My cousin, the Syrian Hamster

To those who did not choose my family line the winter white, first of all, I just want to say that you missed out a lot, as we are cute and adorable, we are very good pets!

Now, for this first post, I will be talking about the BULLY in our big family, the SYRIANS. 

In terms of size, we are way tinier than them hence the BULLY

Well, now you believe me! And if anyone were to do this without supervision, you can expect preparing a funeral for my brother the Winter White. Always remember, never house a different breed of hamster together, even if the same breed, there are a chance that we will kill each other, this is just a natural instincts of us, we are very territorial, though they might be in the same family, but having different parents means we will fight for the land. ROAR!!!

Its an almost always absolute death for any other breed when they are left alone with the Bully Syrians. 

The only time when we can bully them and still have a chance at winning is when they are still baby Syrians

Ok ok ok, lets stop all those war, and admire how pretty they are

Despite all the things that I have said, they are the dumbest of all, just like the usual bully that you meet at school, how successful are they now compared to you? HAHAHA. So in a sense they would make an excellent pet as well, since that they are so big, they tend to be slower than most of us, and because they are so big, they normally still survives when not being handled properly especially by kids. As for us, the smaller size hamsters, it really hurt when the kids squeezes us too hard, or drops us on the floor, some of us might pass away if we are not strong enough.

And finally, the sex part. If you have bought a Syrian hamster, don't just trust what the pet shop owner says, no, you should not buy them in pair, they will fight, yes, you don't see them fighting then, but when they are a little older, normally within 2 months, they will start fighting, and you might say you will supervise, when they fight you will separate them, sure, that is if you can be there 24/7, and don't sleep, else, you will find both or all of them dead, if you are lucky enough, you might still have one still standing, but wounded. And you will have to send it to the vet to be treated. So why lose your hamster and waste money for a trip to the vet, just don't house more than one Syrian together, but it is ok if you want to buy more than one, just make sure each one of them has a 2ft plastic tank (minimum requirement). And when sexing them, refer to the image below

Well, that should be all about my cousin the Syrian, until next time, bye bye

Hamster Bedding

Everyone will stink if they don't bath, same goes to us, but thats for another day, what I'm trying to say in this chapter is about a clean house. As most of you should have know or have been told, we need beddings. If you need a dictionary for the word bedding, I've asked my owner to check dictionary.com for it, it came back with:

litter; straw, etc., as a bed for animals

In case if you were wondering what litter is, here is the result:

6.straw, hay, or the like, used as bedding for animals or as protection for plants.

7.the layer of slightly decomposed organic material on the surface of the floor of the forest.

Now back to the topic, about bedding, I will skip the whole why bedding is so important etc mumbo jumbo and go straight into business, what type of bedding.

As a lot of you might have used this bedding before, the 'Living World' pine bedding, I too was previously using it as my owner thought it was cheap, well, it is CHEAP, but definitely not comfy, it hurts our cute little paws, and sometimes even pokes my stomach when I'm playing in my home. Research also shows that pine is harmful towards us, though I still cant find out what or how, but I think if I've found out, I might won't be here anymore. 

But after some research (forum), my owner decided to change bedding, in terms of wallet friendly, someone gave him an idea of using mix bedding. About 30% - 50% of Chipsi Super or Chipsi Classic 

and mix it together with a better bedding, though might seem a little weird, its a cat litter, named Breeder Celect. Many forumers highly recommended this as the main bedding as it last longer compared to normal bedding and it is friendly towards us. Now my owner changes the bedding about once in two weeks, sometimes, when they notice that it is getting smelly, they will also change the bedding plus some curses now and then. Hehe

Well, thats it from me now, this is a short class, and I need to change the bedding already. Till next time!

Water!

Today's lesson is rather simple, after gathering the basic essentials, cage + wheel, now it comes to another essential items for us, its cheap too, water bottle!

I am currently using a Living World Water Bottle

But you can just randomly get any water bottle, hopefully the bottle will leak easily, then I can play with the water! Yahoo!!! (Angel speaking: tell the truth!) - Ok, it should not be leaking as we tend to play with the water, there are many side effects to this, wet bedding is one of the rather obvious, then we might get soaking wet from playing it which is not a good thing actually (but fun), we might catch a cold etc, the place will stink, and in worse cases, when we really need a drink, there is no water left in the bottle.

But don't ever get this kind of water bowl (its actually more of a food bowl), unless you don't mind us having a pool party!

You can also get us supplements if you have the extra cash (heart) to spare.

 

The above are just example, there are plenty of brands available, be it the vitamin drops or the bottle, so choose wisely and think properly, paying extra $$ (a little) might save you $$ (a lot) in the future!

As a conclusion for today's class, I present you

 

Exercise Time!!

Today's lesson is about our healthy body! Like you people, without adequate exercise, we too will get obese and an unhealthy body. So another basic necessity is Hamster Wheel.

There are numerous types of wheel, from the cheapest to most expensive, of course the cheap ones are not that good, especially this type, we tend to fall or sometimes by accident trapped our limbs into the gaps of the wheel, and trust me, running at such a high speed and getting trapped is not a good thing, we get injured!

And since most of you might have already known, we wake when you sleep and sleep when you wake, think of us like an owl. So if you plan to keep us in your room, and you are a light sleeper, easily awaken by sound, then I suggest you getting a Silent Wheel, its practically silent, unless you have ears like bat and all, if not, this is the most economical, safe, good wheel for me and you! (I am using this one now, and also the built in one in Habitrail OVO pad)

Next up we have the luxury items, Wodent Wheel, my owners are very stingy, they don't want to get me this type of wheel, so I can't comment much on it. You can visit this forum to get one if you like, LYN Wodent Wheel.

Please keep in mind that our cousin, Syrian hamster needs to be housed with either an 8 inch Wodent Wheel or a 21cm Sanko Silent Wheel or anythings larger than that.

Another item which is similair to a hamster wheel is Hamster Training/Exercise Ball! Please bear in mind that this shall not replace the hamster wheel, this is just as an addition to us. If you are on a low budget, please get a Hamster Wheel first, we don't need this ball (unless we already have the wheel).

And if you really are a fashion conscious person, you can also consider the following, but I prefer the above balls, as I have more control of my direction and nothing to hold me back (and I own one).

Well, that's it for today's class. Hope you learn something useful!

Hamster Home (Basic Item)

This post we will discuss on the basic housing for hamster. We will just touch on the furniture part, but the most important thing now is to opt for the perfect house.

Humans too like to live in spacious environment, would you people like it if you are stuffed into a toilet for the rest of your life? You eat shit pee bath play sleep in that little toilet. To give you a better picture, imagine the toilet available in hotel rooms (the cheapest room), would you like your home to be the size of that? Or a home which is big. We hamsters like it big too!

This is the typical wired cages sold in pet shops, they may vary in sizes.

The up side of this cage is the price, and the ventilation is superb!

The down side is it can poison us!

My owner bought this at first, but seeing me biting it, he decided to change to a nicer house.

 A very creative house indeed

Now, if you are planning to get a Syrian, the best home will be a 2ft tank like these.

And please don't get those small cages, as our cousin (Syrian) tend to size up.

So this is the minimum requirement for Syrian Hamsters!

 

 This is what I am currently staying in,

Habitrail OVO pad + Water + Safari
 

62600 Habitrail Ovo Pad RM 83.80

62610 Habitrail Ovo Suite RM 154.80

62690 Habitrail Ovo Tower RM 35.50

62691 Habitrail Ovo Adventure Pack RM 68.20

62660 Habitrail Ovo Maze Blue RM 69.60

62665 Habitrail Ovo Maze Pink RM 69.60

62675 Habitrail Ovo Den RM 14.20

62670 Habitrail Transport Unit RM 27.00

62715 Habitrail Ovo Cube RM 9.50

62720 Habitrail Ovo Tee RM 7.10

62725 Habitrail Ovo Curve RM 7.10

62730 Habitrail Ovo Elbow RM 5.70

62710 Habitrail Ovo U-Turn RM 7.10

62705 Habitrail Ovo 10 Inch Tube RM 9.50

62701 Habitrail Ovo Window RM 9.90

62700 Habitrail Ovo Lock RM 11.40

62680 Habitrail Ovo Water Bottle RM 19.90

 

 

 Well, thats not me for sure. I'm an Agouti Winter White.

Now the above all are just some of the basic setup on how our home should look like.

Even human have rich and poor, now feast your eyes on the richer cousins.

 

I would kill for a house like that!!

Okay, this post has been gotten quite long, so bye!

And not forgetting my debut in this blog!