Diabetes is a chronic condition in which an animal either does not produce insulin or the insulin produced is not effective. This disease has been documented in dwarf hamsters – especially Campbell’s Russian hamsters, but in other types as well. It is a condition rarely seen in Syrian hamsters. It is possible for hamsters to develop diabetes as they age due to hormonal changes. Diabetes in hamsters can cause serious complications, just as the condition can in humans. Special care and attention must be given to hamsters that have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Diagnosis can be difficult, since there are other conditions that can mimic this disease, such as kidney and bladder infections. Symptoms include excessive thirst and copious urination. Excessive defecation can sometimes be a symptom, as well. If you suspect diabetes, consult your vet for a diagnosis.

At this time, treatment options are limited to changes in diet and encouraging more exercise. There is no cure for the condition. Do not feed your diabetic pet fresh fruit or vegetables. Avoid feeding commercial treats, as these often contain honey or other sweeteners. Remove peas and corn from their feed.

Age is a consideration with diabetes. If you have an older hamster that is displaying symptoms, diabetes might be a likely cause. (In younger hamsters, a kidney or bladder infection might be more likely.)

Species is a factor. Diabetes is rarely seen in Syrian hamsters and is usually found in dwarf hamsters. If you have a Syrian hamster, a kidney or bladder infection is more likely.

Weight is something else to consider. Obesity in hamsters (just like in humans) can contribute to diabetes. Avoid feeding your hamster “people junk food” such as potato crisps, French fries, cookies, cakes and candy. Although hamsters love these foods and it is fun to watch them eat these things, eating these types of foods can cause hamsters to have significant weight gain and does not give the nutrition that hamsters need. Weight gain and obesity can also make hamsters unwilling or unable to get the proper exercise, which also leads to diabetes. It is also wise to avoid feeding even healthy hamsters too much fresh produce and commercial treats. Treats are best reserved for special occasions, not for everyday feeding.

Complications include heart failure, blindness, cataracts, and kidney failure. Blindness and cataracts are not life-threatening for your pet. Hamsters are very near-sighted any way, so being completely blind is not too serious for them (however, some hamsters are more timid if totally blind) and they can still live productive lives. Heart failure and kidney failure are fatal, however, so great care needs to be given to avoid these complications.

If the complications of this disease become too debilitating or painful for your pet, you may want to discuss the option of euthanasia with your vet. At times, loving your pet can mean ending unnecessary pain and suffering. Your vet can give you your options. If you do choose euthanasia for your pet, be sure to only have a vet perform the procedure.

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With regular handling, hamsters are very friendly and inquisitive, each with its own unique personality. They are rarely ill except when very old and ready to leave us but there are a couple of diseases you should be especially aware of:

Wet Tail

This is a very dangerous illness – it is severe diarrhoea accompanied by a wet rear end and ulceration of the bowels. It is imperative you seek the advice of a vet if you suspect wet tail as it is fatal if not treated. Even with treatment, many hamsters do not survive and it can be better to have it put to sleep rather than see it suffer.

Colds

Hamsters can catch human colds so try and avoid close contact if you have one.

Blocked Scent Glands 

Hamsters have a scent gland on either hip, often mistaken for a scab by first time owners. These scent glands are used to mark territory and attract mates and can get more prominent when hamsters are on heat. In general, it is best to treat these like you would a mole on your own skin; check them every time you play with your hamster and if they become blocked, swollen, weepy or change drastically in appearance see a vet.

Tyzzer’s Disease 

This is a disease carried by wild mice. The hamster rapidly deteriorates and dies. Do not store your hamster products (or hamster!) in places like sheds or garages. Mice can contaminate food, cages, shavings and bedding, even before you buy these products so make sure you buy from a reputable and clean pet shop.

Abscesses 

These are soft pus filled swellings, often caused by bites, scrapes or foreign bodies getting under the skin. If your hamster has an abscess, clip the fur around the wound and bathe the animal daily in a lukewarm salt solution (one teaspoon of salt to one pint of water) making sure you keep the head out the water. Keep the fur short until the pus has drained away and the skin flattens again. If you are not confident about doing this or if there are no signs of improvement after two or three days see your vet as antibiotics may be required to treat a bacterial infection or it may be something more serious such as cancer.

Overgrown Teeth

Hamster’s teeth, like other rodents, grow constantly and need to be worn down by gnawing. Make sure you provide your hamster with something to gnaw, hard dog biscuits are ideal. If your hamster stops eating or is not eating as much check its teeth to make sure they are not overgrown or misaligned. The picture shows overgrown teeth – this much overgrowth needs to be treated by a vet under anesthetic, otherwise, teeth clipping is simple to do at home and your vet can show you how to do this.

Hair Loss

Hair loss can have many causes including skin infections, mites and stress. If your hamster is losing hair see your vet for diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

If you suspect your pet is sick, call your vet!

Although we’ve mentioned a few possible treatments, it’s always best to seek professional help. We always recommend seeing your vet for any health-related issues your furry friend might have.

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• Domestic hamsters need compound pelleted foods, or a mix of different seeds and nuts. In the wild, they would eat a range of food, including crickets!

• Food must be changed regularly, as if it becomes stale or mouldy, hamsters can become very ill.

• They must always have fresh, clean water, which they can reach from a bottle attached to their cage.

• In the wild, they live in dry, rocky plains and nest underground in burrows.

• This digging instinct is present in domestic hamsters, so cages need to be large, with a plastic base which can be filled with suitable litter materials, so that they can dig.

• Dust-free wood shavings are a good choice, providing they are free from preservatives and chemicals, to avoid illness.

• Hamsters typically live for about 2 years. They are quite a commitment, and owners must care for them properly, according to the Animal Welfare Act.

• Hamsters hoard food as a survival technique. They can store food in their cheek pouches, equivalent to half their body weight!

• Hamsters are nocturnal, so they need to be able to exercise at night and sleep, without disturbances, during the day. They have large eyes to function properly in dimly lit areas.

• Their incisor teeth never stop growing! They self-sharpen when a hamster is gnawing food or objects, which grinds the teeth down.

• Their whiskers are vital in their exploration of the world, as they detect objects around them. Their whiskers vibrate backwards and forwards at a rate of 30 whisks per second!

• Hamsters like to explore, so they need cardboard tubes, wooden chew blocks, small boxes and a hamster wheel, to keep them busy and healthy.

• They have very well-developed senses to warn them of predators, and are nervous and easily stressed.

• Hamsters are small, vulnerable creatures and need to be kept safe. Here are some factors which need to be considered.

• Grapes and rhubarb are poisonous to hamsters.
• They can catch a human cold, and infect people with the cold virus.
• They need to be housed away from objects which transmit ultrasound, for example, TV’s and vacuums.
• If you let them out of their cage, make sure no other pets are around, and that the hamster is supervised continually, until it is returned to the cage. They can chew wires and other materials which can make them very ill and affect their breathing.

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Hamster Information Sheet

Hamsters For Kids

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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 Winter White dwarf hamster is more rare then the Campbell’s dwarf hamster among pet shops. They are usually sold in pairs of the same sex and are friendly. What is so amazing about these little creatures is their ability to change colour in the winter. In their native homelands, Winter Whites change from their normal dark grey colouring to white in order to camouflage themselves and escape from predators in the snow. It is a trait that has followed them even into captivity. The process of their colour change has to do with the amount of natural sunlight they receive on a daily basis. The shorter hours of day light prompts them to change to white. Winter Whites that are exposed to mainly artificial light will most likely not change their colour.

Campbell’s Russian dwarf hamsters are also known as Djungaria hamsters because they come from a region in Mongolia called Djungaria. It is this type of dwarf hamsters that are commonly found in local pet shops. Along with the growth of their popularity came the growth of creative breeding and the increase of their colour combinations and markings. In addition to their natural or normal wild colour, those wanting to own these hamsters can find them in with spots, mottled, or even colours like cinnamon, black or even shades or blue or lilac.

Roboroski dwarf hamsters were found in their natural habitats of the desert dunes of Western and Eastern regions of Mongolia and some parts of Northern China. Although they are smaller than their White Winter and Campbell’s dwarf hamster cousins, they have slightly longer legs. They naturally have a coat that is sandy brown in colour with a slate grey undercoat. Because of their high actively level they can be sometimes hard to keep as pets and they are too small for most wire cages. Most of these small creatures can squeeze themselves through the bars. But the Roboroski hamster is an extremely clean animal. It spends most of its time grooming itself and they love a good dust bath.

Even though there are different kinds of Russian Dwarf Hamsters, they all require about the same amount of care. Since most dwarf hamsters can be very fast to escape a good idea is to give them time and exercise outside of the cage to use a hamster ball. These balls are specifically made so that the hamster is able to run around the floor without getting lost. Just make sure that the hamster is not near stairs they might be able to fall down when using the ball.

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The most important supply when it comes to caring for a dwarf hamster is the cage. Dwarf hamsters do well in a few different cages including wire, aquarium tank, or plastic. The important thing is to ensure that they will have enough room to run around in it. This is especially important if two hamsters are purchased together and are going to be housed in the same enclosure or if you purchase a baby that will grow to be slightly larger. The most important aspect to the hamster cage is the substrate. You should place about one to two inches of substrate upon the entire floor of the cage. By building up the substrate to five or six inches on one or both sides of the cage allows the dwarf hamster an interesting area to climb and dig. Something else that most people do not know about dwarf hamsters is they can be trained to use a litter box. Look out for droppings that are all found in one area of the cage. A “hamster potty” can be found at some pet shops. Place the potty in the same place that you noticed the droppings. You will need to fill the potty with hay or pelleted newspaper cat litter but you should never use clay or clumping cat litter. They can cause digestive or respiratory problems for your dwarf hamster.

Another important dwarf hamster supply is chew toys. Most people associate chew toys with a pet dog rather then a pet hamster but, chew toys are an important part of the hamster world. Hamsters’ teeth never stop growing. If they don’t constantly file them down, they would grow so large that the hamster would no longer be able to close its mouth and could starve to death. Chew toys for hamsters come in a variety of sizes, colours, and shapes. They are almost all made of soft wood. These toys need to be checked on a daily basis to ensure that they stay safe and unsoiled for the hamster’s use.

In order to ensure that your hamster stays healthy and hydrated you will need to supply your dwarf hamster with a fresh water supply. A water bottle that hangs on the side of the cage is perfect for these small rodents. Most learn early on how to use these bottles and they keep the cages tidy lowering the risk of substrate ending up in a water bowl or a bowl getting knocked over and spilled. Keep an eye on the water bottle on a daily basis. Make sure that the hamster is receiving fresh water and that the bottle is free of leaks or cracks.

Another important dwarf hamster supply is a house that the hamster can make a nest in. They are normally shy creatures and appreciate a place to hide. With no concerns with humidity or temperature, the supplies needed to keep your dwarf hamster are limited and easy enough to supply.

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