Hamster day tomorrow! Do I have everything?

[ICutMyFootOnOccamsRazor]

I'm so excited - just got a surprise message from a friend telling me that her baby hamsters are ready to go and we can go and choose one tomorrow. I thought it was going to be another week.

We've had guinea pigs before and are planning to use the old cage and some of the stuff from them...so far we've got:
the cage
water bottle
food dish
shredded paper
kitchen paper for bedding
a pigloo for it to sleep in (will that be ok?)
some carboard tubes

I'll pick up the food and some chew sticks for it tomorrow. What have I forgotten?

obvious I'm sure, but the bars aren't too big on the cage for the babies? (there are very small, even syrians, when babies)

Make sure you have a wheel, we have a silent spinner, but the flying saucers are also good. Just make sure it's big enough

We also have a hamster ball, and a hamster toilet which means less smell

Hamster food!

He he thanks - the food I'll get tomorrow.

Hamster toilet?!

I had forgotten about the wheel. I'll get one when I get the food. I wasn't sure about a ball - do they actually enjoy them or are they a bit mean? (No idea why I should think that). We have a cat, so Care Must Be Taken.

Eep hadn't thought that the bars may be too big - I do have an emergency aquarium, just in case. The cage has quite a deep plastic tray though, so if I don't put the ladder in to the upper platform then it should be safe until it gets big enough (although it won't be able to see out .

Hmmm They can climb quite well you know!

hamster toilets We use cheap wood cat litter pellets

You can buy mesh to mesh over the bars. It will get out, they are amazing at what they can do. The space needs to be 1cm or less!

Get a wooden wheel, they are compleatly silent apart from the patter of feet.

Try a ball, some love them some don't. If they don't crawl in on their own then leave it.

Have you got some bedding such as Carefresh to cover the bottom of the cage. They like a deep base so they can burrow. They will use the kitchen roll/toilet roll for building a nest.

Shredded paper isn't great because it can cause paper cuts.

Maybe some toys? You can make you own from cardboard boxes, the more they have to do the better, but make sure he still has room to run around

Have fun with your new hammy! :)

Right, thanks very much all .

I think we're hamster ready. Or we will be once I've been out and spent the GDP of a small island nation in the pet shop tomorrow. The bars of the cage are definitely more than a centimetre apart, so I'll pick up some mesh, too.

Poor wee thing must not get paper cuts, that'd be awful, so I'll get different bedding.

I'll post a pic tomorrow .

Yay it's here! Her (his? how do I tell?) name is Snuffy, as decided by ds.

I went to the pet shop this morning to buy all the bits and bobs and just gave in and bought a Carefresh starter kit with food, bedding, wheel, treats, 2 level cage with a tube etc all included.

She has a cardboard tube and some little sticks to play with and seems very friendly, although she was scared in the car.

I'm wondering whether to get her another tube that attaches to the cage and has a sort of sleeping pod part on top .

This is a good website with lots of info about looking after hamsters hamster central

Sorry to jump on to this thread but I am about to buy a hamster for DD. I think we have everything but I have not kept them as pets for 30 years and had never heard of using kitchen roll for bedding. One of my hamsters died eating the cotton wool type bedding shops used to sell around that time and the bedding is my primary concern. Is kitchen roll really safe or would you recommend something else?

Imo shredded toilet roll is the cheapest, safest, comfiest bedding. Mine love to have the odd full sheet and tear it up them selves :)

Kitchen roll just seems to starchy to me and mine have always picked out the softer toilet roll.

The cotton wool type fluffy bedding is very dangerous to all animals, not just hamsters. I'm surprised they can still sell it tbh.

Good luck with your new hammy :)

I bought a shredder that cuts to 4x40mm so tiny pieces. I shred all non shiney paper for my guinea-pigs (they don't chew paper or newspaper).
The pages of the TV Times (not the cover) give the loveliest,softest bedding. And hours of fun for them trying to piece the pages together again

Our new hammy arrived today!

I have gone for the toilet roll bedding and was aghast that some pet shops still sell the cotton wool type stuff that killed my hamster over 30 years ago

He is really lovely and now playing happily in his new cage. Had a look in P@H first but they only had two that really did not look that healthy with dull coats so went to a local pet shop instead. They only had one left so hope he was not the runt of the litter but we think he is lovely.

He is already over 8 weeks old though so I am hoping that will not be a problem when taming.

So excited and he is for DD not me!