Please help me get a hamster Kit together, Syrian Hamster, Newbie...

[SprungisSpringYaY]

I have decided to take the plunge and buy a hamster, can anyone help me on the kit please....What cage would you recommend, any special questions I should be asking when I buy one...thank you.

@ @Blackcountrychik

Is that the same one.. The mansion you've linked too.

Would it be upsetting or good to have one of the conventional cages perhaps attached with tube to a non conventional one like a tub someone mentioned earlier with stuff to burrow in?

Try & go to a good breeder rather than Pets At Home (not always easy to find).

Ours used to take ages to clean out and had lots of tubes. I'd go for one with a base you just unclip and wash out as a result. We had a little pen thing to sit in when handling ours. They escape now and again. Don't try and find them until night. They'll be asleep. Wait til dark and leave some food out. We had a female and she did bite, despite gentle handling. The pen thing is useful though.

www.amazon.co.uk/Me-My-Pets-Playpen-Floor/dp/B01AS4S1RG?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Oh she'd love it buttered but she's not having it. She's podgy already sorry I didn't realise it got so long.

I made the mistake of buying a pet shop cage and the hamster kept biting bars, I didn't realise they needed a really big cage and that the nibbling was stress so I bought her a huge cage, the Barney, and she never chewed the bars again, I also bought a big silent wheel.

She was super friendly from day one and never bit, occasionally she'd nibble our fingertips when sniffing for food but was perfectly happy being picked up and cuddled.

She lived to about 18 months old and we didn't replace her because the kids soon lost interest due to her being nocturnal, she'd be asleep all day then wake up about 9pm but they'd be in bed themselves by then.

This YouTuber has lots of good hamster care advice: m.youtube.com/watch?v=1dsJ8Bj-jQ4

Don’t get that cage linked at the start of the thread, it’s tiny! I recommend the savic plaza, hamster heaven or grosevnor. Bedding should be 15-30cm deep, tea bag bedding is dirt cheap and great for tunnelling, but comes in large packages which can be hard to store. If you get W cage of a decent size you don’t need to fully clean it very often at all, spot clean daily (I use a litter tray too). Trixid plastic or wooden wheel is best, female Syrians are larger and more demanding, and a bit more smelly so maybe go for a male

The grosevnor
Little Friends Grosvenor Rat and Hamster Cage with Wooden Shelf and Ladder, Large, 77 x 47 x 36 cm, Black www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005CAYRZC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_ZBCZN13THZ6QG3DQT2WW?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

And I second what everyone else says about cages. I ended up throwing out the cage and wheel Pets at Home sold me and buying an Alaska and one of these: Trixie 60923 Holzlaufrad, 28 cm www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008H2VG0G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_AJSH2EAGWZ2KF3V4AVSB?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Don’t get a ball- hamsters navigate by scent so being inside a big plastic ball is disorienting and distressing for them. When I was cleaning out the cage I would just lift the cage bit off and put it on the floor with some toys to keep him occupied while I cleaned out the bottom bit.

Unfortunately due to brexit there’s a dearth of 80x50cm cages by the way, a lot of them come from Europe (specifically Germany) where the welfare standards are a lot higher

We have a Pawhut cage that's massive and a 28cm free-standing wheel. We buy from a breeder who will not release a Syrian without the requisite cage, substrate and wheel. Syrians need a lot of unbroken space. Because we buy from a breeder all ours come to us hand-tamed (we're on our 4th and all of ours have lived to nearly 3 years of age).

They are omnivores and love cooked but unseasoned chicken and fish and also dried mealworms.

Pedigree hammies are larger than milled ones so plan accordingly.

They've lovely pets! I'm actually now the driver in this.

Oh, no, no balls! They can't see well and their eyes are on the sides of their heads. Balls are dangerous and cruel. Ours play in a bathtub and love mazes we make for them out of cardboard.

This is the type of thing I wish we had done for our Syrian hamster... instead we have 3 large cages attached together with tubes, which is fairly decent.
Our hamster is almost 3 and I think the space he has had has meant he has had a pretty happy and stress-free life.

And our Syrian is gorgeous. Took a lot of work to tame him in the early days, but he has never bitten.

my syrian has the eco-green habitat (medium, wish id got the large) I bought a cut to measure perspex sheet to line the enclosure so its easier to cleanl;
fill with 10 inches of substrate ( i use natural paper bedding carefresh or kaytee)
also has a tunnel system under half the bedding (rodipet ) and a ceramic tunnel system over the top(again rodipet)
plus a glass cookie jar sand bath,
a climbing frame,
a huge wooden silent running wheel (saves our sanity)
and a rummage house filled with hay where i hide treats- then lots of chew toys, different textures,
and a couple of hanging treat/toys
put in some natural grasses/sprays eg flax and millet for browsing
i shred a few sheets of plain white loo roll and leave it outside his house- he uses it to make his nest
previous syrian used a little ceramic loo, with critta-litta ,current incumbent doesnt like it and uses one corner for the loo, so its still easy to spot clean

he has 'floor time' every day, sometimes in a play pen with different toys, and has a plastic tub 'holiday home' for when his main one gets cleaned (it takes me around 4 hours) or if we're going away

cardboard boxes- any size, with a few entry/exit holes cut in make a great toy, hide a couple of treats inside and put a couple of boxes in his play area, he'll get a half-hour of fun.( i use the hallway for this because its nicely contained and he cant escape, but gets a bigger space to run around and play in his boxes

rodipet (im just a customer not an agent honestly) have some great hamster things, and a few videos that show how their things provide your hammy with opportunities to express natural behaviour

hamstercentral and hamster hideout have loads of good advice and product recommendations

i've been told male syrians are the most chilled out and females more bitey- ive had one female and one male- both have been pretty sweet natured, the female more shy.

I agree about not getting a cage with tubes after seeing a hamster (not mine) get stuck inside one, he'd then tried to chew through it to escape and got his teeth stuck in one of the airholes. Several hundred pounds at the vets to free him, amputate the front paw that got jammed in one of the other airholes, and remove his front teeth to get him free.

They also go wild for live mealworms (we had them for reptiles). One of our robos used to fall off things she was so excited when she smelt them.

@FoxyTheFox

I agree about not getting a cage with tubes after seeing a hamster (not mine) get stuck inside one, he'd then tried to chew through it to escape and got his teeth stuck in one of the airholes. Several hundred pounds at the vets to free him, amputate the front paw that got jammed in one of the other airholes, and remove his front teeth to get him free.

That's awful.

Yes, OP - i'd avoid the ones with all the fancy tubes. They may look like great fun, but hamsters are happier with burrowing and digging, and they're clearly not very safe.

Make sure any attachments are secure hamsters need the smallest of gaps to escape ours spent half its life on the run!

Dd's dwarf hamster has the Savic metro heaven or something. She took out the platforms and tubes and has put in a wooden platform and ramp bridge. He's got a house thingy to climb and burrow in and Dd puts a big mound of bedding under the platform where he burrows and nests. He loves his flying saucer wheel but if you go for a traditional wheel go big. Definitely no balls. Kaytee clean and cosy bedding is good, not the fluffy stuff.