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I can't really give you any useful resources because I don't have any expertise outside of guinea pigs. Hopefully someone else can chime in to give you want you want. And I think it's perfectly justified and not at all a knee-jerk reaction to tell people not to shop at Petco for how they treat their animals, whether it's the kind you are looking for or not. Mistreatment is mistreatment, whether it's birds or fish or guinea pigs.
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Jan 2, 2013 01:27
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Sirotan posted:I can't really give you any useful resources because I don't have any expertise outside of guinea pigs. Hopefully someone else can chime in to give you want you want. And I think it's perfectly justified and not at all a knee-jerk reaction to tell people not to shop at Petco for how they treat their animals, whether it's the kind you are looking for or not. Mistreatment is mistreatment, whether it's birds or fish or guinea pigs. So you're just advocating an across the board boycot of Petcos and all other chain pet stores because of their treatment of animals in general? Thanks for clarifying your position, then. e: And the only reason I used the term "knee-jerk" is because you brought up their treatment of specific animals when their treatment of other animals seems to be far above what everybody else is doing, and their treatment of the animals you mentioned are, as far as I can tell, not one iota better than anyone outside of reputable breeders. I stand by my statement that I would rather give them my money than the scumbags that run the local independent stores. If you want to advocate for never ever buying anything from ANY pet stores that sell live animals or never buying certain animals because reliable breeders don't exist, that's another argument entirely. I would honestly like to give my money to a place that didn't do anything like that, but I haven't found a single one that's more humane. Do you just buy all your pet supplies from Amazon, or did you find a diamond in the rough independent shop that isn't utterly horrific? Sumac fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Jan 2, 2013 |
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Jan 2, 2013 01:38
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I advocate boycotts of stores that sell animals because regardless of how well meaning their associates are they source all their small rodents from mills (which are as bad, if not worse than the mom and pop places you find abhorrent), and they fuel the overpopulation problem by selling to whoever strolls in the door. That huge bust last year from the Petco supplier? If I remember right, they were begging homes for about 500 hamsters. I think the TX guinea pig rescue ended up taking them. They were overcrowded, breeding rampantly, and attacking each other. It just kind of baffles me that people who sperg about how you should never get a dog from a pet store because of how awful puppy mills are will stroll into Petco and buy a hamster from essentially the same place, but with less regulation.
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Jan 2, 2013 01:52
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It's an inaccurate position because every single petsmart and petco I've been in keeps their animals differently and some actually do keep them appropriately, even in regards to larger rodent species (and non-rodents like ferrets, fish, etc). Hell, even in town the different is absurd. One keeps their ball pythons in a tiny little 2x1 cube at 110 degrees, the other keeps theirs in something that works out to be a 15 gallon long with proper humidity and temperatures and doesn't overcrowd the cage. Literally, I can drive across town and at one store the guinea pigs are kept in a 10 gallon with like 8 pigs, and at another store they're in a nice front-enclosed area with a screen back with 3 pigs in a 4x3 (ish) area. So I'd say judge by store rather than by the company. Some of them actually take decent care of the little guys. Hell, the one I go to even gives their beardies fresh, appropriate salads and orders in CGD for the cresties.
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Jan 2, 2013 01:54
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Rodent Mortician posted:I advocate boycotts of stores that sell animals because regardless of how well meaning their associates are they source all their small rodents from mills (which are as bad, if not worse than the mom and pop places you find abhorrent), and they fuel the overpopulation problem by selling to whoever strolls in the door. That huge bust last year from the Petco supplier? If I remember right, they were begging homes for about 500 hamsters. I think the TX guinea pig rescue ended up taking them. They were overcrowded, breeding rampantly, and attacking each other. I would absolutely love to get a hamster from a breeder or a shelter. The shelters in my area don't accept hamsters, and I couldn't find a single breeder that wasn't a random rear end in a top hat on Cragislist looking for homes for his 6 month to 1 year-old unsexed "baby" hamsters in months of searching. There aren't the kind of robust networks for hamster breeders the way there are for guinea pigs and other, longer-lived rodents. As far as good resources go, I haven't found a single positive recommendation for a place to buy a hamster in my entire state in months of searching. I've found hundreds of "Don't go here they're horrible!" comments, but it feels like nobody gives a poo poo about any animal that lives less than five years. It's incredibly simple to find good gerbil breeders, good guinea pig breeders, good ferret breeders, and even good rat breeders. You want a hamster? The prevailing advice is nothing but a torrent of "whatever you do, don't get one here!" without a single piece of useful advice of where people CAN turn to.
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Jan 2, 2013 02:10
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MacGyvers_Mullet posted:As far as good resources go, I haven't found a single positive recommendation for a place to buy a hamster in my entire state in months of searching. I've found hundreds of "Don't go here they're horrible!" comments, but it feels like nobody gives a poo poo about any animal that lives less than five years. It's incredibly simple to find good gerbil breeders, good guinea pig breeders, good ferret breeders, and even good rat breeders. You want a hamster? The prevailing advice is nothing but a torrent of "whatever you do, don't get one here!" without a single piece of useful advice of where people CAN turn to. Usually I've found the best way to go is to find a rescue in your state that does handle exotics and shoot them a note asking for help. Typically they can either refer you to shelters that do take in these animals, help you find private parties rehoming, or give you suggestions for places that aren't awful. We've transported animals to people from cross-state when needed.
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Jan 2, 2013 02:30
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MacGyvers_Mullet posted:I would honestly like to give my money to a place that didn't do anything like that, but I haven't found a single one that's more humane. Do you just buy all your pet supplies from Amazon, or did you find a diamond in the rough independent shop that isn't utterly horrific? Almost everything my pigs eat comes from here: http://www.kmshayloft.com/hay/ Snacks, toys, waterbottles, etc almost always come from here: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ I buy recycled paper bedding from a local company to fill my hayboxes, and all other cage supplies I make myself. I also get guinea pigs only from rescues these days.
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Jan 2, 2013 02:52
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My petco keeps their lovely milled rodents reasonably well, with the exception of the feeder mice. They're separated by sex so sometimes the males bully each other. I have seen them refuse sales to idiots multiple times and all of their reptiles are kept *flawlessly.* I don't know anything about fish but aside from the cups o' betta (which I doubt the store employees have any control over) all of the tanks always look amazing and I hear their fish guy sperg at people a lot. The GP's need more room but they're not cramped to the point of cruelty. There is my anecdata!! I won't bother with rescues for rodents because I'm gonna BYB the poo poo out of whatever I get if it is a mouse or a rat and I don't want to lie to the poor rescue ladies about my intentions. edit: grammar bad Supercondescending fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Jan 2, 2013 |
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Jan 2, 2013 04:08
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If you find any shelters that take in small/exotic animals, definitely try calling them up and even if they don't have any, asked to be called when they get some in. There's a shelter near where I'm at that takes in gerbils and hamsters. If you can find one and you're willing to be on a waiting list for a while, they're good bets. There's also rodent-specific rescues, such as Mainely Rat Rescue that might get hamsters and guinea pigs turned in. Although I do work at a pet store, I highly recommend trying to find a rescue or shelter for animals you want. Pet stores should be a last result if you literally cannot find any rescues/shelters/decent breeders. Adopting animals that are dropped off at Petco/Smart locations is a good idea too, since in most cases we can't keep them and just have them hang around in tanks until someone pays a donation fee for them. Be sure to quarantine regardless of where they're from, though.
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Jan 2, 2013 04:11
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Pew! Pew! posted:Although I do work at a pet store, I highly recommend trying to find a rescue or shelter for animals you wanth. Despite what I said before, I totally agree with this though, but I've never seen a rescue for say, mice. 
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Jan 2, 2013 04:36
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Pew! Pew! posted:
One of my irl BFFs (okay we were BFFs, we haven't seen each other in a few years and now mostly talk on facebook ) and one of the few rat people I keep in touch with is a director for Mainely Rat Rescue and they are definitely a great rescue. Staffed by fur-moms with all that that entails, but all rescues are. If rescues like that were a bit more universal, I'd push them hard on people who were just after pet rodents. I wish they were more of a thing because they do work really, really hard and care a poo poo ton about ~rats.~
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Jan 2, 2013 05:07
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Pew! Pew! posted:
Okay sorry for double post, but question: Is requiring the purchase of a cage/supplies with adopting a dropped off animal a chain-wide Petco policy? I ask because I wanted this double rex rat someone had dumped there and they would only let it go with the purchase of a cage. I told them I already had cages etc so asked if I could just pay some kind of adoption fee, but NOPE. So I went and grabbed just some cheap like $10 bullshit critter keeper, but NOPE. I had to buy a full-sized cage and it had to be one specifically marketed for the species I was adopting. Their cheapest cage was like $40. Why the gently caress would I pay $40 for a bullshit, poor quality cage I don't need in order to get a $10 rat?  I wanted that rat too, gently caress that poo poo t 
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Jan 2, 2013 05:14
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It definitely isn't company-wide. When I adopted the boys I had the option to get the tank they were being housed in at a discount, but I told them I already had a couple of cages and was planning on buying a Critter Nation. I took them home in a cardboard box. I suppose if you really wanted him you could buy the cage and return it to a different store location, or go back to the same store on a different day when different cashiers are working. I've done goofy poo poo like that to get around stupid store policies in the past.
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Jan 2, 2013 05:33
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Yeah they tried that with me when I adopted a three-legged hamster I brilliantly named Tripod, as all three-legged animals are required to be, and I just said "look, I have five cages at home. You really think I need another one?" and took her home in a small animal cardboard box carrier. Man, she was a good one. She ran just as fast as any normal hamster on her wheel, even with a stump. She had a lot of problems, but she was a sweetheart. Fluffy Bunnies posted:It's an inaccurate position because every single petsmart and petco I've been in keeps their animals differently and some actually do keep them appropriately, even in regards to larger rodent species (and non-rodents like ferrets, fish, etc). Hell, even in town the different is absurd. One keeps their ball pythons in a tiny little 2x1 cube at 110 degrees, the other keeps theirs in something that works out to be a 15 gallon long with proper humidity and temperatures and doesn't overcrowd the cage. Literally, I can drive across town and at one store the guinea pigs are kept in a 10 gallon with like 8 pigs, and at another store they're in a nice front-enclosed area with a screen back with 3 pigs in a 4x3 (ish) area. Yeah, the Petsmart near me that opened up fairly recently has not only a huge adoption center with multi-leveled housing for cats and such with ramps and toys and beds, but also has decently large hamster aquariums that are clean, kept 1-2 of the same sex per cage, and have plenty of toys. The lizards and such seem to be kept in well-...moistened? aquariums as well. Meanwhile, the local place where I have bought hamsters before(and got the pregnant one I have now from because I had a voucher for a free hamster due to one I bought that simply dropped dead a week after I bought it, probably won't buy from them anymore if I can find anyone else who sells females) often keeps them in a standard-sized aquarium(what I keep my hamsters in) but instead of one in each, it's like 4-6 in each. Mice, maybe 12 or more. One had Degus in it, and there were 5 of them. Degus aren't small in rodent terms either, they're like half again to twice the size of gerbils, and I'm pretty sure they get to be rat-sized when full grown.
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Jan 2, 2013 06:16
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Captain Invictus posted:Man, she was a good one. She ran just as fast as any normal hamster on her wheel, even with a stump. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Hamsters give no fucks. One of my hamsters also had only 3 legs for most of its lifespan. Little bugger got caught in the cagedoor somehow while doing one of it's usual 'Gonna climb all over this cage' routines while I were out. Came back to find the leg hanging in the door and the hamster speeding along in the wheel like nothing had happened. The vet mentioned that it most likely had gnawed it off since it got stuck.  gently caress, now i miss the fuzzy little thing again.. 
Ssthalar fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Jan 2, 2013 |
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Jan 2, 2013 13:29
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Yeah I've never encountered a requirement like that. When I adopted Stalin (a Syrian hamster I think) after he was abandoned at a different Petco, they made sure to ask if i had everything I needed for him, but that was it. They even cut me a deal when I was thinking about purchasing Cubone, as she'd been abandoned with a ton of stuff, by herself, and the manager was finally like "okay $20 gets you everything including the cage" (the cage she came in with is a huge critter nation knockoff so I couldn't say no). On the other hand, my own manager requires that you do buy food before adopting an animal. The way she puts it is "If people are looking for cheap snake food, that's in place to make them reconsider." Since abandoned animals have very low adoption fees (as little as $2 for a hamster or $3 for a guinea pig) I can sorta agree with that. Sucks, though. Here's Stalin not knowing how to run on a wheel. Got him a bigger silent spinner wheel a few days ago.  e: spelling
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Jan 2, 2013 13:50
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 (Sorry for the tiny picture) So, my husband found this little guy (girl?) in our garage tonight. There's no telling how long he had been in there, but the garage door had been up for a few hours and it was pouring out. When my husband went to go grab him, he was in a corner, and he stuck his hand out (he was wearing a motorcycle glove) and the little guy crawled right into his hand. He put him in a bucket to come show me and while I was trying to find him some snacks, my husband was petting him (no glove) and the mouse didn't flinch, run, try to bite or anything. We were also able to hand feed him. We put him in a rubbermaid tub for the night (there's some breathing holes in it!) with some paper towels and the little box with a door cut out (he had already started dragging food into  ) til we can get to the pet store tomorrow and get better supplies.Everything I'm reading online talks about 'wild' mice and how you shouldn't keep them.. But, according to my husband, he isn't a wild mouse. For one, we live on Guam and while I've seen plenty of shrews running around I've never seen mice or rats (the local pet store claims there's no rats on island and won't even sell them as pets), not to say there isn't any, but still. We do, however, have traps set up everywhere on the base we live on to catch the brown tree snake where they put mice bought from pet store into the traps as bait. They also sell these little guys as pets (no pet snakes allowed here, so not used as feeders other than for trapping the brown tree snake) and it's possible he either got lose from someone, or someone was leaving island and let him go. My husband is dead set on keeping him and I really want to keep him too. I do plan on looking for a vet here who may be able to check him out. I know you can't always see fleas or mites or what have you, but he looks to be in great shape. His fur is really soft and shiny, no bald spots or sores. I'd love to be able to get him/her a friend too since they sell the mice as pets but it's not an immediate concern. Anyone have any thoughts on keeping him? Please don't tell me to let him go, I doubt he'd survive long thanks to snakes, shrews and birds and I really like him already.
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Jan 2, 2013 18:25
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Yes, that is a domestic mouse. He sounds like a friendly one, too. Keep him and spoil him rotten.  If it is a male, don't get him a friend. Chances are they'll just fight or possibly kill one another.
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Jan 2, 2013 18:31
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e: ^^^ I spent too long typing this out and you beat me and were way more succinct. No fair. Definitely looks like a fancy mouse to me. If you need help sexing, look up mouse genitals on google or post a pic. It doesn't look like it has mites, but if you want to treat it for mites you can get some horse wormer paste and give it a tiny, TINY amount (like about a third of a grain of rice amount). Or you can find mite stuff made for small animals if you don't feel confident with horse wormer, though it'll be more expensive. If it's a male, you do NOT want to get it a buddy. If it's a female, you can (and should!) try to get another female to go with it, after quarantining and carefully introducing them.
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Jan 2, 2013 18:33
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So I want to replace the glass panel on my tank lid with a board of wood with ventilation holes in it... or a frame with wire mesh. Will pine be OK? (Unlikely the hamster will get at it to nibble it, but I'd rather be safe about it) Seems the people on hamster forums around the internet seem to fear pine. Wulfstan was just scratching on the side of his new case base, where the door would have been on his little temporary cage. Put my hand in, as there is only an above door now, and he climbed straight onto it. Usually he only did that to get out of the cage door with my hand in front of it. Hopefully I can get Guthrum that tame soon, he sniffs my hand, touches it with one paw or rubs again it and runs.
A Sloth fucked around with this message at 12:04 on Jan 3, 2013 |
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Jan 3, 2013 10:39
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The Heartless posted:
Oh god, if cute little domestic mice were hanging out I'd take them in too. I'm glad I don't like anywhere with cute critters just lounging about, the chinchilla poops all over my life enough. I would be exactly like the guy who brought them to America, WHOOPS SLIPPED 11 CHINNIES IN HOW'D THAT GET THERE I just have to say I'm happy we're talking about Mainely Rat Rescue, you guys they run promotions where if you donate $10 you get to name a pair. Even if it's the ugliest name possible. My bffl named one like RAINBOWDAISYSUNSHINES or something, it was the best. Whoever made up that promotion is genius, it's definitely sent me to a lot of "no dinner days". I'll also add that one local petco has local low income/foster kids come in every day after school to take care of all the animals  I love that Petco, they only have very low effort critters (no birds or ferrets, no chinchillas, no heatrocks or reptile sand) because "people are just way too dumb". They sometimes have them up for adoption but there's an application. They wanted to hire me because I knew a lot but the kids did a lot of stuff instead. One girl I talked to found a loving bearded dragon in her yard, IN MASSACHUSETTS. That's why I can't live anyplace with critters. Come into my home little babies why did your mother just poop you out here~~
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Jan 3, 2013 13:03
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We've had Cracker now for about 6 months and she's a lovely, if somewhat cheeky, long haired hamster. Over the last few weeks she's really started to get very social and loves attention - to the point that she'll climb onto my hand when I put it in her cage. I always feel bad when I have to put her home if I go out   She's our 5th Syrian Hamster (we've just got a 6th, Fudge, but she's very shy currently). They've all lived well beyond 2 years old (and they're all spoiled rotten  )
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Jan 3, 2013 15:08
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First.. Please don't judge us on the cage we have. I'm not happy with it at all but it was all we could find at the moment. I really want a glass aquarium but finding one on island that isn't ginormous (seriously, the smallest we've found is 55 gallons) or really expensive isn't happening. So this is just temporary. Ralphie, the mouse we found, is adjusting really well. She's super sweet and calm. We got her a friend, Ritzi, who is still pretty young (the guy at the pet store said her litter was about 6 weeks old) so she's full of energy and darts around the cage squeaking up a storm. But they like each other and I love walking in and seeing them curled up together. I didn't think it was possible to love two mice this much! I'm letting them adjust for a few days, but then I want to start getting them used to people so they can be held. Also, Ritzi is a pro at drinking from a water bottle, but I haven't seen Ralphie do it yet. Will she learn by watching? Here's some pictures:  Ritzi eating some oats.  Sharing a piece of cucumber.  Ralphie eating cucumber.
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Jan 5, 2013 03:40
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Sorry for the double post but.. One of my mice keeps squeaking and I don't know how normal this is. Ralphie (the found one) hasn't squeaked at all but the one we got at the pet store is noisy! Yesterday when she squeaked it was whenever Ralphie got too close. She'd squeak up a storm and run off, but this stopped and they sleep, eat, play together now with no issues. Tonight, however, I changed their bedding right after they woke up and Ralphie got in the wheel and I kept hearing Ritzi squeak so I checked.. It seems like every time Ritzi gets in the wheel, she doesn't run fast enough for Ralphie and gets tumbled out and squeaks a bit then goes and does something else.. Rinse and repeat a million times. Sometimes it's just a squeak or two and sometimes it's like she's really telling Ralphie off. Is this okay? Ritzi is eating normal, taking treats, playing with other toys and carrying on as usual other than she can't get any wheel time. I feel weird for freaking out over this, but I don't want unhappy mice. Also, we're getting a bigger aquarium! We found a tall 20 gallon tank that we're going to put a few different levels into.. And I'm thinking two wheels now so they're not fighting over the one.
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Jan 5, 2013 15:54
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Greetings, Rodengoons. About 6 months ago I got a Chinchilla, and things are going pretty well. I'm just curious about a couple of behaviours I've noticed that I don't understand, and I'm wondering if people can explain them. The first is that sometimes when my arm is on the same level as him, my Chinchilla does what I can only describe as "mounting" it. HE sort of splays all four of his legs and looks like he's trying to climb up my arm. Is it it just what I think it is?  Second has to do with his behaviour towards my hair. Sometimes when he's climbing all over me, he'll stop on my shoulder and just start lightly pulling at my hair. Once I did catch him eating some of it, but I don't think it's that all the time. And when he's next to my arm, he'll start sort of nipping at it, but not in a way that actually hurts at all. Like, he has bitten me once when I picked him up too fast, and it doesn't feel the same at all. It's more like he's pulling my arm hair, but it doesn't look like he''s eating it, at least I've never noticed any bare patches yet. Any ideas what these behaviours might mean?
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Jan 12, 2013 04:27
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Cordyceps Headache posted:Greetings, Rodengoons. About 6 months ago I got a Chinchilla, and things are going pretty well. I'm just curious about a couple of behaviours I've noticed that I don't understand, and I'm wondering if people can explain them. Both my chins do this too, I don't really know why. They're just normal chinchilla behaviors I guess. Dexter likes to "groom" my eyebrows if I put my face up to his cage and Smokey does the arm mounting thing as well. Dex will nibble on my fingers in the same way you described. He will chew my fingernails if I'm not careful though (I have, on occasion, used him to trim hangnails if I didn't have a nail clipper handy).
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Jan 12, 2013 18:23
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Question about male rats, are they typically CHILL OUT and DO NOTHING kinda dudes? And...are hairless bucks not quite as greasy/smelly? I eventually want a male rat, I've only kept females in the past and while I loved them (active, curious)... I really really want a laid back boy after getting to know my friends dumbo rex hairless. That rat is amazing! Big lap rat, never really seen him run around, doesn't mark a lot as far as I know, and the biggest bonus.... he doesn't stink. I can't stand the buck smell which turns me off from males as well as the greasy fur but he is the cleanest thing ever. Doesn't smell as strong as my girls did. And he isn't....dirty? IME, rat tails would get kinda discoloured and I'd clean the scales while bathing them but this guys tail is very clean. Hes kept in a rubbermaid bin a lot (travels) and even with the top off, he pretty much stays in his bin. He'll pop out occasionally but goes right in. I don't even think he has a cage at home, his living area is some sort of shelf/space in the wall type deal that my friend dressed up. I know my girls would be out of there and exploring my house somewhere if I did that. Basically, perfectest rat ever (for me) but is it because hes a naked boy, or..more particularly just his own personality? Hes getting up there in age (full size when he got adopted from petco and its been a few months- half a year?) and doesn't seem to have any health issues. He had an odd respiratory breathing noise thing going on but thats seemed to have gone away. All my girls kinda exploded in tumours. I wonder if hes a good candidate to be (byb)bred since I'd possibly love to get one. No females in mind though unfortunately.
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Jan 14, 2013 01:16
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Malalol posted:Question about male rats, are they typically CHILL OUT and DO NOTHING kinda dudes? And...are hairless bucks not quite as greasy/smelly? He is most likely a double rex rather than a true hairless, so be careful BYBing him to a furred rat; you'd just get some rexes and no double rex (hairless) offspring. The cleanliness is not inherent to DR/hairless rats, and DR/hairless males can still reek and develop loads of buck grease. It's down to environment, diet, and the individual grooming habits of that rat. He sounds like he had a great personality, and males are generally more laid back than females, but it isn't set in stone and I wouldn't bank everything on a male being automatically as chill as the one your friend has.
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Jan 14, 2013 01:37
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He is a double rex, forgot to write that- and quickly googling, didn't realize they were totally totally different. I wouldnt want such a short lived rat Hes furless but has a fuzz body with curly whiskers I wouldn't mind a rex rat- or furred... just wasn't sure what attributed to his super cleanliness since I have no experience with those hair types. If it truly is just a unique personality one, I just have these idealistic hopes that his kids would be the same. If not, well. I have snakes. But I know nobody with rats so short of just randomly picking a 'fancy' rat from petco, no babies.    cosmo, The Best Rat aka i wish i saw him first and adopted him hes perfect bawwwwwwwww ive not got long to try and create cosmo progeny for more perfect rats
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Jan 14, 2013 02:08
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Malalol posted:Question about male rats, are they typically CHILL OUT and DO NOTHING kinda dudes? And...are hairless bucks not quite as greasy/smelly? Hey, just so you know, there is a rat thread
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Jan 14, 2013 23:37
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How often should I be giving my two gerbils alfalfa hay? And also is there such a thing as too much handling? I play with them for about 18-35 minutes daily not to mention just randomely poking my hand in the aquarium every now and then.
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Jan 15, 2013 11:36
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The perfect landing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJFHrIw3CYI Imagine this happening every 30 seconds for the past four hours and you can tell how my day's been going.
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Jan 15, 2013 21:24
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One of my hamsters started licking my fingers most of the time I go to get him out.
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Jan 17, 2013 17:28
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A Sloth posted:One of my hamsters started licking my fingers most of the time I go to get him out. He's just tasting you for later.
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Jan 18, 2013 03:22
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Zetsubou posted:He's just tasting you for later. I let my hamster sniff/nibble me while I was handing her some food to get her used to me, and then she tried to chew my finger. Hamster teeth are pretty brutal for being so tiny.       I named her Milkshake. In the first couple photos she was in a Kritter Keeper before I moved her to her actual home:  She's really cute but still pretty shy. So far I've been shoving food in her face whenever I attempt to handle her, but any other suggestions on getting her to like me more are welcome! Or if there's anything else I should add (or remove) from her tank. I've been meaning to get her more toys and stuff to chew on, but I'm kind of overwhelmed by the amount of stuff there is to get. Right now her favorite thing seems to be making tunnels everywhere in the bedding which is pretty fun to watch. I can see her at the very bottom of the tank right up against the glass where she dug all the way down, haha.
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Jan 20, 2013 18:49
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That is one really cute hamster. One of my hamsters is really shy and nervous and recently started biting. He broke the skin today. I guess it is going to take some time to tame him.  I had him hanging off the side of my little finger once waiting for him to let go.I've got something similar to this to fill up with wood shavings in the tank for burrowing: http://www.petsathome.com/shop/woodlands-acorn-burrow-box-98551 My hamster tends to decide he wants to sleep in it instead of his usual nest. Although I can't have read the webpage that I got it from properly and it is a lot bigger than I expected it. Twice as many rungs on the ladder to. Fits in my tank though. 
A Sloth fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jan 20, 2013 |
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Jan 20, 2013 19:21
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I was looking at old mouse pictures earlier.   I forgot how small and completely adorable my girls were when I got them.
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Jan 20, 2013 19:54
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A Sloth posted:I had him hanging off the side of my little finger once waiting for him to let go. Sounds like he's afraid of you for some reason.  Hope it'll sort itself out since it's no fun having a hamster you can't pick up.
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Jan 21, 2013 20:27
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A Sloth posted:That is one really cute hamster. I read that putting some tissue in the cage with your scent on it helps them become more familiar with you. I don't know how long you've had your hamsters or if you've already been doing this, but I've been trying it the last day or two with mine and she's actually letting me pet her now without running away and seems way more relaxed around me in general. I'm still trying not to bug her too much since I just got her and want to give it another day before I start trying to actually pick her up and play with her. That little hamster house thing is neat! I haven't seen anything similar for sale here (I live in the US), but that's exactly what I'd be looking for. Maybe I can find one online.
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Jan 21, 2013 21:02
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Ssthalar posted:Sounds like he's afraid of you for some reason. Yes, I've stopped handling him for now. Just putting my hand in the cage... clenched so he doesn't go for my fingers.  He runs off into his house a lot when I do that. Also been giving him sunflower seeds. Hopefully Guthrum will get used to it.Wulfstan instinctively tries to nibble my fingernails for some reason. I think he just loves to chew on things, he is the chewy hamster.
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Jan 22, 2013 00:00
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