Hahaha... the more you see him the more you want him. Yes yes, I will be breeding him coz I need to get more Satin out. Will be looking for a cinnamon female as I don't have cinnamon female. I think cinnamon shows the metallic satin shine very well. Satin is dominant, so if I breed my satin with a normal, the offspring would be 50% satin and 50% normals. Heheheh.... Jamien, coming to my house really poison you liao.

I may also go back to Pet Family to get a black banded female coz crossing Cinnamon with Black can get Dove.

HAhaha.. sure. Once got offspring lah.

Oh yes, red eyed cream!!! Must get. Today I went to a petshop near my place to buy mealworms.... then my eyes caught a syrian.... sob sob, temptation made me buy him. So small, about 1 month old or maybe slightly older.... then he is banded..... but he is a different shade of mink. Why I say mink coz he got eye rings like a sable.... same like mink and his eyes are not fully ruby coloured yet. When placed him in his new tank, he straight away look for food. Poor boy was so hungry..... eat the veggies and Prestige like a starving pig.

Petshops have dead hamsters often. You never notice coz they will take away the dead body. At Pet Family, it is not uncommon for me to find a dead syrian or a badly injured one. Pet shops have little space, having 100 syrians and opening 100 tanks is a little over board, they cannot afford that if they are selling a syrian for RM15. If 1 Syrian rm150 then maybe lah can get better tanks but still.... petshop.... space....

They do fight, but normally is when they are active. We always head to a petshop during the day, which is the time hamsters are drowsy with sleep. At night? They will be very active when all the lights are out.

Got some people would tell you "is ok wan to keep 2 Syrians together or even a group, I experience it before and nothing happen"
Rubbish! The syrian won't have a long lifespan. This was my mistake when I was 10 years old when I first got my 1st hamster, a syrian. Listening to petshop, they told me I must get a friend or it would die. My 1st was given to me from a friend, 2nd one petshop..... they did live ok for the 1st year coz I put in a tank with many extensions.... so the space made them confuse over territory.... but one fine day, they met face to face and all hell broke loose. My syrian had a hole on her tummy, another had a nasty bite on the face. Not a nice thing to experience for a 10 year old. Worst was I had no Internet, had no book.... all just assumptions and pet shop advice. Now we got so much info available to us, so don't make the mistake of listening or following unethical petshops.

Syrians normally start fighting once they reach 3 to 4 months old. That is when they have their territorial instinct.
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Neshie,
Yesterday my nagging voice was not with me. That's why bought that hammie. But is really grey a bit. Not so brown like my older mink and the eyes are redder. Anyway, all ruby eye hamsters start of with bright red eyes as pups, then as they age it becomes darker till almost dark brown. Nice!
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Jamien,
You need to hold your hamster in your hand and stroke them using your finger 1st. If that is ok, move to toothbrush. Heheheh, requires some training.
Satin satin on the way lah. Satin can be in any colour, beige, cream, sable, mink.... I think dove would look super duper since dove is grey, with satin sure looks like silver. Wouldn't it be nice to have a satin cinnamon and a satin dove or sable? Sure looks like you have gold and silver later. Rich! Hahahaha.

Then don't put toilet loh. Anyway, hamsters like to sleep in enclosed areas.... and they prefer something cool. Try using Terra cotta hides. I find my RCs love to sleep in and on it during hot days. This is why hamsters like to sleep in bowls, it has a different base than wood shavings, cooler.

Please do not breed them. One is a pearl WW and another is a hybrid Pudding. It is not good to mixbreed a WW with a hybrid. Only breed WW with WW or hybrid with hybrid.

I don't really encourage people to buy a male and female pair without reading about hamsters, without knowing the species, without knowing their gestation period..... please don't do such things on impulse. Hamsters breed very fast, they can reproduce every 20 days and it would just shorten the female's lifespan....

Pumping on fresh food won't make a syrian fat like obese.... if we pump with sun flower seeds then yes lah. Also, Syrians are meant to be big and round. Normally if they go over 120g, that is a good size already. Dogs, cats, rabbits all eat food that is high in grain, protein and fat... so when they look fat, is unhealthy. As long you are not pumping too many mealworms and superworms amd sunflower seeds to your hamster, it will grow according to it's natural size.

Our local Syrians are actually all underweight and don't make the Syrian hamster standards..... this is due to not giving good food to breeding hamsters. Those that have a good diet since young would be able to become big hamsters.

Ah, let me say clearly.

Dogs are on dogfood.... now the processed dogfood can make dogs fat if they overeat too much coz it has fillers(corn/rice), chicken fat and of course all those protein meal.... but the dogs get fat from the fillers and chicken fat. When I feed my dogs on Evo or Orijen, they will put on weight but not fat coz it has no fillers in it.

Same with cats. If we give a cat eat processed catfood, sure overweight and is bad for their health. This is all because of the fillers.

Rabbit pellets are loaded with protein from soy and alfalfa.... so they can get fat if eaten too much. That is why when we keep rabbits, we must feed more hay coz fiber is good for them and is not fattening....

So I kinda meant junk. If we feed our hamsters with sun flower seeds, cake, biscuits, junkfood that we eat, sure die earlier coz food too high in salt and fat, which gives the heart and liver a pain to have. When we feed healthy good food like fresh food and healthy protein, a hamster would put on weight but never be that kinda unhealthy fat type lah. And if the hamster runs on a wheel, it is good as this means the hamster has a healthy lifestyle, a good heart, has more muscle than fat and can live better.

Sangels, your new hammie could be a mink. Blow the fur and check the undercoat. Coz your new syrian has eye rings, which is someting minks, sables, rust. have..... but then I'm no pro with Syrian colours yet as I also am learning. If the undercoat is same as the top coat, then it could be dove.... if the undercoat got cream, means is mink. My minks got cream undercoat.

Dove is this:

http://www.angelfire.com/wv2/woodview_hamstery

This is my mink's undercoat

Actually, the circulation for tanks that are on each other are quite bad. The gap isn't enough. Now I stack using shelving unit. At least there are 2 inch gaps for each tank to have better ventilation.

I was chatting with Reanne, confirm that your is a mink, coz it has those eye rings. Reanne had a dove before, and it had no eye rings.

If a syrian screams, it means it is 100% scared.

Anyway, my newly bought syrian has wet tail. Pity him, I think he got it from the fresh food, maybe his body is not taking it properly since he was from a petshop that did not even give water.

No sour mangos.... you will just make your hamster prone to diarrhea.

Sluis is a good brand. Not every hamster likes the herbal smell, same like Prestige. I actually prefer Prestige over Sluis as I used both brands before. Living World or Habitrail is a cheap brand.... quality is not as good as it won't give a hamster all the proper nutrients coz it is not packed with healthy grains and herbs like Prestige and Sluis.

Yes, the yolk is good. But it is better to give both the yolk and egg white. I suggest frying scrambled eggs in a nonstick frying pan using no oil. My hamsters and even gliders like that better than just hard boiled. Just don't feed everyday coz high in protein and fat.

What you should be doing is to help her sand bath. Having 3 legs means she cannot roll and flip properly. You should be grooming her with a toothbrush with small animal grooming powder to get rid of the oils. She is not strange, just unable to do what a normal hamster could do properly.

Is not clamped.... is call Nip. Means a bite with no puncture wounds.

Anyway, no talcum powder. Only powder meant for pets. You have to get her used to the tooth brush. You may think a water bath is good for her coz you see her clean and all but it is not good for hamsters. It strips their natural fur oils, over dries the skin... it can cause a hamster to get the chills.... it can even weaken the immune system. This is because they are so small, their bodies cannot tolerate bathing that often.

[Tissue, paper towels, all no harm as long no perfume, colour or printing. Hamsters won't eat the tissue. They would chew on it.

Yes, get the dwarf type. Any smaller and it could cause serious damage to the spine. Not all hamsters run readily, so give it some time.

If the butt is constantly wet, then it is wet tail. The hamster would still eat but be quite lethargic with heavy breathing. It is hard to cure and can die in a day or 2.

Try and feed better food lah. Prestige and Harry Hamster, I don't see it as expensive.... summore I have many hamsters and gerbils and I am a student using my own pocket money..... just don't use your cash for stuff that is not important lah. Sometimes I don't even eat lunch just to save my bit of cash to buy Prestige and Harry Hamster.

Hamsters do not sweat. They DROOL. If it is normally around the mouth and chin, then it is drooling to cool the body down. Anyway, hamsters that drool means they are too hot.

Watch carefully. Jamien already gave you an answer about petshop hamsters and space and dominance.

When WW fight, they are really aggressive. I have heard so many people that call me or msn me, say their WW died .... all from having 2 in 1 cage. So.... better separate if they become very hostile towards each other.

Those info are too generalised and I think they never really monitor the hamsters behaviour in captivity....... WW in the wild live in colonies coz they are all related! They are family.... so they have the same territory. If a fight starts, they can run far far away coz in the wild got freedom. What freedom and space do they have in a cage?

A lot of general hamster websites just generalize information. We here have experience, and I too breed WW and Campbells, I see difference in colony, hierarchy and fights….. Of course those sites say dwarf hamsters are social coz in the wild they live in family colonies. When we house them in cages….. it changes their behaviour.

Read:
http://www.petplanet.co.uk/small_breed_profile.asp?sbid=18
http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/dwarf_w...rs_behavior.htm
http://www.napak.com/dwarf_hamster.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A24833324

So if we love our hamsters, then better get one only coz there is no harm in that. They won’t die of loneliness, that type of thing only happens to gliders. WW and Campbells can only get along with siblings and if you get from a breeder…. If you get from a pet shop, even though same age and purchased on the same day, there is bound to be fights.


Veggie and dry dog/catfood is good.

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Added on June 25, 2008, 11:14 pmFunny, you already answered yourself. Of course no website would say they have to be solitary coz they can tolerate each other. Those bolded ones are already your answer.

About sudden fights, this happens coz of space and how we house them. The wikipedia info has been edited by someone, but it used to say that WW are best kept alone if FIGHTS occur. We advice people to keep WW alone to avoid people coming into this forum saying "Help, my hamsters fight till bleed" or "One died, why ah?"

Isn't it better? Anyway, there is a website by a show breeder overseas that uses the word solitary.

This post has been edited by crazymouse_yyh: Jun 25 2008, 11:14 PM

So cute. Your new boy is really like my one that died yesterday. Got wet tail and died before I could give proper treatment. I guess it got it from the petshop. Luckily my other hamsters are all ok. This is my 1st case of wet tail at home.

Anyway, I think your baby boy here is a mink banded heheheh. He got cute eye rings. Got check the undercoat?

Momo looks happy. Kiko looks very good

The colour of the mink shade depends on how dark the Sable was bred to the Red eye cream..... my mink very brown LOL.... but you must check the undercoat. If the undercoat is lighter than the top coat, then mink loh.

With the pictures, I can see clearly now..... injected dye. Is the same thing with the chicks. It is just nonsense. Coz when Jamien said Pet Family, I thought they dyed themselves since Pet Family does dye dogs sometimes. I pity the hamsters as they won't have a very health life.....

Sanko wheel or Wodent Wheel Junior.... Silent Spinner also ok.

Yes. Very true.

Actually, is not too big. The bigger the wheel, the more muscle the hamster would need to use it. Also, the size was made to suit Syrians and russian dwarf hamsters. I think Robos may have a bit of problem with it. Anyway, their backs also won't injure.

Oh... then I guess PF could have did the normal dye. But these dark ones.... sigh... so cham... pity pity pity. I rather see natural colours.... like my satin

In Singapore got a breeder selling a solid Satin Cream for S$20... sigh... I wish I can get it.

Satins and blacks... rare..... I would pay for rare syrians.... like black eyed white, silver grey, rust, copper....

Now satin gene very rare. So far I have not seen anymore satins.... wait lah, I'm gonna get a mature female soon heheheh.

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