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My chinchillas each have a Chinchilla Mansion from Quality Cage. Dexter is a giant rear end in a top hat who I don't trust to cohabitate with anyone so Smokey got his own cage for his own comfort and safety.
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Sep 8, 2014 02:29
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Chinchillas with the flying saucer type wheels(made of metal of course because plastic ones would just be chewed to pieces) seem to play a game of "Who can fling poop the furthest" with the things. We thought they could fling it pretty well before with just spastically bouncing around the cage, but pooping on the flying saucer wheel raises it to all new levels.
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Sep 8, 2014 19:02
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adventure in the sandbox posted:I was fostering a guinea pig for a kid in the foster system who was mistreating little Sally. The kid has trauma and developmental disability/mental health concerns, so the kid was not to blame but we weren't going to let her love/torture a guinea pig to death. Rangefinder looks like one of the two sister my wife and I adopted 2 weeks ago
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Sep 9, 2014 04:15
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Something weird happened to Runt, one of my hamsters. He has been his usual energetic self, but last night I noticed that his eyes had both turned white. It seems in the last couple days, he has gone blind. He still seems normal aside from that, will he have any difficulty living a normal day to day life, he seems able to find his food easy enough, but I'm thinking he might have trouble finding his water bottle. Any suggestions for caring for a blind hamster, this is the first time I have had a hamster go blind.
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Sep 9, 2014 09:45
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Off the top of my head I'd try to keep the cage layout as similar as possible when you clean it out, keeping key things like water bottles in the same place every time. I'd also try to remove or limit multi-level sections where he could fall and injure himself. Honestly I don't think it'll impact his quality of life that much - my (admittedly limited) experience with hams is they have fairly lovely eyesight anyway and rely far more on scent and touch when navigating. If he shows signs of discomfort or his behaviour changes dramatically I'd take him to get checked straight away as it could be whatever caused his blindness is doing other nasty things. Fingers crossed and I'm sure Runt will adapt just fine.
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Sep 9, 2014 10:14
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I held him for a bit and flickering an led flashlight in front of him didn't even elicit a twitch, so he's definitely fully blind. When I put him back he took a moment to regain his bearings, but then walked right up to the water bottle and started drinking, so he ought to be fine I think. That said he is well over two years old at this point, so it's just as likely his body breaking down, as aren't redeyed rodents inferior or something?
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Sep 9, 2014 10:54
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Captain Invictus posted:I held him for a bit and flickering an led flashlight in front of him didn't even elicit a twitch, so he's definitely fully blind. When I put him back he took a moment to regain his bearings, but then walked right up to the water bottle and started drinking, so he ought to be fine I think. That said he is well over two years old at this point, so it's just as likely his body breaking down, as aren't redeyed rodents inferior or something? My longest lived hamster was red eyed. She also went blind towards the end. So long as your fuzzy is coping, I wouldn't worry.
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Sep 9, 2014 11:02
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Captain Invictus posted:That said he is well over two years old at this point, so it's just as likely his body breaking down, as aren't redeyed rodents inferior or something? Pink eyes aren't typically associated with problems in rodents, it's just an eye color for them (unless they're due to albinism, which has its own set of issues). Animals with pink eyes can tend to have vision that's a bit worse, but as said above, hamsters have pretty crap vision anyway. Diabetes is very common in hamsters, and can cause blindness. It's more often seen in dwarf hamsters, but I've had a couple of Syrians that had it as well. He could also just have normal older age cataracts.
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Sep 9, 2014 13:03
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Huh. Chip, the sibling of Runt, also went blind the other day. What a weird coincidence. It must have something to do with genetics, probably inbreeding since the mother was in the cage with males and females. 
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Sep 11, 2014 23:41
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I'm preparing to get a hamster. I had gerbils as a kid and a hamster in college, and now after all this research online (and 10 years passing) I realized how my old hamster's life probably sucked, with his cage and wheel being too small. I ordered a bin cage from someone on etsy appropriate for a Syrian, and will probably pick one up shortly after it arrives. I visited Petsmart today and I have questions: - They had a lot of Carefresh hay, but that seems to be different from Carefresh substrate. Is it labeled differently? - All of the hamster food brands had very low protein, like 14% or worse. Is there anything available in the US that comes with more? One of the Youtube hamster ladies (the one who lives in Cyprus) says go for 20% or supplement the diet with chicken/eggs, but come on, there's a limit to the amount of cooking I'm doing for my hamster, I'm not making her eggs every two days. - Are vitamin drops in the water a good idea or a waste? I haven't seen anyone recommending them and I couldn't make heads or tails of them.
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Sep 22, 2014 04:56
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dj_clawson posted:- They had a lot of Carefresh hay, but that seems to be different from Carefresh substrate. Is it labeled differently? Don't use hay with a hamster.
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Sep 23, 2014 00:36
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Can I feed it raw tofu?
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Sep 23, 2014 04:15
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dj_clawson posted:Can I feed it raw tofu? I suspect it may explode if you do. Stick to recommended small rodent food and you'll never find out.
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Sep 23, 2014 11:02
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I use a bit of hay in with my hamsters bedding to make her digging more interesting. Most of the problems I read about was them possibly trying to pouch the pointy bits but my syrian has no interest in eating it. The carefresh substrate is the one you want for the bulk of your bedding though, I was just experimenting with the hay. I use the Natural brown stuff and I like it. I found the confetti kind on sale over the weekend so I got some of that but I haven't used it yet. I dunno how much chicken you eat normally but I just save a little bit for her maybe twice a week when we're eating it anyway, maybe about 1x0.5x0.5cm size. I don't cook specially for her. Meal worms seem to come recommended for protein too but I haven't got round to trying those yet. Have you checked out Hamster Central yet? There's so much info on there it'll make your head spin and almost everyone is a literal child but a few posters seem to really know their stuff.
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Sep 23, 2014 11:21
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Shannonmcn posted:I use a bit of hay in with my hamsters bedding to make her digging more interesting. Most of the problems I read about was them possibly trying to pouch the pointy bits but my syrian has no interest in eating it. The carefresh substrate is the one you want for the bulk of your bedding though, I was just experimenting with the hay. I use the Natural brown stuff and I like it. I found the confetti kind on sale over the weekend so I got some of that but I haven't used it yet. I did. I've also seen a lot of ErinHamster and that kid who's not great at speaking on camera on Youtube. The only reason I don't have a hamster yet is because I ordered a bin cage from an Etsy seller and it has gone astray in shipping. Should have just made the drat thing.
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Sep 23, 2014 23:04
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dj_clawson posted:I did. I've also seen a lot of ErinHamster and that kid who's not great at speaking on camera on Youtube. The only reason I don't have a hamster yet is because I ordered a bin cage from an Etsy seller and it has gone astray in shipping. Should have just made the drat thing. I just bought a hamster heaven barred cage off amazon for convenience. I know everyone swears by bin cages but I can't seem to find any in the UK (well Northern Ireland) at a decent size and I'm not the handiest with DYI. I can't say I would miss the habitual bar chewing though... What size of bin did you go for?
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Sep 23, 2014 23:16
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32.5"x19.5"x13 3/4. Shipping was a killer, $30 within the US, and there was a typo in the address so it ended up at some office at Columbia University instead of my apartment. http://www.ebay.com/itm/111456973507?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
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Sep 23, 2014 23:23
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dj_clawson posted:32.5"x19.5"x13 3/4. Shipping was a killer, $30 within the US, and there was a typo in the address so it ended up at some office at Columbia University instead of my apartment. That's a huge bin! No wonder the shipping was crazy. Must have been weird for the poor people in the uni office to get that monster delivered. Have you a hamster in mind? Rescue? Breeder? Pet shop?
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Sep 23, 2014 23:44
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Wow, I woke up and noticed Chip, one of my hamsters, pulling carefresh into his nest. I picked him up to say hello and noticed he was a little cold. Took him downstairs and remarked to mom that "I feel like he's getting ready to die", and not two minutes later, he died in my hands, quickly and quietly. I suppose that's all I can ask for, that he went fast and painless. He lived a good life. Bye little buddy. Have some pictures from the last few weeks. He liked to sleep in my hand and under my shirt.  
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Sep 26, 2014 01:24
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Aw, that's a shame. It's a consolation that it was such a gentle end. On our end we had a small photosession. Our hamster, Pippi, normally looks like this:  For some reason though, she came out of her house with a stuffed pouch. Here's she presented with a small piece of apple. Surely that wouldn't fit into an already overstuffed pouch?  Nom! 
Sagacity fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Sep 26, 2014 |
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Sep 26, 2014 22:07
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Sagacity posted:
Hamster overachiever.
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Sep 26, 2014 22:24
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Sagacity posted:For some reason though, she came out of her house with a stuffed pouch. Has she ever escaped from her cage? One of mine did and got stuck under the floorboards for three days. Every time she pestered for out after that, she'd stuff one pouch with food and the other with a bit of bedding - just in case. You'll never be hungry again, Scarlett O'Hamster.
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Sep 26, 2014 23:23
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That's very cute, Jedit  No, she hasn't escaped from her cage but we do have a mesh pen that we occasionally set up for here. The mesh is vertical so theoretically she shouldn't be able to climb it but, sure enough, she can. We usually keep an eye on her though, so she hasn't fled yet!
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Sep 27, 2014 12:48
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Shannonmcn posted:That's a huge bin! No wonder the shipping was crazy. Must have been weird for the poor people in the uni office to get that monster delivered. Looks like it may be lost in the bowels of the mail room at Columbia; I will call on Monday, but my friend who worked there said not to be hopeful. Then I will just go to Home Depot and buy the supplies to build a bin cage. I'd like to do it tomorrow because I am getting impatient as gently caress about this cage. I was thinking shop. The local animal rescue places are out in areas of New York that are hard to get to and list no hamsters or maybe one. Some people are giving hamsters out on Craigslist, but they're all dwarf hamsters or roborofskys for some reason. Plus the hamsters in shops are pretty much gonna be rescue, sooner or later. And I'm certainly rescuing them from shop conditions, which in the two shops I've been to have been pretty bad.
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Sep 28, 2014 05:55
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Captain Invictus posted:Wow, I woke up and noticed Chip, one of my hamsters, pulling carefresh into his nest. I picked him up to say hello and noticed he was a little cold. Took him downstairs and remarked to mom that "I feel like he's getting ready to die", and not two minutes later, he died in my hands, quickly and quietly. I suppose that's all I can ask for, that he went fast and painless. He lived a good life. Bye little buddy.  at least the little man went peacefully. Sagacity posted:Nom! dj_clawson posted:Looks like it may be lost in the bowels of the mail room at Columbia; I will call on Monday, but my friend who worked there said not to be hopeful. Then I will just go to Home Depot and buy the supplies to build a bin cage. I'd like to do it tomorrow because I am getting impatient as gently caress about this cage. Well that sucks. I have no idea how hard it is to do but good luck with it! My local pet shop has a rescue affiliated section but I'm UK, I dunno if Petsmart or whatever does the same thing but that's where I got my Syrian. Speaking of. We had a bit of an incident tonight. I stayed at my mums last night and was gone about 30 hours, not ages and she had food and fresh water. I brought mum in to see her and she took a yoghurt drop from her hand and seemed normal until about 2 mins after I came in she was halfway up a tube into her second cage and she just froze. I offered her some cucumber and tried to get her attention but nothing. I left her in the dark for 10 mins until I saw mum out but she was still there when I got back and stayed in the tube for half an hour until I took out the tube section with her in it to make sure she wasn't stuck and was still breathing and stuff. I set the tube bit down in her cage and talked to her until she started sniffing about and eventually left the tube. She still doesn't want to come outside her cage but she did roam about a bit for food before going back to bed. Is the fact me and my mum had both been playing with my Grannies dog enough of a reason for this? She's not usually nervous or skittish at all  I was petrified she'd had a stroke or something.
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Sep 29, 2014 00:46
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Shannonmcn posted:I'm so sorry I'm down to 2 hamsters now, Max and Runt, and I was wondering if there's an easy way to find dealers who sell female chinese dwarf hamsters in the Lowell, MA area. I like to have at least 2 hamsters, maybe 3 at a time(the 5 I had was due to an unexpected pregnancy), and it's been a long time since my local place stopped carrying chinese dwarf hamsters, and all the petcos and poo poo only carry males. I've always liked the female chinese dwarfs, they're usually really chill, but nobody carries them near me anymore that I can find.
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Sep 29, 2014 01:07
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HAHAHAHAHAHA, NEVERMIND, RUNT JUST DROPPED DEAD. AMAZING! loving unbelievable
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Sep 29, 2014 01:44
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Oh no. That's too weird, surely that had to mean something environmental?
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Sep 29, 2014 02:49
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He might have overheated and died since it's been a bit hot this weekend, although both him and Chip were almost 3 years old and Runt was blind, I didn't expect him to live much longer but I also didn't expect him to die within a couple days of Chip.
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Sep 29, 2014 02:54
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Oh, maybe just a really sad coincidence what a terrible few days
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Sep 29, 2014 03:03
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Picked up a hamster today. She's about 3 months old and was very calm when I put my hand in the cage and petted her, but she is not ready to be picked up (she bit me when I did it). They put her in a cardboard box to go, and as we were driving back into Manhattan, we got freaked out when her chewing stopped. I opened the box, and it turned out she had fallen asleep in a tiny box in my lap. Tomorrow: get her a bigger cage (she's in a temp cage). Once she goes in that, I'll leave her alone for a few days before starting hand training. Two things: She did have have diarrhea when I fed her a very very small piece of cooked chicken, but she had it literally 3 minutes after she ate the chicken, so I don't know if it's connected. But man, she did love that chicken. She almost took it from my hand! Second, I noticed she's been doing this thing where she goes into the corner, poops, then picks up the poop, puts it in her mouth, and drops it in a neat stack in the corner. Sort of sophisticated but very freaky to watch, because you know, mouth poop.
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Sep 29, 2014 05:05
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Get ready for lots of rodent poop-eating. They like to do that.
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Sep 29, 2014 05:14
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Captain Invictus posted:Get ready for lots of rodent poop-eating. They like to do that. To be honest, it's more freaky that it's so incredibly neat in those piles. It's like she's already toilet trained.
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Sep 29, 2014 05:19
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Aw, Captain Invictus
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Sep 29, 2014 10:35
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dj_clawson posted:To be honest, it's more freaky that it's so incredibly neat in those piles. It's like she's already toilet trained. Mine stacks poop just outside the door of her house like its bin day and I'm the bin person picking it up for her, the cheeky thing. I tried to toilet train her to pee in a potty but she prefers to keep her food in there and pee in a different corner which still isn't that inconvenient so I don't mind. I'd watch for the diarrhoea very carefully and look up the other symptoms of wet tail. You're right that it's likely nothing you did but pet shop hamsters can spread that around between themselves very very quickly and it's dangerous. If her other poops are normal I guess it might not be wet tail but I'm paranoid and not an expert. Chicken and cucumber are our favourites. We also like a little bit of broccoli, cauliflower and carrot. I found rodent egg biscuits in Asda yesterday and when I gave her one she picked up the whole thing, as long as she is, and dragged it into her potty/larder and vocally scolded me when I tried to take it off her. So I guess she likes those too. Looking forward to pics of your new little lady 
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Sep 29, 2014 12:50
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Shannonmcn posted:Looking forward to pics of your new little lady I'll try to pick an Arabic name, as I'm going with a Syrian theme for her cage (Can anyone photoshop a hamster head on Assad's body from a regime propaganda poster?), but so far nothing has stuck. I tapped on her cage to try to get a good photo, but she was not interested. 
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Sep 29, 2014 17:42
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Most animals will have a loose stool the first time or two that they are fed unfamiliar food. As long as it doesn't continue you are probably fine, just a reaction to having chicken for the first time. Rodents and lagomorphs both do some poop eating as there are specific types of nutrition they get from it. Basically they can't get some things the first time they digest the food, so they eat it a second time to get those things. Plus, as others have said, the hamster could just be doing it to keep the cage clean.
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Sep 29, 2014 17:48
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dj_clawson posted:I'll try to pick an Arabic name, as I'm going with a Syrian theme for her cage (Can anyone photoshop a hamster head on Assad's body from a regime propaganda poster?), but so far nothing has stuck. Awwwwww what a little beauty 
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Sep 29, 2014 18:55
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Update: Today I spoke to the Columbia mail center and visited every office in the building where the postal services claims it was delivered, and no go. The eBay seller is going to give me my money back (except postage), and I realized my hamster shouldn't have to spend another night in the travel cage, so I ran out to get bin making supplies. Holy poo poo was that a 5-hour DIY disaster. All of the "how to make a bin cage" videos lied; you CANNOT cut through plastic with a box cutter heated by a candle. Not without it cracking a whole bunch of times, at least. The inside was a mess and I cut myself a bunch of times on the chicken wire, but it got done. I'll have to wait and see if she's a chewer on the plastic edge; I gave her a whole bunch of things to chew on and I have more. This is before the igloo thing was found and put in. I'm not a big fan of the igloos, but the wooden mosque playset hasn't arrived. I did visit two pet stores (Petsmart and Petland Discounts) looking for other hidey holes, but everything was either too small for a Syrian or too expensive. She made herself a pretty big nest in the travel cage last night, but everyone said to give her some security. I also sorted the sunflower seeds out of the food; she gets one, and the rest I will use as treats/bribery to hand train. Can you use aquarium stuff for hamster homes? Man they make some cool poo poo for aquariums.
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Sep 30, 2014 07:36
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dj_clawson posted:Can you use aquarium stuff for hamster homes? Man they make some cool poo poo for aquariums. Well, the plastic/rubber stuff is a no-no, but ceramic, rock, driftwood, and coconut shells should be fine. Although you might be just as well off cutting some holes in a cardboard box and making it a little fort. Rodents love forts.
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Sep 30, 2014 09:43
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