the hamster in broad daylight. At this stage, it is important that the hamster gets used to you; he will make other friends later. Now he needs to understand that you are his friend and will never cause harm.

Hamsters have become famous as the most unpretentious pets. This is not entirely true: rodents require a responsible attitude. If you find out in advance how to care for a hamster at home, this will help, and the owner will avoid disappointment and dissatisfaction due to disappointed expectations. In our age of accessible information, it is enough to use the Internet to read everything about hamsters.

Caring for hamsters at home begins with purchasing and arranging a cage with all the necessary equipment. But the organization of a hamster’s life does not end there. An animal in a confined space is completely dependent on its owner. Care must be taken to maintain a comfortable temperature in the room all year round.

It doesn’t matter what temperature hamsters live at in nature, at home it should be 20-24 C.

The cage is protected from sunlight, and in hot climates it is recommended to equip the room with air conditioning. should not stand close to the heater.

The air should be fresh and clean, without strong odors and smoke. When ventilating the room, be careful not to create drafts.

Rodents do not tolerate noise well, so do not turn on TV, music or loud household appliances near the cage.

The hamster should not be woken up during the day; it is good if there is a cage so that the pet can hide. Children should be explained how to properly care for an animal with a nocturnal lifestyle, and be prepared to endure.

How to take care of hamsters: daily care

Feeding

The hamster is fed 1-2 times a day, usually in the evening. The basis of the diet is dry food, but it is very important that the pet also receives succulent and protein foods. You should study it carefully, otherwise the animal may get indigestion or even die.

Children are often entrusted with taking care of hamsters: watching them during meals is very interesting. Small pieces can be prepared in advance.

Pet stores have a wide selection of treats for rodents, but it is better to choose ones that are not sweet, without honey and other substances harmful to the hamster. Dried dandelion roots and millet spikelets are an excellent option for.

The pet is provided with fresh drinking water. Even in a closed automatic drinker, it is recommended to change the water every day.

Keeping it clean

Many people are interested in how to care for hamsters so that the cage does not have an unpleasant odor. It is very important for the pet to be healthy and not too “fragrant”. Every day, food residues that could go bad are removed - rotting fruit or stale meat is dangerous for the owner of the pantry.

The bottom of the cage should be generously covered with filler. Sawdust was previously used, but now it is most popular. The litter not only absorbs urine, but also allows the animal to dig and make hiding places.

You need to clean up after your hamster every day, removing wet litter and replacing it with fresh litter. The animals are clean and most often relieve themselves in the same place (“”). And general cleaning with a complete replacement of the filler and washing the cage is not required so often: 3-4 times a month. Excessive zeal in this matter will lead to a nervous breakdown in the hamster.

Communication

Hamsters are far from the most sociable rodents, since in nature they live strictly alone. Keeping a hamster at home is the same, if there are several animals, then there should be several cages. Such a pet also does not strive to communicate with the owner, so you will have to spend a lot of time taming an independent rodent.

There are certain rules of communication; if they are not followed, the hamster will show fear and aggression, irritating the owner. In the first days after purchasing the animal, it is better not to disturb it at all, no matter how much you want to cuddle the fluffy little ball. It will take about a week to get used to the new home, and at the same time to the voice and smell of the owner. At this stage it is recommended Say your pet's name while feeding.

Domestic hamsters differ little in temperament from their wild counterparts; they must be patiently trained to be handled so that communication brings joy to both the owner and the pet. With hamsters, the main remedy is food reinforcement - you need to teach the baby to take a treat from the palm of your hand. Gradually the rodent will get used to the hand, then it can be pulled out of the cage. Handle the animal with care - the tiny animal can be injured if it jumps out of your hands or is held too tightly. The safest thing to do is to wrap your palms around it, forming a “house”.

Contraindicated:

wake up the animal;
take from above, from the back (association with a predator attack);
make sudden movements (even if bitten, you need to remain calm).

Caring for your hamster should include daily interaction. If you do not pick up your pet for a long time, a “rollback” will occur and you will have to start over. Contact should occur when the animal is active (in the evening).

Ensuring activity

Despite the need for movement and variety, you can only let your pet out for a walk around the apartment. Otherwise, the hamster at home is in mortal danger - it can get stuck, be crushed/pinched by a door, fall, fall into a pan, eat a poisonous plant, or chew through an electric wire.

A warm fluffy ball, sparkling with beady eyes, will trustingly climb into the palm of your hand and melt the harshest heart. Hamsters have long and firmly held the third place in popularity, second only to dogs and cats. Their tiny size is their advantage, since you can keep a hamster in the most modest living conditions. At the same time, the touching creature will not embarrass the owners at all.

Golden Syrian, nimble Dzungarian, Campbell's hamsters and Roborovsky's hamsters, who love the company of their own kind, all come from the dry steppes and have a similar diet and lifestyle. Caring for them is approximately the same, only the sizes of the house, running wheel, drinking bowl and other attributes of a hamster’s life differ slightly.

Place in the house

Before you bring home a new pet, you need to create suitable living conditions for it. Hamster “mansions” will appeal to their inhabitants if they are located:

away from drafts;
away from direct sunlight and sources of artificial lighting (the hamster is a nocturnal creature, and this must be taken into account);
away from noise and vibration - even pleasant music sounding from the speakers will not cause anything but stress in the rodent.

There should be no central heating radiators or other heating devices near the cage, as well as sources of dampness. Curtains, indoor flowers and anything else that can attract the attention of a rodent are moved to a safe distance in advance - because everything that the hamster can reach through the bars, he will grab with his paws, drag him closer and will definitely try it.

Cell

A story about how to properly keep a hamster would be incomplete without warning the reader about one very common mistake. Namely, about using old aquariums or, even worse, three-liter jars for these purposes.

So, a terrarium is not an option; you should forget about it once and for all. Solid walls interfere with air circulation, it becomes humid from evaporation, and is oversaturated with ammonia and carbon dioxide. But the hamster is adapted to life in the steppe breeze; a stagnant atmosphere for him is sheer torment. The already short (two to three years) life of a hamster in such glass “dungeons” is halved.

The best “apartment” for this pet is a cage. Metal, with unpainted rods - otherwise the paint will soon end up in the rodent’s stomach. Horizontal rods are preferable to vertical ones: the animal will climb on them, like on a wall bars, with great pleasure. To prevent the fluffy fidget from “leaking” out, the distance between the rods is half a centimeter or a little more. The long side of the cage should not be less than half a meter. Standard dimensions are 50 x 30 cm, which is quite enough for one individual.

Hamster Cage Options

Attention: hamsters lead a solitary lifestyle! The struggle for territory among them never stops and often leads to disastrous results. Do you want to watch a friendly furry company? You'll have to look for Roborovsky hamsters in pet stores - only they, unlike other representatives of the hamster family, live in families.

All amenities

There is no place for dampness in a cage! A specially designed drinker (automatic or nipple) is placed in such a way as not to wet the litter; as a rule, it is attached to rods. The water is changed at least once a day: the hamster drinks little, getting liquid from succulent food, but the water must be fresh.

A hamster toilet is a tray with a special filler, which is changed once a week. However, if the rodent is an adult, then, alas, it will not be possible to accustom it to the tray.

Some experts recommend cleaning your hamster's fur using a special powder and a toothbrush. But there is a way provided by nature itself: sand baths will make your pet’s coat smooth and shiny. The bathing suit is filled with sand for chinchillas or regular river sand, previously calcined in the oven.

The feeder is positioned in such a way that waste products and litter fragments do not get into it. Its dimensions vary depending on the size of the eater. As a rule, a standard hamster cage is already equipped with a feeder, as well as a drinking bowl, toilet, house and even a running wheel. All this can be bought separately, or, if desired, made with your own hands.

"Interior" for a rodent

It's time to choose something that will make the cage not just a place for the hamster to stay, but his favorite home. The animal needs shelter - in the form of a pipe simulating a hole, or a house with opaque walls. If you give the pet the choice, he will without hesitation prefer a “civilized” home to an ordinary hole. The house is attached to the wall of the cage so that it is convenient to periodically disassemble it and wash it.

The motto of any hamster is movement, movement and movement again! Short legs are capable of scurrying tens of kilometers a day in search of food. How to keep a hamster at home without depriving him of his usual exercise? A running wheel will help: the rodent will always be in excellent shape, and the owners will get a bit of a good mood watching their irrepressible pet.

Attention: the running surface of the wheel must be solid. The mesh design can lead to injury: the paws of hamsters are delicate and fragile; if they get caught in a gap while running, they break easily.

A good addition to the wheel would be various labyrinths and ladders along which the hamster will travel. And a pair of picturesque driftwood will serve not only as decoration, but also as a kind of “sharpener” for the incisors of the cage inhabitant. Grinding the incisors is vitally important for rodents; they cannot be deprived of this opportunity. The animal will probably enjoy sharpening its teeth on a mineral stone.

Many hamsters love to swing on a string

Pleasant little things, such as a walking ball and various toys, can be purchased later, when the pet’s character and habits become known.

What's under your feet?

The owner will make the life of his little friends very comfortable by choosing corn litter as bedding. It is considered the best, but very expensive. A budget option is cellulose or sawdust in granules. Ordinary sawdust is used in extreme cases, and only from hardwood, that is, soft.

Hay, like coarse sawdust, is fraught with danger: a hamster can prick tender feet or, even worse, gouge out an eye. It is strictly not recommended to place cotton wool or any fabric in the cage - the fibers will wrap around the animal’s fingers or wrists, blood circulation will be disrupted, and the rodent will lose a limb. Newspapers are not used, since printing ink is poisonous (besides, modern news can unsettle anyone, even a hamster).

Napkins - white, without a pattern - will serve as a temporary option. The hamster uses them to build a nest for itself. To make the task easier for your pet, the napkins are pre-cut into narrow ribbons.

What to feed a hamster

Twice a day, morning and evening, the feeder is filled with grain. This could be wheat, oats or other grains. Beginning hamster owners are recommended to buy a ready-made food mixture - there will be no need to select components, and the diet can be selected for a specific breed.

Juicy vegetables such as carrots, beets, celery will serve as a source of vitamins and moisture. It is useful to please your pet with an apple, pear, and berries, but in very small quantities. Sweets are completely harmful for Djungarian hamsters, for the reason that the species is prone to diabetes. The hamster's menu is varied with corn, arugula (Italian dandelion), and occasionally sunflower seeds and nuts.

The “black list” includes onions, garlic, cabbage, any flour products (pasta, cookies, etc.), fat, sugar and honey. No matter how appetizing citrus fruits look, they are not intended for a hamster. The same applies to fried, salted and pickled foods, as well as smoked foods.

The hamster is a vegetarian, but occasionally he needs protein food. Twice a week, the pet is offered a thimble-sized piece of boiled chicken, alternating the meat with a hard-boiled egg and cottage cheese. For females, during feeding, the protein norm is increased several times.

Cute but toothy

Ideally, the hamster should climb onto the palm itself. When the animal is tamed, this is what happens. But if you want to pick up an unfamiliar rodent (even a baby), then you must be extremely careful: its incisors leave serious cuts. The animal is taken from the back, carefully clasping the fingers under the front paws. It is permissible to take the animal by the scruff of the neck, carefully calculating the strength so as not to hurt it.

Children should be warned: a living creature is not a soft toy! If there are children in the family, it is not recommended to keep a hamster at home until the heirs grow up. Or you need to place the cage in a place inaccessible to fools. But already a seven-year-old child can easily and happily take care of a hamster, tinker with it, to mutual pleasure, and if he wants, he can teach the fluffy a few simple tricks.

A hamster is an animal, although small, but has its own needs. To make your pet comfortable in your home, you should study information on how to care for a hamster. Particular attention should be paid to the cleanliness of the home, hygiene and diet of the pet. You will learn everything about caring for a hamster at home from our article.

Basic needs of a pet

If you were suddenly given a furry baby, you have no idea how to care for a hamster at home. You can purchase special literature or consult a veterinarian. But if you don’t have the time and money for this, then study our tips that will answer the question “how to keep a hamster at home?”

First of all, we need to establish what these animals actually need? Here is a detailed list of hamster needs:

As you can see, keeping hamsters at home is a responsible matter. At first glance, caring for fluffies is difficult, but in reality, difficulties rarely arise. When you have lived with your hamster for 1-2 months, care and maintenance will become something familiar to you.

Each hamster's needs have their own nuances.

What should a hamster's house be like?

Tiers and ladders will help expand the habitable space. But do not forget that they must be safe.

Temperature

Small rodents need warmth, especially newborns. The temperature in the room where the house is located should not fall below 20ºС! Otherwise, your pets may get sick. Try to keep the hamsters warm, but you don’t need to keep the house near the heater either!

Make sure that animals are not exposed to drafts. If the cage is located next to a window, then remove it while airing.

Purity

Animals like it when their cage is clean. Then the skin does not get dirty and you can breathe easily. Caring for a hamster at home involves regular cleaning of the cage, which will be discussed in detail below.

Calm

The absence of stress has a positive effect on the health of the fluffy, on the mood and on your relationship with him. Furry panties are afraid of cats and other animals, so try to minimize the animal’s contact with other pets. Noisy electrical appliances can also cause your pet’s dissatisfaction: a TV, a drill and hammer drill, a vacuum cleaner. From especially loud sounds, a homa may scream or cover its ears with its paws.

Place pet rodents as far away from the TV as possible.
While you are using the vacuum cleaner, take the cage into another room.
During noisy renovations, it is better to ask friends to look after the hamster.
Do not leave a mobile phone near your hamster's house: a sudden loud sound and vibration will terrify the hamster.

Proper care involves giving your home freedom in choosing his daily routine. If you start disturbing the animal in its sleep or while eating, it will become very upset.

Toys and attractions

In order for a pet to live a full life, it needs to play and have fun. The running wheel, which all rodents love so much, is both a toy and an exercise machine that will help your home stay in shape.

Periodically, the animal should be taken out of the cage and played with. It is better if you equip a permanent playroom (for example, from a large box), where every corner will be familiar to the animal. But from time to time you can also set up temporary labyrinths to entertain your pet.

Hygiene procedures

You've learned the basic tips on how to care for hamsters, but that's not enough. Animal hygiene requires detailed consideration. The fact is that in humid, warm places microorganisms begin to multiply very quickly, some of which can be pathogenic. What hygiene points need to be paid special attention to? There are only three of them, so it won’t be difficult to remember:

sanitary condition of dishes;
freshness of the litter;
the purity of Khomina's fur.

Over time, a green coating may appear inside the rodent's drinking bowl. This indicates that algae, cyanobacteria and other microorganisms are actively multiplying in the bottle. Aquatic flora is not very dangerous, but it will still be better if you clean the bottle periodically. This is easy to do with a children's toothbrush. If you use detergent, be sure to rinse the bottle thoroughly!

If the animal does not like the food, or the pet is bored with it, he may shit in his bowl. If you do not notice such an incident in time, bacteria will multiply in the bowl and begin to release toxic waste products. As a result, your pet may get food poisoning. To prevent this from happening, check the contents of the bowl daily - it must be dry! If you find moisture or sticky pieces of dry food, remove the food from the bowl and throw it away. Wash the plate itself well with detergent and rinse thoroughly with water. To prevent the incident from happening again the next day, give your pet something else to eat.

Changing the litter

One of the most ardent supporters of cleanliness in the animal world are domestic hamsters. The care and maintenance of these little animals requires frequent replacement of the filler. Not everyone knows how often the litter should be changed and how to do it.

It is advisable to remove visible excrement every day and replace the litter as it gets dirty. If Homa lives alone in a cage with a small perimeter, then it needs to be cleaned once every 3-4 days. The spacious cage needs cleaning once a week. But only on condition that the hamster lives there alone. You should also wash the cage well 1-2 times a month.

Here are detailed instructions for cleaning the cage:

Move the animal into a box with high edges while cleaning. Don't just leave the rodent there, sprinkle some treats and put a wheel on it so that the pet has something to do. It will be even better if children play with the homa while cleaning the cage.
Remove the top part from the tray, rinse it with warm water and set it to dry.
Remove the old filler from the tray, wash with warm water and soda - this will help disinfect the surfaces.
Wipe the tray dry or wait until it dries. You cannot pour fresh filler into a wet tray!
Once dry, add bedding, assemble the cage and return the hamster home. Be sure to treat him with something tasty for good behavior!

How does general cleaning work? Yes, exactly the same, with the only difference that all the attractions are washed. And all parts of the cell are doused with boiling water for additional disinfection.

Many people are interested in whether it is possible to wash a hamster. In fact, small rodents really don’t like to bathe. For them, getting into the water is tantamount to the greatest stress, because this is an unknown environment for them (droplets from the drinking bowl do not count).

Here are 2 options for water treatments for hamsters:

After you have bathed the animal, it should dry in a warm place. Blot the water with a soft towel. Place the rodent in a box with a dry cloth underneath. It is better to place the box next to the battery for a while. Some owners dry their pets with a hairdryer. Now this is pure sadism! If you first force a fluffy to wash in water, and then point a noisy blowing thing at it, the animal will receive a double blow to the nervous system. For such treatment, he may be offended for a long time and stop giving in to his hands.

However, not all hamsters are afraid of water. Some people enjoy taking a bath. But you still shouldn’t bathe your hamster too often: after all, a wet animal can easily get sick.

What is important to know about nutrition?

If you know how to keep a hamster at home, the animal will be calm and happy. An important role in proper care belongs to the food you feed your cute animal.

Contrary to the opinion that hamsters are omnivorous, there are foods that should not be given to them:

spices. Sour and spicy foods can cause burns to the baby's oral mucosa, esophagus and stomach. Therefore, do not even think about feeding khoma kebab, Korean-style carrots and other seasoned human food. Also exclude all citruses and kiwi from your diet;
foods high in fat. Lipids are poorly absorbed by the animal's body, especially animal fats. In general, sausage, lard and fatty cottage cheese are not suitable for nutrition (although low-fat cottage cheese can sometimes be given a little at a time);
sweets. This includes honey, sweets, and confectionery. Dried fruits are also sweet, so we try not to feed them to hamsters, but give them rarely, as a treat and encouragement;
pickles. A hamster cannot have mushrooms – neither fresh nor raw. Other salty foods disrupt the water balance of rodents;
some vegetables. These include onions with garlic, white cabbage;
fruit pits. They have a jagged surface that can injure a hamster's delicate cheeks. The core of the seeds sometimes contains compounds that are poisonous to rodents. The same applies to the cones of coniferous trees.

Adopting a hamster is a big responsibility, but taking care of it is not that difficult. The main thing is to monitor your pet’s diet and emotional state, clean the house more often and give your funny friend a little attention.

Although pet hamsters are small animals, they should be cared for no less than other, larger animals. Keeping these rodents in your home is a big responsibility.

You can write endlessly about these charming animals, but we will limit ourselves to only a brief overview of the main factors.

How to care for hamsters

Like all other animals, hamsters need their owner to monitor their health. First of all, for this you need to feed your pet rationally and keep its habitat clean. If this is not done, the hamster will definitely get sick. It is worth noting that cages with dirty bars have also killed more than one hamster.

To monitor your pet's health, you need to pick it up and examine it every day. If during the examination the owner feels that something is wrong with his pet, he should immediately contact a veterinarian.

How to feed a hamster

Hamsters are vegetarians and their diet consists mostly of fruits, grains and green leaves. In addition, the hamster can be fed with special mixtures for hamsters, which can be purchased at a pet store. The main rule when feeding is not to overfeed your pet, otherwise he will clog his cheek pouches with food and hide it in the cage. Sooner or later, the food will begin to mold, the hamster will overeat it and get sick.

Housing for a hamster

Under no circumstances should you let your hamsters run around the house. Otherwise, the animal's owner may never see it again. A hamster must be equipped with everything that is necessary for his hamster life. The cage should have comfortable bedding. In addition to this, you need a ladder, wheels and some toys that will make the hamster happy with its existence.

How to clean a hamster

Almost all hamsters have short fur, but despite this, they still need brushing. If the hamster has long hair, then you need to brush it every day, otherwise its fur will not be silky or neat. To make caring for your animal easier, you can purchase a special powder for cleaning hamsters. This powder will help maintain the health and appearance of your pet, and will also be good protection against fleas. You can use a regular toothbrush for cleaning.

How to train a hamster

Hamsters living in captivity need mandatory entertainment. An animal like a hamster definitely needs to move a lot, so it needs to be provided with balls, a ramp or a running wheel, or even better, both. Some hamsters like to swing on a string suspended from the ceiling of the cage.

Since hamsters living in the wild travel long distances in search of food, their captive hamsters need a wheel that will allow them to maintain good physical condition.

Hamster diseases

In a hamster’s body, any process proceeds much faster than in a human body, and this also applies to diseases. Therefore, if your pet shows signs of an infectious disease, it must be shown to a veterinarian as quickly as possible. In view of this, you need to find out in advance where the nearest veterinarian is located who can treat these animals.

First of all, attention should be paid to the glands with which hamsters mark their territory.

Hamsters also often suffer from broken limbs. If the fracture is closed, then the legs heal well without special treatment, but if the fracture is open, then the animal must be shown to a veterinarian. In case of any fracture, the animal must be limited in movement by removing stairs, floors, pipes and fighting wheels from the cage.

If the ambient temperature drops below 10-12 degrees, the hamster may hibernate. To bring the hamster out of this state, you need to warm it in your palms.

Closer to two years of age, the hamster begins to show the first signs of aging. Unfortunately, this phenomenon cannot be treated and the only thing the owner can do is to alleviate the unpleasant phenomena associated with it for the animal.

Buying and choosing a hamster

If the owner has no desire to engage in breeding, then you can limit yourself to buying one animal.

You can purchase the animal at a zoological store or from some other hamster lover.

At the same time, you should know that Syrian hamsters need to be kept alone, since in adulthood these animals cannot tolerate the presence of adult animals on their territory and start fights that end in the death of one of the fighters. To get offspring from them, the female and the male need to be placed together for just a few hours, when the female is ready for mating. But hairy-footed hamsters are capable of living in pairs and even families, but pairs need to be formed at about the age of one and a half to two months, since adult animals have difficulty getting along and start serious fights that can result in serious injuries.

For purchase, it is best to choose young individuals at the age of three to seven weeks. Both males and females are very tame, but female Syrian hamsters are often more aggressive than males.

You should choose a healthy animal whose body is smooth and not bony.

The animal's coat should be thick, clean, without bald spots and not tousled. Paws and ears must be clean, free of discharge, crusts and sores. The eyes should be clean, shiny and not watery. It would be useful to look under the hamster's tail: the fur in this place should be clean. The hamster should be brought to the ear and listen to its breathing, which should be clean and even. The hamster should not have any coughing, wheezing or wheezing.

How to determine the sex of a hamster

Determining the sex of a hamster is not at all difficult. Firstly, females have very clearly visible nipples, and secondly, the distance between the urinary papilla and the anus is much smaller than that of males, although determining the sex of the cubs is somewhat more difficult.

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