Hamster Facts (Part 3)

Pouches

Hamsters have pouches in their checks.  The pouches are folds of stretchy skin that reach from their lips to their shoulders.  Hamsters like to stuff their pouches with food and bedding material and carry back to their burrows.

During feeding time, I noticed that both Fluffy & Roof would usually eat their favorite food first and then stuff the bigger pieces or hard nuts/corn into their pouches and then ran quickly back to their “warehouse”. Sometime the food they carried made their heads looked “double” in size.  When I do the weekly clean up, I will usually find hidden dry food at their “warehouse”.

Pieces of sharp food may sometime damage the lining in a hamster’s cheek pouches. Food can also stuck inside the pouch and cause infection.  Your hamsters need to visit the vet to take care of such problems.  Best to avoid giving hamsters sticky food like sweets and chocolates and also big sharp hard nuts.

Hair

Hamsters have different types of hair.  Some have long fluffy hair, some short and one rare breed of Syrian hamster is completely hairless!  Chinese hamsters have a dark stripe running down their back, “winter-white” Russian hamster has a coat of pure white hair.


Babies 

Most female hamsters can have a lot of babies (from 8 to as many as 26, depending on which type of hamsters).  Average weight of each newborn baby is about the same as a teaspoon of flour (2.5 to 3g) or lesser.  The mother will nurse her babies with milk for three weeks and then the young hamsters will start to eat adult food.


Thus, it is best not to remove any baby hamsters from their mother before they are four weeks old.  I brought home both my hamsters from the pet shop when they were slightly over five weeks of age.

Fast Facts:

• Hamsters have four toes on each front feet and five toes on each of their back feet.

Hamster Facts (Part 2)

Keeping a pet is our responsibility to always look after it and that means giving it enough food and water, keeping it clean and healthy.  Knowing more about its body parts and functions are also important.

Hamster’s Teeth (Incisors)

Hamsters, same as all rodents, have two long, curved, yellowish teeth on the top and another two at the bottom.  Their teeth are called incisors.  The incisors keep growing throughout their life.  As the rodents gnaw on hard food such as nuts, the incisors are worn down which prevent them from overgrown.

Hamsters will gnaw at anything.  They like to chew cardboard boxes and plastic tubes.  Blocks of fruit wood or dog biscuits are good for hamsters to gnaw on.  Avoid soft wood and big seeds which might break into sharp pieces that will injure the insides of the hamster’s cheek pouches.

Our first hamster, Fluffy, liked to gnaw on his wire cage bars (which is no good as it will damage its incisors). After doing some reading, I found out that he might be bored.  So, I added a swing and a few toilet rolls (with holes opened in between) into his cage.  Our second hamster, Roof, does not chew on the wire cage bars.  Maybe because he lives in a bigger cage (at least 4 times the cage of Fluffy)?

Introduction / Hamster Facts (Hamsters Information)

Hamsters, rats, mice, gerbils or guinea pigs…. Which pet is the right at the top of the small-animal pet polls? You’re right… it’s the hamsters. They are cute, they are fluffy (that’s why my daughter named our first pet hamster as Fluffy), and they have big and intelligent eyes. 

Hamsters are easy to look after. They are small, thus, they fit into any home. They are cheap to buy and not expensive to maintain. They are quiet and won’t disturb your neighbors. My little hamster, Roof, only made some squeaking sound on the first two days when we brought him home, most properly scared of the new environment. Nowadays, we seldom, or can say never hear any noise from him.

Hamsters are mammals. Like other mammals, e.g. dogs and people, hamsters have hair on their bodies. Hamsters give birth to their young and feed them with milk from their own bodies.

Hamsters, like mice and rats, are rodents. They are nocturnal. They are active at night and sleep during the day. My little Russian dwarf hamster sleeps almost the whole day in his shoe house and is supper active at around 11 o'clock near midnight!

Wild hamsters live in dry places such as the deserts. They make tunnels and live in the burrows. They need to travel great distances to find food such as seeds and plants. When they find food, they will eat as much as they could and carry the rest in their pouches back to their burrows. Likewise, their relative, the pet hamsters do the same even through they live in cages. My little Hamster, Roof, greedily finishes up the fresh vegetables or leaves during feeding time everyday and hide all the dry food in his “warehouse” for future meals.

Fast Fact:

• “Hamster” comes from the German word “hamstern”, which means “hoard” or “store”.
• Hamsters live for around two to two and a half years
• Syrian Hamsters can grow to about 15-20 cm (6-7 inches) long, Dwarf hamsters from 5 cm to 10 cm.

Dwarf Hamsters

Since young, I am fond of animals and wanted to take dwarf hamsters as pets or a small kitten. But my mother is allergic to furry animals, so what we (my siblings & I) had were some fighting fish and guppies.

The BIG day finally came when my girl asked for a dwarf hamster as pet for her birthday. At first, my husband refused, stating hamsters are smelly bla bla bla.... But he had to give up after persistent pleading from my daughter. Hooray!!! We had a dwarf hamster finally!


Our first dwarf hamster stayed with us for 2.5 years. Fluffy was only 1 month old when he became our family member. He was very active and liked to run in his exercise ball. His favorites were rolled oats, sesame seeds and sweet corn.

One month after Fluffy went to heaven due to old age, we brought home another dwarf hamster, Roof. Roof likes to eat broccoli and cooked brown rice. He is an active little guy which made a lot of squeaking noise on the first 2 days at his new home. My husband said Roof is more smelly than Fluffy..... Maybe because of what he eats?