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I have this house. She uses it as a little platform to sit and chill out on as well as a nest.  She chews on the roof a bit but it's big enough for her and it wasn't too expensive, like under £10. You can get similar ones on Amazon. The bottom is open so if she decides to pee in it it just gets absorbed in the substrate underneath. I hear if they pee in the enclosed igloos it gets pretty gross and they all seem so tiny.
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Sep 30, 2014 17:42
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I've got a few questions for rodent owners in this thread, one of them's kind of odd. I live alone in a small apartment, and am considering paying the deposit to keep a pet when my lease comes up for renewal. I've never kept rodents before, but I'm considering the possibility and trying to do some research. From the preliminary research I've done, guinea pigs despite being utterly adorable sound very high-maintenance, especially considering that I have a 10 hour work day once a week. Hamsters are also tentatively out given that they're nocturnal and I mainly work nights and come home to shower and collapse into bed when I get home. As such, I've mostly been considering gerbils and my questions mainly concern them. I've always found rodents adorable, but the short lifespans bother me. Is it any easier dealing with the death of a pet when you know they're so short-lived? Are they as low-maintenance as they seem? I'm accustomed to needing to regularly feed a cat and take care of their litter, but I don't know how much regular care gerbils need and how regularly their cage needs to be cleaned. My job does provide no shortage of cardboard boxes to take home. How social with humans are they? I've never been clear whether gerbils are best left in their refitted aquarium except for rolly balls when cleaning their cage, particularly if I follow the OP's recommendation and get at least two. My apartment complex is... not the best secured in the world and I have regular problems with bugs and lizards getting in, which also gives me concern about a gerbil getting out if I remove one from its cage briefly. For vet care, would I need to find a specialized vet for gerbils like the OP recommends for guinea pigs, or would a general vet likely be suitable? I'm not settled on gerbils as a potential pet, but I would like to make an informed decision one way or the other.
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Sep 30, 2014 19:43
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Cythereal posted:
I'm not a super expert, but I've had all of the above for brief or long periods of time. I had lots and lots of gerbils as a kid, but there are some downsides. They don't have much in the way of personalities, they can't really be trained, they can't be held, and they need to be in pairs at the very least. I'm sure you can find someone on Youtube who managed to train their gerbil, but it's not common. If you decide on a pair of gerbils, be super ULTRA sure the pet store is not selling you a male and female pair, or you will be doomed to litters of babies every month. Hamsters are solitary, live about the same length of time (2-3 years), but have distinct personalities, and can be trained to be picked up and held, depending on how much effort you put in (having a Syrian hamster helps). If you give them a bunch of toys to chew on and a hamster wheel you can more or less ignore them if you are busy, but that's also true of gerbils. The more stimulation you provide them personally, the more they will like you. With both of them, though, you need to clean their cages about once a week and while you should change their food and water every 2-3 days, you can totally load up the food bowl and leave them for like a week if you have a big enough water bottle. Just don't do it and leave the air conditioning off, as they can die of heat exhaustion, as happened to a hamster my 3rd grade classroom "owned" over a long weekend. Another big factor: Guinea pigs require a ton of room and their cages have a much stronger smell than hamsters or gerbils. On the other hand, they are way more socialable and hearing them squeak when you pet them is about the most adorable thing ever. I took care of one for a summer and it was great, but also because I just saw him during the day, and didn't have the cage in my house. As for vet care, not all vets offer small animals services.
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Sep 30, 2014 20:49
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I've never ever seen an apartment that charges the pet deposit for a 100% caged animal and I would be wary that they're not charging unnecessarily in other ways. They do like big cages which is an issue and decided where to put them usually means Where People Will Be Most Often and that might be inconvenient. When I lived alone that was my room and they took up a large hunk of space. Regarding the one day if its just one day and you have multiple pigs its fine. I'm still down to one and while I do a normal 9 to 5 we also have people over fairly often and my roommate works a much looser schedule so shes usually only alone for a few hours at most. Some here may say that's too much, but she seems perfectly happy. But with multiple pigs its much less of an issue since they can pal around for a bit. (Note on getting another one because I recently got crap about it: she's nearly 5. I can't get friends who had pigs who are home way more often than me to take her when I feel bad about not being around so often because she doesn't have huge amounts of time left. She's happy and fluffy and I will take her to the vet as soon as money stabilizes for another checkup but I just can't get another one because in all too short of a time that one will be alone too, and may not be as tolerant of it) But yeh vets are an issue, when we had to take the one who passed in to the ER the closest one that could do pigs was nearly an hour away. There's a regular small animal vet right by me, but it has one person with a weird schedule and no small animal ER. Adult Sword Owner fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 20:55
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Yeah we have a pair of boars and (very occasionally) leave them overnight, they just need to be loaded up with tons of hay, pellets and fresh food beforehand. Guinea pigs are a bit more effort than hamsters (and I guess some other rodents?) but they are still pets on easy mode.
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Sep 30, 2014 20:58
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dj_clawson posted:I had lots and lots of gerbils as a kid, but there are some downsides. They don't have much in the way of personalities, they can't really be trained, they can't be held, and they need to be in pairs at the very least. I'm sure you can find someone on Youtube who managed to train their gerbil, but it's not common. If you decide on a pair of gerbils, be super ULTRA sure the pet store is not selling you a male and female pair, or you will be doomed to litters of babies every month. Noted, and on the male and female thing that was a concern of mine. If I did decide on gerbils or hamsters, my first thought was to see if there were rescues for that sort of thing or perhaps reputable breeders. Coming from a family fond of cats, I do not have a particularly high opinion of pet stores when it comes to knowing their animals. The can't be held thing... that's something I'm debating, over what I want out of a pet - whether I want a pet I can hold and cuddle with or just a pet amusing to watch. My apartment is tiny and I spend most of my time at a big computer desk that doubles as my main table for eating and filling out paperwork. My initial thought for gerbils/hamsters was to put the aquarium/cage in the gap between the desk and window wall to watch them - I usually keep my blinders closed to keep the room dark. quote:With both of them, though, you need to clean their cages about once a week and while you should change their food and water every 2-3 days, you can totally load up the food bowl and leave them for like a week if you have a big enough water bottle. Just don't do it and leave the air conditioning off, as they can die of heat exhaustion, as happened to a hamster my 3rd grade classroom "owned" over a long weekend. I don't turn my AC off, period, and I keep it set at 75 degrees. I live in Florida where it is very hot and very humid, and turning off A/C is an invitation to huge mold problems. quote:Another big factor: Guinea pigs require a ton of room and their cages have a much stronger smell than hamsters or gerbils. On the other hand, they are way more socialable and hearing them squeak when you pet them is about the most adorable thing ever. I took care of one for a summer and it was great, but also because I just saw him during the day, and didn't have the cage in my house. The room thing is a concern. My apartment is tiny and my bed, dresser, and desk take up most of the room in my bedroom which is where I spend almost all of my time normally. I'd have enough space in my family/living room, but I spend very little time there. quote:As for vet care, not all vets offer small animals services. Noted, something to look into if I seriously consider a rodent. quote:Regarding the one day if its just one day and you have multiple pigs its fine. I'm still down to one and while I do a normal 9 to 5 we also have people over fairly often and my roommate works a much looser schedule so shes usually only alone for a few hours at most. Some here may say that's too much, but she seems perfectly happy. But with multiple pigs its much less of an issue since they can pal around for a bit. The OP and a couple of other sites I looked at suggest that hamsters are better off solitary, while pigs and gerbils are very social and should be kept in at least pairs. I definitely want to prioritize the animal's well-being, and yeah I only work one 10 hour day a week at present. Two 7 hour days, two 8 hour days, one 10 hour is my normal weekly schedule. Thank you for the info. I think the biggest concern boils down to the lifespan issue and how sociable I want a pet to be. Something to think about, and I'm trying to do my homework on potential pets first.
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Sep 30, 2014 21:56
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Short lifespans suck a lot, but eventually you come to accept it as just part of owning a rodent.
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Sep 30, 2014 23:20
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So, like all hamsters, my hammie is a bit of a chewer. She wasn't feeling too social today. At least at first.  By the afternoon she was chewing pretty heavily on the plastic edges of her cage walls, which was a problem.  The "build a bin cages" websites and videos all said pretty much the same thing, which was, "Durrr ... if your hamster, who is a rodent, likes to chew, you should just go buy an aquarium." I don't know who is selling these people magic hamsters that don't chew anything. Someone did say to put the wire on the inside, so I double-rigged it for the edges she could easily reach, which baffled her when she went back in, because she could still SEE the plastic through the bars, but her mouth couldn't get to it. She seems to have given up for the moment; she's not a big fan of chewing metal. 
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Oct 2, 2014 03:32
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Those igloos are great, Max, my remaining hamster, has one and loves it. He fills it up completely with Carefresh and makes a little tub-like bed to curl up in a ball in.  Aquariums are fine for hamster cages, I use them, but it certainly does not stop them from trying to chew on things. Except instead of chewing, they just scrape their teeth on the glass, which is probably a hundred times more annoying than any chewing noise.
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Oct 2, 2014 03:56
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Amie the chinchilla decided a while back that she was dead set on eating the board game boxes under my TV whenever she's out roaming around, so I put the more valuable ones in large shoeboxes and scattered a few empty food boxes down there as decoys. She's chewing on a tissue box right now and thinks she's getting away with murder. At least she prefers paper and cardboard to plastic or rubber.
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Oct 2, 2014 07:09
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TunaSpleen posted:Amie the chinchilla decided a while back that she was dead set on eating the board game boxes under my TV whenever she's out roaming around, so I put the more valuable ones in large shoeboxes and scattered a few empty food boxes down there as decoys. She's chewing on a tissue box right now and thinks she's getting away with murder. At least she prefers paper and cardboard to plastic or rubber. One of my hamsters once got out of her ball and chewed through a 10m Cat5e network cable. She at least had the decency to look shamefaced about it when I berated her. Handy tip: if your hamster is even remotely intelligent, tape the exercise ball shut. The little sods will figure out how to unscrew the lid from the inside.
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Oct 2, 2014 08:25
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Thank god our hamster hasn't shown signs of intelligence so far 
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Oct 2, 2014 13:20
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Jedit posted:One of my hamsters once got out of her ball and chewed through a 10m Cat5e network cable. She at least had the decency to look shamefaced about it when I berated her. All three of my hamsters have had no trouble getting out of the ball. I bought a new one recently that seemed to have like a double-click thing that seemed harder to open so I went without tape one time and she was out within 10 minutes. Found her on the other side of the apartment in the kitchen munching on a bit of dried ramen that had escaped the bin. My first hamster used to escape pretty regularly and always go straight for the wicker laundry hamper, climb up the side of it and chewed a hole through the top to get in. We hadn't figured out the tape trick at the time so we just knew as soon as we noticed more than a minute silence to go and fish her out of all the dirty underwear she liked to snuggle into, the gross wee bitch. We still use the same basket and the hole is still there as a little memorial to Whiskers. She also chewed her way through a corner of the bathroom carpet and got inside the bottom of my bed, it was one of those ones with the solid base with drawers in one side of it. I was only about 9 or 10 at the time, I dunno why my mum didn't have the wit to think of sellotape. teenytinymouse fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Oct 2, 2014 |
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Oct 2, 2014 16:28
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I would be shocked if my hammie could get the ball open, as *I* could barely get that Kaytee piece of crap opened yesterday. Half the stuff I bought from them was broken.
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Oct 2, 2014 21:55
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My Syrians have never been chewers, for what it's worth, in barred or bin cages. v v I let mine run around my bedroom and the guest bedroom/hall so they don't ever really go in the ball, but I'd be surprised if they managed to open it. Though the lid on some balls do get loose over time, I had that problem with my Roborovski. (Surprise, Also never had any deliberate Syrian escapes...although once my senior hamster Diesel went exploring in the bathroom because I forgot to shut the door, and found his way into the floor. Had to get a guy to drill a hole in it but once I could get my arm down Diesel came back when I called for him. RIP, best ham.
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Oct 3, 2014 01:57
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A Scary Little Dog posted:Also never had any deliberate Syrian escapes...although once my senior hamster Diesel went exploring in the bathroom because I forgot to shut the door, and found his way into the floor. Had to get a guy to drill a hole in it but once I could get my arm down Diesel came back when I called for him. RIP, best ham. That happened with one of mine. I had to pull up a floorboard in the end. Little sods.
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Oct 4, 2014 15:46
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The Dutch word for rodent literally translates to 'gnawing animal'. It is an accurate name. Once, I was listening to music with some headphones when my brother unexpectedly placed one of the guinea pigs in my lap. She immediately went for the cable and bit it in two. A friend had one of his guinea pigs run off underneath the sofa but was able to grab her before she'd finished gnawing through a 240 volts electric cable.
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Oct 4, 2014 15:59
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I've lost headphones to a lappig, she was through it before I even noticed she was chewing. She actually would seek it out and I would move it away when I noticed but I was too slow that time. Had a few USB cables get too close to cages and then I needed new cables
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Oct 5, 2014 18:55
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I've lost a pair of headphones and two 3DS charging cables to my rats.
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Oct 5, 2014 21:17
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Lost 2 pairs of speakers from chinchillas. One was just the speaker cord which that chinchilla separated in one bite. The other the chinchilla chewed through the (live) power wire, which shocked him and ruined the speakers. He also tried to chew through the cord to the power strip, but was stopped on that one. The chinchillas no longer get to run around near power cords!
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Oct 5, 2014 21:54
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So Zara (my hamster) has figured out that maybe my hand isn't food. I started hand-feeding her seeds. When I placed them on my fingers instead of holding them out for her, she would start chewing, but a couple youtube sites recommended I wash my hands first and then rub it with her substrate, and that seems to have worked. Hoping to get her to go all the way onto the hand soon. I got the wooden building blocks for the mosque, and holy crap, these are NOT good blocks for small children. Way too small. I can get a whole set of stairs into my mouth. I'm using the pieces to make a cardboard mosque instead. I don't have a color printer, so I don't have the three Syrian flags up yet, but getting there.
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Oct 6, 2014 01:10
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dj_clawson posted:I had lots and lots of gerbils as a kid, but there are some downsides. They don't have much in the way of personalities, they can't really be trained, they can't be held, and they need to be in pairs at the very least. I'm sure you can find someone on Youtube who managed to train their gerbil, but it's not common. If you decide on a pair of gerbils, be super ULTRA sure the pet store is not selling you a male and female pair, or you will be doomed to litters of babies every month. There are always exceptions to the norm, my gerbils love to be held and played with and love running all over me on the couch. One of my friends gerbils hangs out on her shoulder as if it were a rat.
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Oct 6, 2014 04:10
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Meet Sam. Sam is a baby female Syrian about 3 inches long. She is still afraid of people but I hope to get her used to them with careful handling. I picked her out of her litter because when I picked her up, she licked my hand instead of biting it like the others did. The pictures aren't the best because drat does she move fast.   I put her cage next to Max's. Within five minutes Max was wide awake and trying to escape from his cage by prying the top off. Good thing I weighted it down! I also put in an order for a female Chinese Dwarf Hamster at the same pet store. I can't wait until she comes in, it's been years since I had a Chinese Dwarf.
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Oct 6, 2014 10:46
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I liked my little chinese hamsters, never did manage to really tame them, and eventually one of them ate the other, but they were ballsy little fuckers, literally.
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Oct 6, 2014 11:30
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Never keep hamsters together after they have matured. It will only end in tears.
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Oct 6, 2014 11:47
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Sam is a very pretty girl Sorry about the cannibalism Nettle Soup. That's grim. Cute wee cannibals.
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Oct 6, 2014 12:19
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They lived together for a couple of years with only the odd shouting match, I don't think they killed each other, just one of them died and the other took advantage of the meal. He did leave the back legs and balls though. We had a Syrian after that, nice old girl, died of old age eventually. Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Oct 6, 2014 |
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Oct 6, 2014 12:26
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nunsexmonkrock posted:There are always exceptions to the norm, my gerbils love to be held and played with and love running all over me on the couch. One of my friends gerbils hangs out on her shoulder as if it were a rat. I had several gerbils as a kid and all of them liked to be held too. They never bit and seemed much friendlier than hamsters.
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Oct 6, 2014 18:41
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My wife bred gerbils when she was younger and had absurdly friendly ones. They were quite smart and could escape their cage pretty easily. However, all they would do would be to escape during the night to go sleep on the bed with my wife.
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Oct 6, 2014 19:06
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Khisanth Magus posted:My wife bred gerbils when she was younger and had absurdly friendly ones. They were quite smart and could escape their cage pretty easily. However, all they would do would be to escape during the night to go sleep on the bed with my wife. That is cute as gently caress. I've only known one gerbil as a child and it was a bit bitey which put me off them but I people say the exact same thing about hamsters so I know I'm just biased.
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Oct 6, 2014 20:19
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My dad had a rat in college that couldn't be caged and did that, he'd wake up and see two little eyes staring at him on his chest
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Oct 6, 2014 20:24
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I'd be terrified of killing a rodent in my sleep if they did that. I'm a squirmer when I sleep, so I'd be very afraid of crushing or suffocating them.
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Oct 6, 2014 20:51
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I can guarantee you that even the most tame rodent will bite the poo poo out of you if they feel trapped/crushed edit: also screaming
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Oct 6, 2014 21:59
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So I've done most of the trappings for her cage. I may give her a second hidey-hole that I can turn into a Red Cross tent. Let's see how fast she chews the mosque down. 
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Oct 6, 2014 22:13
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The theme is thorough I think she'd benefit from another hidey hole or some sort of shelf? I know my syrian likes to hang out somewhere covered.
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Oct 6, 2014 23:04
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Shannonmcn posted:The theme is thorough She's living in the mosque at the moment.
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Oct 7, 2014 02:29
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dj_clawson posted:She's living in the mosque at the moment. I don't mean her bed/house, like my girl chills in her covered sandbath or in beside her house under her shelf to wash herself and eat and stuff. I know a lot of advice for dwarfs especially is to give them lots of cover so they feel more secure and they actually come out of their beds more. I know you have a syrian but I guess it couldn't hurt. I've heard of using IKEA magazine holders as a shelf/another partial level in bin cages.
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Oct 7, 2014 02:40
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Shannonmcn posted:Obviously very devout I did order a rainbow bridge that you can bend. The dust bath I don't think I'll do in the cage. I have a spare traveling cage that I think I'll fill with dust and put her in that and see if she likes it. I thought about a second level, but she'll probably try to escape through the top. She's a climber but she can't currently get up because the bars don't go that high. But I might change my mind when I get bored with the current setup.
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Oct 7, 2014 02:44
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Is your bin open atm? If you've already meshed the bin itself it's not too much more work to open up and mesh the lid as well and she'd be way more secure. Even just for your peace of mind. Butts loves her sandbath but I think it's like 50/50 whether a syrian likes it or not. Just if you do they it make sure not to buy the chinchilla "dust" as it can gently caress up their lungs. I got this stuff on a few recommendations and it's not too dusty. Just normal kids play sand works too and it's probably even less dusty.
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Oct 7, 2014 02:53
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| # ? May 26, 2024 18:26 |
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Shannonmcn posted:Is your bin open atm? If you've already meshed the bin itself it's not too much more work to open up and mesh the lid as well and she'd be way more secure. Even just for your peace of mind. Basically I bought the biggest, most see-through bin Home Depot had, and the top doesn't snap on well, so I usually put something heavy on it if I'm going out, but otherwise I don't worry too much. I've left it open and watched her, and she cannot get up there when it's open. I did a horrible job on the walls, so I'd rather not mesh anything else. Also how would meshing the lid help? Also I can pick up some sand at the store. It wasn't high on my priorities list for the reasons you stated, and also I obviously wanted to get her cage done ASAP. I'm not great at picking her up, so I'm going to start cup-training her, but she's definitely mellowed since I got her last week. dj_clawson fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Oct 7, 2014 |
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Oct 7, 2014 03:47
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