Hamster Care

I just spent the last 2 hours of my life reading up on Hamster care lol. If you don't own a hamster or are not interested in animals at all, you may not be very entertained with what I have to say. So anyway, Nugget and Pancake are spending time over at J's now and they have been fighting -_- J said it's quite serious cos there is blood on their noses and apparently it has already dried up so it's pretty impossible to get it off. Have been thinking of bringing them to a vet soon which I read in a Hamster forum page (LOL as there is such a thing!) that there's one near CCK. Need to get their nails trimmed as well. I don't dare to do it cos I'm worried I'll snip off their entire leg accidentally :/

Have also been trying to find another brand of food mix for them cos they are SO PICKY with food. gosh. Like out of the entire packet of food, they only pick 3 items out of 12 to eat. Read in the forum that when picking out hamster food, go for items that are not loaded with sunflower seeds, dried corn or alfafa pellets as they do not eat them. Almost everyone in the forum recommended this brand called Vitakraft as they contain many natural ingredients. They also do not advise feeding commercial food brands that have pellets that look colorful as they contain food coloring which might not be good for your hamster's health. Stay away from sour fruits like pineapple and oranges and foods like cabbage, onion, grapes and garlic.

Bedding wise, it is best to use pellets or those recycled paper types I think. They said that wood shavings is not recommended as they can release aromatic oils into the cage that can be FATAL for your hamster. (I totally didn't know that) But I'm currently using pellets cos I personally find that they retain odour very well. Typically, you should change the bedding once every week and check for abnormal signs of droppings. Also stay away from cotton wool type bedding as they are a gimmick and can choke your hamster if they chew on them. It's like having bubble gum stuck in your throat.

The best way to 'bathe' your hamster is to use UNSCENTED bathing sand. I never really knew why you aren't supposed to bathe hamsters in water but now I know why. Hamster's natural habitats in the wild do not exactly have water for them to bathe in, thus they roll around in sand to clean themselves. Bathing in water removes natural and essential oils from the hamster's coat, which can cause the hamster to catch a chill and die 0_0 A lot of the bathing sand that the website recommends are basically chinchilla bathing sand. They do not recommend scented ones as they can cause respiratory infections, result in fur loss or fungus infection if the hamster is allergic to the scent. Think I better get another pack and alternate with the current rose one I have so that I don't waste it.

Chewing treats or wood gnaws are required to keep their teeth trim so that it doesn't overgrow. Their teeth are constantly growing so they need to grind their teeth down regularly. If their teeth overgrows, they may puncture their mouth or jaw 0_0. I saw some disgusting photos of a hamster's teeth overgrowing and it's super gross :/ Apparently the forum also recommends constant weighing of your hamsters from time to time to keep track of their weight so I wasn't being silly for doing that lol.

I honestly thought the forums were pretty useful in providing information about hamster care. Try googling them!