Acquire your new pet when he is about six weeks of age. It is easy to tell when a hamster is young: the hairs inside his ears are white. Hamsters usually live to be two or three years old.
When choosing a cage for your hamster, make sure it is make of a non-destructible material. Hamsters are real escape artists, and they can fit through a hole smaller than a quarter. The cage for a single hamster should be at least 2’x1’x1’. Provide lots of bedding (shavings, peanut shells or straw) and a separate nesting box for sleeping. A gallon-size jar on its side makes a very comfortable hamster bed in which your pet can make a nest. A removable metal-tray floor makes the cage very easy to clean. You should completely wash the cage once a week.
Hamsters are very sensitive to temperature extremes and to dampness, and must be kept in a warm dry place away from direct sunlight. The best temperature is between 12°C and 21°C. They will hibernate at temperatures below 9°C, and suffer from heat prostration if it gets any warmer than 27°C.
Hamsters have rather peculiar eating habits. Since they are nocturnal, it is best to feed them in the evening. A good diet begins with hamster food or rabbit pellets mixed with unsalted sunflower seeds and crushed dog biscuits, or a mixture of cereal grains and rabbit feed. Hamsters are hoarders; they like to fill their cheek pouches with food and bury it somewhere else in the cage. Make sure you do not feed them sharp-edged food! They prefer food in small pieces. Hamsters do well to have fresh fruits and vegetables as variety; this is especially important if their staple diet is rabbit feed. Every month or two, add a few drops of cod liver oil, and excellent vitamin supplement. Give them fresh twigs or a hardwood block to gnaw. Make sure they always have plenty of fresh water.
Hamsters are quite shy and must be gently trained to accept handling. They are easily startled. Remember that hamsters are quite shortsighted, so talk softly to your pet before and while you pick him up. Grasp him gently and firmly around his whole body from above with one hand, and slip your other hand under him for support. If you are nervous about being bitten, use gloves at first, but not leather gloves, which do not transmit your scent. All you will be doing is accustoming your pet to the scent of leather. Pick him up daily, give him a short cuddle and put him back in his cage. Give him a food treat, such as a piece of apple and leave him alone until the next day. With patience, and frequent, gentle handling, you will soon have a very friendly hamster. A word of warning: if your hamster closes his eyes and scrunches up his face, he is getting ready to bite. Say “No!” in a loud, deep voice, and he will stop.
Hamsters like toys, and they can keep themselves amused for hours. Anything they can climb on, such as a branch, a sloping board or a ladder, is fun for them. An exercise wheel is important.
At the first sign of sniffles, take your hamster to the veterinarian. Hamsters develop pneumonia easily, but this should not happen if you have been careful to keep your pet’s cage in a warm, dry place.
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