Feeding Your Hamster

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A hamsters diet mainly consists of a dried mix that can be bought in pet stores. This will contain all the vitamins and minerals a hamster needs. Make sure the mix you buy doesn't contain too many seeds or nuts because too many of these can make your hamster fat. One thing to note when feeding dwarf hamsters is not to feed too many sugary foods as this could lead to diabetes. You should provide two teaspoons of the dry mix each day. Any food that your hamster doesn't eat should be thrown away.

Along with the normal hamster mix you can also feed your hamster fresh fruit and vegetables once or twice a week. Be careful you don't feed too many of these as it may cause the hamster to get diarrhoea.

The following is a list of some foods you can feed your hamster

• Banana
• Sweetcorn
• Cucumber
• Apple
• Cheese
• Turnip
• Raisins
• Peas
• Carrot
• Celery
• Bread
• Grapes
• Melon
• Chicken

Never feed your hamster these foods :

• Chocolate
• Raw Kidney Beans
• Garlic
• Onions
• Raw Potato
• Sweets

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Article By : hamster-heaven.com

Sexing Hamsters

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Sexing a hamster can be quite easy to do once you know what to look for. Male hamsters have more rounded bottom. On a male you can see two holes which are the penis and the anus, these are far apart. Females also have very similar holes, which are very close together sometimes even looking as one on a dwarf hamster. On a female these are the vagina and anus.

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Housing

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Housing
Hamsters can be kept both in cages and in terraria, both of which are available in pet stores. Cages are easier to carry; their bars can be used for climbing. On the other hand, glass boxes keep hamsters from throwing litter out of their cages, provide a better view into the hamster's home, and create a quieter and more sheltered interior.

Despite the hamster’s small size, appropriate housing should always have a floor space of at least two square feet and a strong top because hamsters are surprisingly good climbers. Glass boxes must not be higher than their width to allow for a sufficient air circulation. Although smaller in size, dwarf hamsters often need more spacious housing than their larger relatives, at least 80cm by 40cm (2 feet by 4 feet) due to their high activity levels.

In the case of self-built dwellings, care should be taken to avoid materials that are dangerous to the animals. Plywood and wood from conifers is not suitable, because hamsters gnaw at their houses and both glue and resin are poisonous to them. Using standard water-soluble white wood glue to join pieces of solid wood, such as birch or beech wood, creates a safe environment for the hamster, although it may still chew through the wood. A purchased cage can be equipped with several intermediate levels, connected using stairs.

Hamsters do best in a well-lit room of constant, moderate temperature (18 to 26°C, 64 to 80°F), in a place out of strong sunlight that could cause dangerous overheating. Dwarf hamsters like it a bit cooler.

The floor of a hamster's residence is generally covered with a layer of litter. Litter made from recycled paper or wood lacking aromatic oils (such as aspen) is healthiest - gnawing and eating cat litter can be deadly, and cedar, pine, or other softwood-based litters may contain phenols that can irritate a hamster's respiratory system, liver, and skin. There is also commercial bedding available, such as Carefresh and Megazorb.

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Reproduction

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Hamsters become fertile at different ages dependent on their species, but this can be from one month to three months of age. Male hamsters remain fertile for the rest of their lives, though females do not. Females are in heat approximately every four days.

Breeding season is from April to October, with two to five litters of 1 to 13 young being born after a gestation period of 16 to 22 days.[1] Gestation lasts 16 to 18 days for Syrian hamsters, 18 to 21 days for the Russian hamsters, 21 to 23 days for Chinese hamsters and 23 to 30 for Roborovski Hamsters. The average litter for Syrians is about 7, but can be as great as 24, which is the maximum number of pups that can be contained in the uterus. Campbell's Dwarf Hamsters tend to have 4 to 8 in a litter but can have up to 14. Winter White Russian Dwarf Hamsters tend to have slightly smaller litters, as do Chinese and Roborovski hamsters.

Hamsters are born hairless and blind in a nest which the mother will have prepared in advance. She uses shredded material such as leaves in the wild but prefers cotton or toilet paper in captivity. After one week they begin to explore outside the nest. They are completely weaned after three weeks, or four for Roborovski Hamsters. Most breeders will sell the hamsters to shops when the hamsters are anywhere from two to eight months old.

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Characteristics

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Hamsters are stout-bodied, with tails much shorter than body length and have small, furry ears, short, stocky legs, and wide feet. Their thick, long fur can be black, gray, white, brown, buff, yellow, and red depending upon the species; underparts are white to shades of gray and black. The Dzhungarian hamster (Phodopus sungorus) and the striped dwarf hamster (Cricetulus barabensis) have a dark stripe down the middle of the back. Dwarf desert hamsters (genus Phodopus) are smallest, with bodies 5 to 10 cm (about 2 to 4 inches) long; the largest is the common hamster (Cricetus cricetus), measuring up to 34 cm long, not including a short tail of up to 6 cm. As hamsters have live birth (i.e. do not lay eggs) and give milk, they are considered mammals.

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History of the Hamster

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It all began in 1930 with one mother and twelve young hamsters that a zoologist found in the Syrian Desert (situated in the Middle East to the north of Israel). Deep in a burrow eight feet underground he came upon a hamster mother and her litter. By the time he got his tiny family back to his laboratory in Jerusalem. All but three of them had died or escaped. These three, however, continued in excellent health and within four months the first litter of Golden Hamsters ever to be born in captivity was delivered.

As they matured, these babies were interbred, and as the tame hamsters multiplied they were used in research experiments. Soon they began to attract widespread attention in the scientific world. Because hamsters were so disease-free and bred so rapidly (they can have a new litter every month!) and because they were so friendly and easy to handle, they came to be highly regarded as laboratory animals and their fame spread throughout the world accordingly. They're often used for cardio-vascular research, as their cardio-vascular system is remarkably similar to that of the human.

From Jerusalem, scientists took them to laboratories in France, England and, in 1938, to the United States. All present-day Golden Hamsters in captivity with the exception of a few brought back by travelers and military men are the descendants of that first tiny family found in Syria.

In Syria and other Middle Eastern countries where hamsters are common, the farmers do not only harvest their own fields, they dig into the hamsters' granaries as well. In each burrow they find a storage bin which may hold anywhere between 30 and 60 pounds of grain which the hamsters have stored away for the winter.

Hamsters got their name from an old German word associated with storing food. (The word "hamper" comes from the same root.) One of the characteristics of the hamster, like many rodents, is to stuff their cheeks full of food, which is a hamster-like activity.

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