How to take care of this animal?

Malaysia
May 11, 2008 4:18am CST
I just bought a couple of hamster. I don't this hamster from what kind of species. I just bought it for my girlfriend. She really want one. I also bought a cage. I just want to know what should i do to take care of this animal?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@Nykkee (2522)
• Canada
11 May 08
Assumeing that all you have at this point is the cage and the hamster I will tell you everything else you will need. YOu will need to go to the pet store and buy a water bottle for hamsters and a hamster wheel for them to run on. You will need a bag of wood ships to cover the bottom of the cage as well. You shoudl change these woodchips about once a week, maybe more often if they are pooping alot. You will need hamster food, you can also buy this at a pet store. Hamster food looks like bird seed, or little green pellets. YOu can also give them the tubes from used up toiet paper, or small cardboard boxes to chew on and make nests from. You can also give your hamster bits of cotton, or dryer lint (if you are NOT useing dryer sheets that is, the chemicals are bad for them) and they will use this stuff in thier beds/nests as well. Always make sure that your hamster have enough food and fresh water. Another thing you may want to get is a hamter ball, this is a clear plastic ball that you can put the hamster in so it can run around on the floor without the danger of it being stepped on or running away.
• Malaysia
15 May 08
thank you nykkee for your info. Looks like that you really expert about taking care of hamster. Do you have a hamster?i ca't find the hamster ball at the pet shop around Kuala Lumpur. So sad. I gave my hamster a fresh water plus a vitamin. I put in the cage a bottle of a fresh water. But they dont drink much. Is it if the water still not finish yet, i still need to change it?
1 person likes this
@Nykkee (2522)
• Canada
15 May 08
If you are in a very warm climate you should change the water every couple days even if it is not all gone becauseit can grow bacteria and make the hamster sick. I do not have a hamster now, I have a cat and a dog but I had several hamsters when I was younger. You can probably order a hamster ball off of an online pet shop or something.
@kblakley (247)
• Loveland, Ohio
15 May 08
I just wanted to add some advice......just stick with one hamster, don't get another thinking your single hamster needs a companion. I made that mistake for my daughter and in the end had 11 hamster to deal with. They will mate in the blink of an eye, seriously and a lot of the time it's hard to tell male from female, which is what happened to us. We were told we had two females when in fact we had a male also. It was a nightmare. So my advice is to just stick with the one, it will save you a big headache. Good Luck and enjoy, hamster are fun. Oh yeah and if you get one of those plastic balls for them to run around the house in, pay attention because ours was eventually able to escape from that using the ledge between the living room and kitchen. We actually ended up taping it when he was in it.
• Malaysia
16 May 08
thank you for your response kblakley. Yup, of cause i enjoy with my hamster. Even i just watch they playing around. That could makes me happy. Hahahaha....i wish to taping it. :p
@palonghorn (5479)
• United States
16 May 08
Well you've already received some good advice, so I'll just add a little to it. If you want the hamster to be really tame, the more you handle it the better that will be. Also, they do bite, some of them do, and although it doesn't hurt, if your hamster bites, thump it on the nose, not hard, just enough to get it's attention. Soon it will stop biting. I had one hamster that lived to be 10 years old, normally they don't live that long. But he thought he was a dog lol he loved pancakes, scrambled eggs, and other treats that I gave him, although I wouldn't recommend this, but he grew up with me giving him lil treats of people food. Also depending on the type of cage you bought, if it is one of the metal or plastic ones with the little door that raises up, do yourself a favor, use a twist tie to 'lock' the door when it is in it's cage, they can learn to open those types of cage doors, at least mine did.
• New Zealand
21 May 08
here's a link that would really help you: http://allaboutteddybearhamsters.blogspot.com/ I found that link when I was researching about hamsters because my best friend wanted one and I was the one to help her take care of it... it's best that you read a lot about hamster before you get one... in that way it would be easier for you to understand them...