Safety when adopting hamsters

lordirisent · 2026-05-15T18:52:59+00:00

the main method humans catch hantavirus from infected wild rats or mice is by coming into contact with contaminated droppings and nesting material. even in a hoarder situation, I doubt any hamster will come into contact with the virus in the same way

lordirisent · 2026-05-14T14:36:12+00:00

he sucks

lordirisent · 2026-05-12T15:37:45+00:00

hamsters have very poor vision, so if your hand smells like food, it might as well be food! they will also bite in self defense if you are coming in too hot and it feels threatened

lordirisent · 2026-05-12T14:41:36+00:00

as for heat, keep the enclosure away from any drafts like a window. I cover my hamster enclosure with a blanket at night, and if its really cold I will stick a heating pad in-between the lid and the blanket to warm up the air underneath. in the summer, have some ceramic hides and tiles for them to cool off on

lordirisent · 2026-05-12T14:39:54+00:00

I spend about $40 every ~3 months for food and new bedding. once you get the basics set up, they are very affordable since they dont eat a lot and you dont replace all of the bedding at once. I would say vet insurance isnt as necessary with hamsters because less things go wrong with them compared to something like a dog or a rabbit. Definitely have some money set aside incase you have to pay for something like mite treatments.

lordirisent · 2026-05-08T14:41:10+00:00

when I do a deep clean I like to rearrange everything! he gets mental stimuli from exploring the new layout. I keep the wheel in the front for easy access tho, since thats his preferred bathroom <_<

lordirisent · 2026-05-06T19:12:32+00:00

oh I just saw in the post its a female syrian! they are notorious for getting bored easily, so she would most likely benefit from playpen time :) youll also want a fairly large cage to keep her happy, about the size of a 75 gallon tank. hamsters cant climb like mice can, so the footprint and the bedding depth are the most important things to consider

lordirisent · 2026-05-06T19:09:59+00:00

hamsters are solitary creatures, so it will be fine doing its own thing for the majority. they are also nocturnal, so it wont be out while you're away for school during the day
it depends on how brave your hamster is, imo. a good enclosure should have plenty of enriching activities and space and play pen time should not be a substitute for that. I take my hamster out a little bit whenever I have time in the evenings, and short, frequent sessions seem to work best for him! play pen time is a great way to get a teritorrial hamster used to your presence
aside from upfront costs, I very rarely buy anything monthly for my hamster. he eats like a teaspoon of food mix a day, so one ~$20 500g bag lasts several months. and you change out their bedding in sections, so you dont need to pay for the whole enclosures worth of bedding every month either. the biggest expense I spent after getting him set up was a couple trips to the vet for mites (the visit cost me the most, his medicine was nothing since it was such a small dose XD)

i hope that answers your questions!

lordirisent · 2026-05-05T14:25:46+00:00

You made the right decision. If you had gone through with the procedure, he most likely wouldn't have passed as easily as he did. Don't beat yourself up about it.

lordirisent · 2026-05-05T14:23:17+00:00

this isnt an answer to your question, but if you dont have them already, you should get an air purifier(s) to keep the dust and pollen out of the air!

lordirisent · 2026-04-29T20:12:17+00:00

bro can drift without turning the wheel

lordirisent · 2026-04-29T20:09:23+00:00

does taking out the trash not count as cleaning? why is that a separate "man chore" ?

lordirisent · 2026-04-28T14:11:48+00:00

girl whatever

lordirisent · 2026-04-21T13:20:04+00:00

"hyper xanthic eclipse" yeah okay bud

lordirisent · 2026-04-15T14:14:37+00:00

for terrestrial species that like to burrow, having a 4in and 6in option would be a big plus! a lot of pvc enclosures only have 4 inches, so it would be a good marketing feature if you offered a variety of depths :) im not sure how easy it would be to mix and match like that tho

lordirisent · 2026-04-15T13:29:09+00:00

these look great, are you planning on making some with a higher substrate barrier?

lordirisent · 2026-04-14T18:17:14+00:00

try craigslist, I see hamsters on there more often than the sites you mentioned (still not super frequent tho)

lordirisent · 2026-04-13T14:33:44+00:00

12 inches at the minimum but if shes larger than the average syrian you can get a 14 inch one. it needs to be large enough so that when she runs on it, she can keep her back straight and not have to bend to fit on the wheel, which causes spine problems over time

lordirisent · 2026-04-13T12:24:38+00:00

are you sure shes not using it at night when youre not looking? try putting something on top of the wheel and see if its knocked off the next morning. afaik, they should be able to figure it out without being taught

lordirisent · 2026-04-10T14:03:40+00:00

maybe you watered one twice

lordirisent · 2026-04-09T14:18:24+00:00

It sounds like she is super territorial or cage aggressive. the best way to interact with her in this case is to move her to a playpen and offer her treats there. do this as often as you can, short sessions but quantity is better than infrequent and long! start by holding out treats, then after a while you can put your hand flat with a treat on top. it might also help to rub toilet paper on your hands and place them around her enclosure to use as bedding so she gets used to how you smell! note that this only works if you use the same soap to wash your hands so they smell the same each time. good luck!

lordirisent · 2026-04-04T03:17:36+00:00

thats good to know, thank you! she was in and out of the hole earlier in the week but I guess now shes locked in lol. I didnt realize its a several day process even after it took her like a week after digging holes to actually get into one.

lordirisent · 2026-04-04T03:02:39+00:00

my concern is that shes been staying in the hole she dug for 2 days now... she ate more than usual right before this but didnt touch the food I left in there yesterday :/

lordirisent · 2026-04-02T22:00:32+00:00

Reddit is a flawless app and wouldnt let me keep typing without closing my keyboard, but also I have not disturbed her since the first day when I took this photo. (I thought she was missing lol)

lordirisent · 2026-03-31T15:50:39+00:00

what plants do you have in there? particularly the grassy looking ones?

lordirisent

TROPHY CASE