As a child, most of us grew up with hamsters or friends who had hamsters. Even our children are fascinated with the small fuzzy creatures. There are many types of hamsters, Dwarf, Syrian, Russian, Chinese, and hybrid. The hamster is a burrower so they prefer to have lots of bedding to hide under as well as tubes to create little nests in. The most difficult aspect of hamsters is telling if they are female or male and being wrong. 

Hamsters are relatively easy to take care of. You can feed them hamster food, vegetables, and little hamster treats to give them a good life. The bedding should be changed weekly or twice a week depending upon how many hamsters you have. The downside to hamsters is their short lives. Most live only a year or two making it difficult on the younger children.

There are lots of hamster accessories from tubes to wheels. Hamsters like other pets need to have exercise so giving them wheels to run on or having a hamster ball to run around the house in is good for them. The tubing and cages come in a variety of colours to add to a child’s fun. You can create straight pathways to other larger home areas or curve them around to re-enter the same cage. Most of the caging is plastic and your hamster will try to chew or claw there way free. You will want to monitor their activity when you clean the cage to make sure they are not producing a hole. Some hamster owners go with a metal wire cage with tiny slits to avoid the chewing escape. Your preference will determine the type of accessories you purchase.

Handling hamsters should be kept to a minimum and you should always wash your hands before and after. Hamsters can have a tendency to bite if they are not handled at least once a day or if they become scared. Be cautious with little children.

Hamsters are a lot of fun for all ages whether you have a budding scientist or just want an easy pet your child can care for. You will want to make sure you feed your hamster properly by not over feeding them while maintaining proper exercise. When your hamsters procreate, you will want to separate out the mother and children from the rest of the crew. A cautionary note before concluding this article: Dwarf hamsters are very susceptible to infections with cedar chips because it can tear holes in their tiny mouths.

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Hamsters are active animals that enjoy exercise. For a happy, healthy hamster, you’ll want to purchase a variety of hamster cage accessories, such as toys, climbing tubes, hiding tunnels, and chew toys. These items will help keep your hamster entertained and prevent the negative behaviours that can sometimes occur when they are bored.

Hamster Toys

Hamsters are nocturnal, meaning that they sleep during the day and are most active and playful at night. For this reason, you’ll want to choose toys that they can enjoy quietly while you sleep. For example, if you choose hamster cage accessories like exercise wheels, you’ll want to pick one that is as quiet as possible. Otherwise, you’ll have to listen to the wheel squeak all night while your pet gets its exercise.

Climbing Tubes

Climbing tubes are popular hamster cage accessories. Most basic cages allow for expansion with a variety of climbing tubes, limited only by the pet owner’s creativity. The tubes link together and can be used to make towers, circle around the cage, or form a maze for the hamster to climb through. These toys allow your hamster to climb and get exercise while you sleep, without disturbing your rest. If you purchase tubes, be sure that they are securely connected to one another with no gaps, so that your hamster cannot escape.

Hiding Tunnels or Caves

Hiding tunnels are also common hamster cage accessories. Hamsters need a quiet, dark place to sleep during the day, and a tunnel or other enclosed area provides them with the perfect opportunity. Hamster tubes, tunnels, caves, and even small hamster houses are available for this purpose; choose one that you find visually pleasing and that suits the size of your cage and your hamster.

Chew Toys

Hamsters often have an urge to chew, and if this is left unsatisfied, troubling behaviours or health problems can occur. You can purchase hamster cage accessories that are designed to be chewed on, such as chewing blocks or sticks, as well as hamster chew toys that have a small treat in the centre for the hamster to reach. These accessories can prevent the hamster from chewing on the bedding or the cage itself, and may prevent problems with the digestive system or the hamster’s teeth.

When you purchase your hamster and cage, it’s also wise to consider the hamster cage accessories available. You don’t have to buy everything at once; you may instead choose to set up your new pet with basic equipment and then come back from time to time to purchase a new toy or accessory. Over time, you and your hamster will develop a bond and you’ll have a good idea of your pet’s likes and dislikes, so that you can choose appropriate toys and accessories.

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Hamsters are cute and lovable pets. It’s fun watching them in the cage as they nibble on their food, chase each other around or simply sit still as if in sleep. But much like bigger pets as dogs and cats, hamsters also need to play with toys. There are available hamster toys in pet shops and you can readily buy one if you like. However you need to continually buy new toys to keep up with your pet’s stamina and level of energy, which could be costly.

To save money from frequent purchases, you can make your own hamster toys with these materials: tape, string, Lego blocks, scissors, cardboard tubes, (from toilet paper rolls), hard cardboard, coloured markers or crayons, bits of wood, pieces of wood (one inch fat and four inches long), Lego trains, cloth (or leather) and glue gun. With these materials, you will be able to make these various toys:

Rocker or swing. Cut a piece of cloth from an old shirt or leather from an old shoe or bag. With a glue gun, stick both ends of these materials on bits of wood (around three inches long and one quarter inch fat). Make two separate stands by gluing pieces of wood together (one inch fat and four inches long) such that they form a T.  Join the two stands at the bottom with a single piece of wood, still using your glue gun. Make two holes on both ends of the leather or cloth. Insert strings in the holes and tie them to the stand.

Labyrinth. Construct a maze-like structure with the Lego blocks. Just join the pieces together and align them side-by-side. Try to create zigzag or U-patterns for the hamsters to run around. Insert tiny flags in between and at the end points of the maze so you can observe if your pets can decipher the puzzle.

Train series. You can do a train series by using thick cardboard cut-outs. You can fashion the cardboard into squares. Assemble them together with a tape. Make around four or five cardboard squares with small windows on both sides of each square. Make sure both ends of the train are open so the hamsters can enter and exit through them. However the windows should be smaller than the size of your hamsters so they won’t be able to pass through, hence forcing them to use the end openings.

Clubhouse. You can make a house for your hamsters too and label it “Club House”. The nice thing about doing your own hamster toys is that it also becomes playtime for you and you get to have fun as well. Use the toilet paper tubes as pillars. You can have four pillars, just like you would do for a real house. Let the tubes stand eight inches apart and glue them on a piece of thin wooden board. Place a roof over the columns or pillars and attach walls on the sides using hard cardboard. Cut small holes on the walls for the windows. You may decorate the house by gluing small pieces of colourful cloth on the windows to serve as curtains.

In making hamster toys, make sure you use only light materials. Never use steel or aluminium because they could be hazardous for your pets. Use of nails, tacks and pins should also be avoided to ensure the safety of these tiny animals.

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Making a toilet for a rodent seems silly, but it’s actually very easy to do and hamsters generally learn to use it pretty quickly if it’s done right. This method can also be used for rats and gerbils and another small animals.

The first step of making a hamster toilet is clean out the hamster’s cage, but reserve a handful of bedding that has been used as a potty. The cage should be large enough for the hamster to be able to discern his or her potty area from the rest of the cage. In a tiny cage, the hamster will just go anywhere. Make sure to clean any urine from the sides and bottom of cage that the hamster might mistake for a toilet area.

The next step is to either purchase a hamster toilet from a pet shop or use an empty glass jar that is large enough for the little guy or gal to enter and turn around comfortably. Set the hamster toilet or sideways glass jar in a corner of the cage that you’d like the hamster to use. If when you cleaned the cage, you noticed that the hamster went mostly in one corner, that’s a good corner to use as a hamster toilet!

Then, you can either use torn up toilet paper or paper towels to make the litter. Make sure the paper is not bleached or otherwise chemically treated. You can also use litter sold at pet shops specifically for hamster toilet use. Place this litter in the toilet. This is where you grab a bit of the soiled bedding and place it in the hamster toilet to make it smell like a potty area.

Next, the last step to make a hamster toilet is to put your little hamster back in the cage! The hamster should smell the urine that you placed in the toilet and begin to use it. Hamsters do tend to go number two when they’re walking around so they may not be as likely to use the hamster toilet for that, but it’ll certainly keep the cage cleaner a bit longer. Remember to take the toilet out once a day and clean it out, but put a little bit of soiled litter back in to keep your hamster remembering that it is his potty!

Now, you’ve successfully made a hamster toilet and can depend on less litter changes as long as you keep the toilet relatively clean. If you let it get too gross, your hamster may not want to go in his potty and will just use the rest of his cage. It may also help to make him a separate little place for a pet so he isn’t tempted to cuddle in the toilet!

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The best idea for a child’s first pet is to give him or her hamster. They are adorable and fuzzy little creatures but nonetheless appealing. No matter what the size of an animal is, they all could be used as a means of teaching the value of love. The importance of finding the perfect pet is the experience that a child undergoes in taking care of it.

Differentiate Hamsters from Gerbils

Hamsters are different from gerbils in two very important ways. First, hamsters are more inclined to be solitary and that means they ideally live alone. Syrian hamsters should not be placed in just one cage together with the others. They cannot share their domain to others without constant fighting. Although, the Chinese and Russian breeds are able to live in pairs or groups, it should be done while they are still at a young age. On the other hand, gerbils must live in groups so it will be so unkind if you keep only one as a pet. If this is the case, the gerbil will be lonesome and miserable. Unlike hamsters, gerbils relish the idea of companions. When in a group, they will most probably spend a big part of their time cleaning one another and commonly sleep curled up together.

First Step

Hamsters are generally trouble free. Their need for care is very basic yet still a good way for children to learn the importance of responsibility and elicits affection from them. Mostly, caring for these little ones entail minimal chores. Naturally like any other living creature they need fresh food, water, and adequate air on a regular basis. Feed them well and provide them with potable water.

A good thing about them is that they will have no problems with pungent odours since they do not have very overwhelming smell. Compared to other animals, they do not shed as much. Despite them being rodents, these tiny ones are fairly sanitary animals. But of course their cage would still require cleaning one to two times a week to maintain their cleanliness.

In order to tame a new hamster, offering treats is an excellent approach. Initially, they tend to be timid and nervous but their curiosity would lead them to you. Reach out your hand slowly inside the cage and allow them some time to sniff you at least twice a day before you could actually start holding them in your hands. Speak to them with a gentle voice. Be calm and patient in dealing with them. Soon, they will get used to your presence and will most likely start climbing onto your hand.

Another great thing about them is that they can be acquired at a minimum cost and caring expenses are not pricey. All you need to buy is an appropriate cage together with an exercise wheel for them. This is also the only thing that would produce a bit of noise. Not to worry though, hamsters will not stay on the wheel all night long and even that is really inconsequential so they are usually quiet. Overall, whenever a child asks for a pet it is highly suggested that hamsters should be given to them. This will serve as a perfect pet for starting up. Let the child take one step at a time. Once the child’s capacity to take on the task is established and they become very dependable that will be the time when you can start pondering on other possible animals that are suitable as pets.

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