I had a barbecue this afternoon and, all of a sudden, people were running over to the edge of the yard, chasing something. It was an escaped pet hamster which, once corralled, was quite fluffy and friendly. And he (she? It’s hard to tell with hamsters) absolutely demolished a few carrot sticks in only a few moments’ time.
I tried to see if he was a neighbor hamster, but hamsters do not traditionally wear tags, and most of the neighbors were not at home. Having no hamster cage, I am keeping him for now in the bottom drawer of a small plastic chest of drawers I have. The cat is intrigued.
I have provisionally named him Cheeky, but should I require further inspiration on those fronts, I believe there’s recently been such a thread. I gave him water and carrots and some lettuce, but I assume that in the more long-term, he shall require some sort of hamster chow.
Probably less likely to be a lost pet, and more likely to be a pet who became a “nuisance” and was dumped. Lots of idiots do this, thinking they’re doing the animal a favor by letting it go instead of euthanizing it, but they don’t realize that most pets, hamsters especially, do not have the capacity to survive outdoors and quickly become food for a predator.
All in all, I hope the little fluffball finds a good home with you.
Get yourself a hamster cage. Speaking from (a neighbour’s experience) the cat’s going to be at that hamster faster than lightning if you don’t batten down the hatches.
You’ll want to start him/her on some kind of dry hamster food pretty soon (usually a mix of seeds, not unlike birdseed), because fresh veggies, while good for them in small quantities, tend to give hamsters diarrhea if that’s their main diet.
When selecting a hamster food, try to avoid ones that are too heavy in sunflower seeds. While those are also an excellent hamster treat, you might end up with a spoiled hamster who’ll pick out the sunflower seeds and won’t eat anything else.
As for distinguishing male hamsters from female ones, males usually have fairly large and obvious testes which produce a prominent pair of lumps below the tail. If your critter looks more streamlined than that, it’s probably a female.
Well, I’m not sure. He’s found temporary refuge, but I don’t really want a hamster. I put an ad up on craigslist and I’m going to put up some signs, but I don’t know what else I can do. I have a feeling that it will be hard to find a home for him. Are there shelters that take in hamsters? Do they stand a chance of being adopted?
I don’t have a hamster bottle, but I cut the bottom off of a plastic water bottle to make a shallow dish and I put water in that. There was still water left this morning from last night, so hopefully that’ll be enough water to last through the day and I’ll fill it up again when I get home.
Third, get something for the little one to chew on. Cardboard is a favorite, tissue paper drives my gerbil nuts.
and Pazu is right, these rodents go mad for sunflower seeds. I had 2 gerbils who lived almost 7 years and survived a cross country trip, subsisting on little more than the sunflower seeds they picked out.
Unlike a lot of other domestic animals, hamsters don’t live very long. Odds are that you wouldn’t have him/her for more than 2 years.
I have 3 hamsters (my Mother bought my daughter a pregnant hamster a year ago-she said she didn’t know it was pregnant :dubious: ). I love them all. They’re sweet, easy to care for, and they’re very clean.
If you can possibly keep it, please do. But, you will need an inexpensive cage and a water bottle.
FYI: That cat is a little too interested in Cheeky.
Wow, both of those animals are quite beautiful. That reminds me of one time during my short time owning mice. I kept them in a large plastic container similar to that drawer (modified the lid to have a metal mesh covering for air.) The mouse stretched up along the wall just like your hamster, and my cat, watching from the outside in fascination, very carefully leaned in, tilted her head and opened her mouth, trying to eat the mouse.
