The vet won't be able to do anything to such a small animal. Swollen can be from a bite from the mom or something injured the leg.... leave it be coz your pups are 10 days old.... later you touch touch can stress the mom.

I think people mistaken washing over cleaning hahahah....

Washing should be done once a month. Cleaning must be everyweek or every 2 weeks once. I do my washing once a month with mild soapy water and detol.

This is why we always stress, never get cage for hamster..... Tanks are the best coz they won't bite. I think I repeated this many many many times already but looks like nobody ever take note. Hamster bite cage coz bored.... then it becomes a habit for them to chew cages.

Don't listen to pet shops.... they will just advice you to buy stuff.... Hamsters do not need stones to chew on. They need wooden chews... not stones. You can always DIY stuff.... give cardboard and the middle of toilet rolls for them to chew. Hang some carrot pieces on a string as a food toy. Corn makes great chew treats too.

Yups... you are right. Washing all cages and tanks takes me 2 days to complete hahahah.

I used to have a hamster in my bedroom.... but due to health reasons, shifted him out. If you guys do have hamsters in your room, put it far away from your bed or where you normally sleep coz when they dig, the dust particles will of course will spread around.... some of the dust particles will carry dried pee.

This post has been edited by crazymouse_yyh: Jul 6 2007, 09:35 PM

Yah, Breeder Celect is better.... the dust particles not as fine as wood base ones....

Curi curi have a few in a hostel is ok actually.... but have a breeding program in hostel sure lah risky.

Hahaha.... breeding program.... ada lah 1 person doing in this forum....

Kembara, your RCs also got long face ah? Somehow, some of mine also got the longish face... only a few with the bear RC face.

Hahaha... got your sms.... PM you.

Well.... if you do not want habitrail mini, you can use any of the habitrail series like playground or safari... habitrail so far has the best quality in terms of cages lah. It is easier to clean.... try cleaning Critter Trail, the tunnels are very hard to dismantle and the cage is sometimes troublesome to attach back to the base....

Sigh... the black bear was a good RC... but then I checked.... seems he got mites... mange on his ears.... then the saddest news, due to overheating while traveling, the Black bear died before I reached home.... even though LRT but I think stress and also coz this hamster is big, making him difficult to cool down fast... RIP to the little guy.

RIP to the lost hamsters...

Anyway, I came back from Wangsa Maju Carrefour.... the pet section is odd looking.... but terrible as in the staff was quite blur, she never notice people calling for her.... there were some kids climbing the shelve that had aquariums for hamsters and tarantulas.... summore those shelves are not stable, I kept holding the shelves while the kids were there.

Saw the hamsters.... poor condition.... the price RC for rm10.... WW was another price and robos were RM25.... sad case was that the RC tank had a mixture of RC and WW.... The only thing that caught my attention were the guinea pigs.... they had peruvians for only RM95.... anyway, I bought a GP in the end.

Yah... now Carrefour got sell... it is near the plastic section where got storage boxes there.... last time only sell cages and petfood... now got animals pulak.

Welcome....

you are better off with a tank than a cage.... a tank is safer, can see hamster clearly and they feel more comfortable than a cage.... you want to cover the metal floor of the 2nd floor of the cage? You can always use cardboard.... then change it everytime it dirties.... there is nothing else... hamsters got tiny sensitive feet... metal cages with metal floors can cause slips and twisted joints. I saw it in a few hamsters and even mice before....

Ants do not like white vinegar.... ants hate baking soda and powder..... pour a circle of baking soda around the tank.... as in powder form, do not mix with water.... the ants would not want to step it. Powder as in baby powder is also effective.

cassy88
The tanks are plastic aquariums easily available at any shop selling aquariums and fishes. Roughly cost RM25 to Rm30 for the 1.5ft tank.

Sample here:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c184/bul...up/IMG_0646.jpg

Well, cages are more better for mice.... unless you use Habitrail or Critter Trail or Wild brand.... their cages are safer and are more meant for hamsters. Those for sale and are locally made, the manufactures do not think about what would happen to the hamsters.... they are generally thinking of making it attractive for us consumers to buy. Many of us fall into those traps hahaha.... hard to resist nice and cheap cages.

Syrian is the biggest hamster.... how big was the tank? For a Syrian, the best is a 1.5 to 2ft tank. Smaller than that of course lah no space. And you can only keep Syrian alone.

The best wheels are with a diameter of 8 inches. Those cheap wheels are too small, you need to get either Wild Silent wheel for Syrians or Whisper wheel that is 8 inches.

Of course cardboard cannot last long. You wanna give plastic? It will make your hamster dirtier. Don't be lazy lah, just change everyday. At home no more, go buy loh or go kedai runcit get the old boxes.

Hole, use a hot screwdriver or nail to burn a hole into the tank. Or another way is DIY a hanger so you do not need to make any holes.

Gawd... did you buy a cage that is meant for rabbits?

Goodness.... Syrian Hamsters cannot live in groups. You are going against nature and probably endangering their lives!!!! Please please please do research..... don't just think "since they don't fight ok mah" Sooner or later they will fight and sooner or later, once the female gives birth, you won't have any baby hamsters but dead bodies since they will fight and eat the babies.

Syrians hamster cannot be sold as pairs.... people buy them as pets but stupid petshops make people buy a few.... then later all die they blame the hamster... but actually must and should blame the stupid petshop.

You better separate the male and female. Breeding can also cause the female to have shorter lifespan and look haggard.... you wanna keep as pet, don't need to breed lah.

Is that your cage? That is not big.... that is suitable for only 1 hamster. Take out the metal grill at the bottom.

The wheel is super tiny, can cause back problems to your hamster.

Well... Robos can get depress or stressful if live alone. So it is better in small groups if you have a large enough cage.

The female is probably feeling very stressful with so many hamsters in 1 cage. It is natural for animals to kill of extras if they seem to be too weak or are not fully grown. You can separate the pups from their mom at 25 days since they would be fully weaned and independent. Another reason could be caused by inbreeding, the female knows that her offspring is not healthy so she kills it.... or... worst case is that the female is not a good mother.

How big is the cage? Is the father hamster with the mother hamster as well?

RIP to Racci.... his brother is still with me. I also suspect he will leave soon since quite old already.

Edsel died last year.... became old and lethargic. Didn't give steel cage....

Now all I have from him is his Great Grand sons.