Our first Hamster! I need some advice from personal experience..?

I bought my son a White Russian Dwarf Hamster for Xmas. I read and did as much research on the little creature. She seems a little skiddish and scared but I am sure she is just adjusting to her new home. From personal experience does anyone have any good advice on how to make her more comfortable? Should I wait a couple days before taking her out? Should I take her out of her cage or open the door and let her come out?Our first Hamster! I need some advice from personal experience..?
Okay, I would not touch it for a few days, this may be a bit too stressful for the creature. Stress can lead to wet tail, heart problems, increases the liklihood of developing tumors, loss of appatite, bad skin, bald patches and general odd behavior. Try hand feeing it large seeds (like the pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds from its food since they are long and it is a high reach if she wants to bite you).





When you finally do take ger out, use something that she can not climb out of like a tall and thin tub and hold it so that it is near you, that she knows that she is near you and that it can see you. From here you can progress to shallower tubs or your hands. If she has a tendancy to try to bite you (if they just try they usually do not apply pressure, so it doesn't hurt) you can try the apple vinegar washes and sprays to prevent them from trying it again (they quickly learn that it tastes bad and they do not do it anymore).





If you have them around the house, use a small paint brush to pet it once it calms down a bit, this will help it to get used to being touched. Once it is used to touching and being outside its cage, you can go for it with the fingers.





Remember to be slow, and very gentle. If you are afraid to grab it, do not grab it at all, and especially not by the scruff, the dwarfs have a tendency to freak out and spaz. When they do that, you can drop them, they can get hurt, or they can hurt themselves. Overall when this happens, they no longer feel safe and will avoid leaving their cage, and become skiddish again. If you are nervous around a new animal wear garden gloves, they are more likely to chew on this (use apple vinegar-animal safe spray), and you will have to watch your grip a bit more, but this usually helps.





I would not suggest opening the cage door and letting the hamster out that way, since she may try to make an escape. If the hamster ever does escape, block all exits of the room, make sure all vents are inaccessable, and there is no wat that she can reach any wires to chew. By running around trying to grab her out of hidding when under furnature, she may get scared and run further away or try to bit. Your best bet, if you can not easily reach her is to place a treat in the middle of the floor and wait for her to come out of hiding, it way take a little while, but they are very inquisitive creatures and will explore as soon as possible.





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I have quite a bit of experience with hamsters (both syrian and dwarf), and guinea pigs. And to a lesser extent, dogs, rabbits, fish, and frogs. I have bred hamsters, raised all the listed animals, had internships with vets, and had many animal behavior or related courses involving these animals. I do not claim to be an epert, but I do know quite a bit, so I wish to share with you some of the information I have picked up over the years that you may not have read since much of it is not included in the literature or it is too new of a thing to be in many of the bookbased on my own experiences and things that I have learned.





Remember to giv your hamster wood blocks to chew on. If you do not want to buy wood blocks, you can use substitutes. If you have paper towel or toilet paper tubes that have not been exposed to chemicals (including the scented roll holders) you can give them to the hamster. All of my hamsters absolutely love these, since they are great for chewing and good for hiding in. You can also use this as a way to get the hamster out of the cage. These can also be substituted for tubes and you can even connect them by cutting out holes and putting them through eachother.





DO NOT buy bed fluff! This nice warm looking cottony stuff is EXTREMELY bad for all small animals. Despite what the pet stores will tell you, this stuff is very harmful. The animals will try to eat it, and if it is synthetic it can block their digestive tracts, even the non synthetic fluff runs this risk. The fibers can also get tangled in their limbs, and can cutt off circulation leading to dead limbs and toes that will need aputation





Beware of wire bars! The wire rungs of cages and wheels can cause broken limbs, they are still sold since plastic can be chewed through. I thoguht I would give you a heads up. Of all the hamsters that have went through our house(nearly 100 in the past 5 years), one got its head stuck in between bars, and one broke its foot since it liked to climb on its ceiling- this one had to be put down.





Do not use recycled newpaper for their bedding. The newsprint ink can make some of them sick if they eat it. If you want to use recycled paper make sure it is ';clean.'; However, you do not have to spend a lot of money on bedding. We have a farm store near us called Blanes Farm and Fleet, that stocks horse bedding (it is the exact same stuff, just a little coarser cut and runs for $4 for a 1.5x2x3 ft bag. Much cheaper this way.





DO NOT USE CEDAR BEDDING!!! The oils in the wood can cause organ damage and failure, especially kidney failure in small animals. Please, do not use this bedding, use pine or paper beading, even the corn husk bedding is better.





DO NOT use cage liners, this reacts with their digestive tract in the same way as the bed fluff, and they will eat it. If you are looking for an easy clean up, use a cage that the bottom can be completely detached from. Hamsters can also be potty trained, which helps with daily spot cleaning, and makes the 3-5 day cleening less messy.





Beware of leaky bottles. If you find a leaky bottle make sure that you create a good plug (press finger and let water run down sink until no more water drips out of mouth piece) before putting it in their cage. Vertical bottles (the ones that have the drinking part hanging directly vertically) are less likely to leak than the bottles with slanted mouth pieces.





Finally, as a note due to George's post. As small mammals get older, their chances of catching pneumonia increase. This risk is higher if the hamster is not in its usual comfort climate of 70-75 degrees. I would not suggest letting your hamster run around outside for very long, if at all. There are too many predators, the temperature can be undesirable, and there is the chance of getting sick from chemicals due to fertilization, weed control, polluted rain, etc. I will only take my guinea pigs outside if it is between 70-75, and I do not let go of them or if I do, I am only a few inches away, and they are on a blanket. I will not let them eat the grass since any pollution that was in the water, was soaked into the plant. This could be very bad for their health, and too many greens will give them the runs.Our first Hamster! I need some advice from personal experience..?
Yes, dont leave it outside when its raining
Like other rodents, hamsters are night creatures. They sleep during the day (or try to until some human comes along every so often to want to play with them).


They need a dark but airy place to sleep. We used empty toilet rolls. It worked. Your dwarf hamster will fit into them nicely.





Yes, give her some time to adjust and then let her out for exercise. We live in an apartment and at dusk we let the hamster loose on the balcony with the potted plants and a box for shelter should it rain. Of course, keep the balcony door shut. There's no danger of cats in an apartment balcony (6th floor). We noticed that as soon as he was put in the balcony he would run around like mad! Running around helps to keep nails short by wearing them out. If you don't have a balcony or other enclosed safe space, consider an exercise wheel. Bring your pet in in the morning, back to her box or cage.





Unfortunately the life span of a hamster is about 1,000 days (3 years or less). Sometimes the pet shops sell you hamsters that are inbred. These tend to develope tumours.





White Russian Dwarf Hamsters are really cute. Good luck with yours!
One thing I can say from experience, do not take it out for the first couple of weeks. Too much stress can give it wet tail which can kill it. The best advice is to let it be as much as possible for the first week and a half at least... Maybe put some cute little hamster furniture in to make it more cozy, which can be found at Petco, Petsmart, ect.





Hope I helped!