How to keep your hamster from getting fat

Hamster fact

The average hamster will crawl two miles a day.

Holding the Hamster

The right way to hold a hamster

When holding your hamster as with any living creature you should use extreme care. It's safety and comfort should be your number one concern. After all no one wants to be picked up squeezed around the gut (especially after eating).

To pick up, use both your hands as a scoop and lift the hamster from the bottom. With a bit of training you can get the hamster to walk onto your hand. If you have to grab them from above, gently pick up with one hand around the hamster's waist and have your other hand ready to put under the hamster for support.

With the hamster standing on one hand, use your other hand to cup over the hamster. Some hamsters are more fidgety than others and may try to jump or crawl off your hand only to fall and possibly injure itself.

Do not SQUISH

Hamsters can be squashed quite easily. Be gentle while holding them.

Climbing and the Environment

A bored hamster is a fat hamster.  Imagine you were put in a cage and had to live there for the rest of your life.  It would be very nice if the owner allowed you to get out once in a while or allowed you to have a change of scenery every now and then.

A good time for a change of scenery is when the cage has to be cleaned. The hamsters have to be put somewhere, one place to use is the tub in the bathroom.  Make sure the water drain is plugged first as you don't want your hamster exploring the drain.  Also, if you're living with others make sure they know that you're putting hamster(s) in the tub. After all you don't want anyone turning on the water while they are in there.

An empty tub can be quite boring to a hamster, placing things in the tub can make things more interesting. A towel is a good start as most tubs are cold. It allows the hamster(s) to stand on something a bit cozier. Other things like modular climbing sets, flying saucers, and hamster wheels are good.

There are a few items on the market that will allow you to make the hamster's climbing life more interesting.

Puzzle Playgrounds


The professor showcases the Puzzle Playground

The puzzle playground by Super Pet is a plastic made modular system that has compatible connectors to the Critter Trail and the Habitrail systems.  This is an ideal addition to cages that don't have a lot of space.  You can also use this outside the cage in a more open environment (eg. bath tub) to make the existing environment more interesting.

There are different versions available and you can buy them at Amazon.com or click here for the larger Super Pet Puzzle Playground, 60 Piece version.


Build and Chew



Peppy and the Professor climb the Build and Climb

The Build and Chew by Burgham takes up more space and may not be ideal for small cages however the plus side is that it's made of wood.  This means that it's chewable and environmentally sound. Also the design allows for multiple levels of hamster fun.


Build and Chew packaging

I picked up the Build and Chew at a Petsmart but I don't see them being advertised on the Petsmart web site so here's a link to Mr. Pet's another pet store online that carries the Build and Chew.

In a day and age where we have plastic floating around killing off animals (eg. birds, fish) it's important to choose the items we buy more carefully, Avoid plastics if we can and if we do use plastics make sure it's for long term use.

Chew chew cha boggie

Hamster Fact:

Hamster teeth constantly grow. Hamsters have to wear down their teeth by nibbling things.

It's important to allow your hamster to have access to things to nibble on. I bought a loofah for Captain Hill that looked like a miniature corn and a pumice stone in the form of a gray cube for Peppy and the Professor.

The Corn Loofah


What? A loofah?

At first I thought these things were for the hamster to use while taking mini showers.  They are actually meant for chewing.  Captain Hill crawled up to the loofah and gave me this look (see photo) and never went near the loofah again. I would say that the loofah was a poor choice for hamster chewing. There may be hamsters out there that like chewing on loofahs, Captain Hill didn't seem to go for it.

The Pumice Cube


The Professor treats the cube as an obstacle.

The item that looks like a mini Borg space ship made of pumice rock was introduced into the living quarters of Peppy and The Professor.  I haven't seen them grinding their teeth on it or even try to nibble on it.  It serves more as a thing to stand on or an obstacle that takes up space and gets in the way.  This is another product I would not recommend for hamsters.

The hamster chews these

As luck would have it hamsters (at least my hamsters) have been found to like a few things that are readily available from the store.

The Snak Shak Taking the form of a tiki hut, the Snak shak is made of edible material. If you don't have enough space in your cage for a tikihut, superpet also makes bridges of various sizes and logs out of the same material. Captain Hill demolished a small bridge by nibbling it until there was nothing there.


Captain Hill chewing on the snak shak.

Wood Chews these come in a variety of shapes and colors from rolling dinosaurs, to watermelons, and flat discs. Captain Hill loved the dinosaur and would chew on it on a regular basis. I also used the dinosaur as a peanut butter dispenser when serving a special treat was required.


Prepare for chewing


Captain Hill loves the wooden dinosaur



Links to items mentioned

Spin it up

Ever since seeing this video of hamsters exercising on a spinning disc I've wanted to get one for Peppy and the Professor. It's hamster entertainment at it's finest.


The Hamster Exerciser

I attempted to find the spinning saucer model in the YouTube video online with unsuccessful results. The next step was to find out if any local stores carried them. Most stores, if they carried hamster goods, had the wheel but not many knew what I was talking about when I described the dish. After an exhaustive search in the pet stores around the Toronto area, the only two makes I could find were the Flying Saucer and the Hamster Exerciser (see photos). Neither model had a rim to hold the hamsters in which was a bit of a disappointment. I thought about making a spinning disc out of a used frisbee and then realized that would take some thought, time and building equipment. Buying a solution would be easier at this moment in time.

I purchased the Hamster Exerciser first from the friendly people at the Pet Emporium. Unfortunately the hamsters were too small and light at the time (only 16 grams each) that their weight wasn't enough to make the saucer section spin. As a result they got bored and quickly ignored the Hamster Exerciser altogether.


Cue up the crickets, The Hamster Exerciser is uninteresting to Dwarf Hamsters


The Flying Saucer

Next, I went out looking for the flying saucer. The only store to carry it was PetSmart and unfortunately they only had the 12" version in stock. While the 12" version would have worked with the hamsters functionally, the diameter was too wide to fit in the Habitrail cage/pod. It's about 2" inches too wide and that doesn't give any space for anything else. Because there's no rim on the saucer the hamsters would just fly off. They would need space to fall.

Fortunately the Flying Saucer comes in three sizes. The next size down was 6.5" and there's a third smaller size coming in at 5". All three sizes can be bought from Amazon.com (see below for links). While I recommend buying things locally first the URLs are included for convenience.


The Professor on the Flying Saucer

The 5" saucer seems to small even for a dwarf hamster and it's too bad ware doesn't make a saucer that's 8 inches in diameter which would fit in the cage and be large enough for two hamsters to run on at the same time. I ended up purchasing the 6.5 inch version. While the hamsters don't really fit on the saucer so they can run on one side at the same time that doesn't stop them from trying. This in itself is funny to watch.


Two out of two hamsters approve of the Flying Saucer by Ware

Since the introduction of the Flying Saucer in the cage the hamsters have been running on it steadily. While the spinning is quiet the base on the bedding wobbles a bit making a thumping sound. I will readjust this and see if I can make it quieter. The hamsters love it though.

Stay tuned for future articles and updates.

Boat Full of Hamsters

Life will put you in situations that might be unexpected. You just have to adapt and go with it.

I took some photos of the hamsters in an origami boat. Why? Seemed like a good idea at the time. Also the boat is the only thing I remembered how to fold.

Professor

The Professor

This photo of the Professor (or just Professor) was taken the day after coming home from the pet store. (Critters Castle)