Fun and playful room hamsters care and maintenance at home require a minimum, even a junior high school student is able to look after this tiny pet. At this time, domestic rodents have received a huge spread and are estimated by many as a good alternative to restless cats or dogs.
Contents of hamsters at home
Hamsters are freely sold in pet stores, markets, forums. There are no problems with cottages for amusing creatures, there are a lot of options how to independently equip a cage for a new pet. He will live in normal conditions next to the owners for several years, turning into a small member of the family. Before studying the question of how to contain a hamster at home, it is desirable to weigh all the advantages and disadvantages of the appearance in the apartment of this original pet.
Pros of breeding hamsters in the apartment:
- These are extremely quiet animals, absolutely not interfering with their screaming or screaming at home and neighbors.
- A hamster is a creature that is non-aggressive and non-touching.
- If desired, rodents of any kind can easily breed at home.
- Cage or other accommodation for the animal does not take up much space.
- Hamsters in care and maintenance at home are simple, novice lovers do not have to study special complicated literature before buying pets.
- Children who look after fluffy creatures develop faster and become independent.
The main difficulties in the question of how to keep hamsters at home:
- To maintain cleanliness and eliminate sources of unpleasant odors, you need a constant cleaning of the cells.
- Inhabitants on freedom rodents often spoil the legs of furniture, wires, shoes, other objects. Hamsters require care and maintenance at home in cages or terrariums.
- Even timid pets can, with the wrong attitude, bite.
- Hamsters are able to hibernate in the winter months.
Keep the hamster at home cage
Glass jars or aquariums are suitable for animals in the form of temporary shelter. If you decide to keep a hamster at home, it is best to buy a convenient and inexpensive cage for it. Experienced lovers recommend buying metal structures with horizontal rods and minimum dimensions of 50x30 cm. You can not buy cells with large grid cells, tiny animals easily escape into the gap between the wire. "Hamsters - care and maintenance at home" - a serious topic that requires a systematic approach.
How to equip a cage for hamsters:
- Rodents need at the same time two feeders for dry and moist foods.
- Be sure to set your little pets a comfortable drinking bowl.
- Hamsters require a mineral stone to regularly sharpen sharp teeth.
- Their animals are used with pleasure on a solid and beautiful wheel for running.
- Entertaining simulators make strong and safe, with a solid surface, in order to avoid unwanted injuries to pets.
- Sawdust, granulated or pressed filler, helps to get rid of odors.
House for a hamster at home
Care and reproduction of hamsters at home is best done in cages equipped with cozy houses. This device serves as a decoration and a convenient shelter for timid pets. Do it yourself or buy ready-made in retail chains, you can order a miniature apartment for those who are engaged in the manufacture of artificial dwellings for rodents of different materials.
Types of houses for hamsters:
- Obsolete large ceramic dishes or new items made of ceramics are good as an original house, this material is well washed and hard to spoil it with teeth.
- Houses made of the LEGO designer can be made simple even for a kid, bright buildings can be easily changed at will, making a fairy-tale castle unique.
- Miniature cottages or teremki many masters erect from scraps of wood.
- Corner or square buildings can be made from plywood, for this purpose you need a little sheet material and the simplest tools.
- These ready-made universal amusement parks for hamsters in a wide range are presented in pet stores.
- To produce a house, any strong and easy-to-handle material, such as coconut, is suitable.
- Cheerful and cheerful animals are hamsters, care and maintenance rarely at home do without active games and amusements. Even from simple cardboard or paper boxes your children can build not just a house, but a large walking labyrinth.
Care for a hamster at home
The basic rules for caring for a hamster are simple and accessible for understanding. There are a few nuances that you need to study a man who dreams of acquiring this pet miniature in the house. They are related to the feeding of the animal, the bathing of animals, their life rhythm, depending on the time of the year. Fans who want to breed hamsters for sale are required to familiarize themselves with the most important information about the life of newborn babies of this species.
It is desirable to know exactly whether there is an allergy in children and other family members to the hair of rodents. Reconsider the layout of the living space for the question of whether there is a free and accessible place for the cell in the apartment. Talk with the children if your heirs are burning with the desire to look after the tiny tenant or are negative about this perspective.
How to feed hamsters at home?
Rodents in nature have learned to survive, eating, as a grain food, and products of animal origin. They subconsciously bypass harmful plants or poisonous insects side, avoiding poisoning. In the apartments, the owners of pets have the temptation to give their crumbs slices of food from the table with the goal of pleasing the pet, which sometimes brings them irreparable harm. In the question of how you can feed hamsters at home, be cautious, it is advisable to know exactly the products forbidden for these animals.
Allowed for hamsters vegetable food:
- ready dry rations for hamsters,
- Sprouted grains of oats, wheat, other cereals,
- different kinds of nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts),
- sunflower seeds and pumpkins,
- cherries, gooseberries, blueberries, other berries,
- processed in boiling water without salt pieces of vegetables,
- raw vegetables and fruits,
- peas in pods or grains,
- in a small amount of dogrose and celery,
- fruits of Jerusalem artichoke,
- dried fruits,
- branches of hardwood trees,
- greenery.
Authorized products of animal origin:
- sour-milk products (cheese, cottage cheese, unsweetened yogurt) with a fat content of up to 1%,
- boiled chicken without spices,
- boiled eggs,
- boiled fish of low-fat species,
- in rare cases, pieces of peeled shrimp,
- bought in the pet stores worms, insects.
Homemade hamsters care and maintenance at home are easily tolerated, but for them there is an extensive list of prohibited dishes:
- potatoes,
- fatty sorts of cheese,
- ready-made food for birds,
- fresh bread,
- acorns,
- red bean species,
- Brazil nuts,
- any spices,
- fresh milk,
- garlic with onions,
- cabbage causes gas mists in hamsters,
- muesli,
- fried food,
- tropical fruits,
- honey,
- mushrooms,
- sweet pastry,
- The wild-caught insects and bloodworms,
- bulbs of tulip,
- chocolates,
- ice cream.
Hibernation in the home
Hibernation of these pets resembles an outwardly stupefying, which novice lovers often confuse with illness. The life of hamsters at home with the onset of winter turns into an economical regime, pets stop responding to irritants. The transition to hibernation contributes to some factors - a decrease in room temperature, a meager diet, poor lighting. After being placed in a warm place with time, rodents awaken independently, but it is not recommended to awaken them forcibly.
How to bathe hamsters at home?
To arrange a shower or a bath for pets is recommended in rare cases, they have this procedure causes stress. It is advisable to treat animals with water after the appearance of parasites or in the case of heavy wool contamination. In the question of how to wash a hamster at home, you need to use shampoos for rodents and moderately warm water, avoiding overheating of the body. Thoroughly remove the foam, dry the skin with a hairdryer or towels, hypothermia after the bath causes a cold.
Care for newborn hamsters
The content of hamsters at home changes slightly during this period, the cage is not cleaned for two weeks after delivery, the temperature is maintained at 21 ° C. To touch the offspring and disturb the nest after childbirth is impossible. The mother gives the protein balanced food, rich in fats, and the kids start drinking water from 10-20 days of age. When self-nursing crumbs are fed from a pipette with a substitute for hamster milk or a powdered infant formula, in the second week, babies begin to look for food without assistance.
Hamsters for home keeping
There are several common species of these animals, slightly different in size and color of the fur. The smallest is the Roborovsky hamster with body size up to 6 cm, and an ordinary hamster will grow up to 30 cm long. Among fans, only 3-4 species are popular, but there are in nature only up to 60 of them. Proper care for a hamster is needed regardless of its origin.
Dzhungariki hamsters care and maintenance
Dzungariks with a black stripe on the ridge are popular and studied best, their back is brownish-gray and ohristo-gray color. This species originates from the countries of Asia and Western Siberia, with good care the animals grow 10 cm in size. Care of the jungar hamsters at home is simple, they are kept in cages on sawdust, with daily cleaning of the odor nest can not be heard. It is recommended that pets settle in pairs, and be allowed to breed from 3 months of age.
Syrian hamster content
At first, Syrian (golden) hamsters were propagated for laboratories. Soon, meek and tawny animals of a size up to 18 cm liked amateurs, they began to breed intensively for home maintenance and care. They adore the temperature around 22 ° C, they can become numb during a cold snap. In the question of how many Syrian hamsters live in the home, these rodents do not differ from their brethren, delighting us with their company for an average of 2-3 years.
Angora hamster care and maintenance
In the natural environment of a separate breed Angora hamsters are not present, they are a kind of a variety of common Syrian hamsters, differing from their relatives by an incredibly beautiful fluffy fur coat of different colors. It is not uncommon, when litters with smooth and magnificent hair appear in the litters of angora. The color of the backrest is varied: white, gray, tortoiseshell, spotted, silvery. For this hamster at home, care is required without complicated nuances.
Siberian hamster care and maintenance
Externally Siberian hamsters look like dzhungarov, but they have a color of the backrest a little lighter. In winter, their hair is noticeably whitened, so they are often called Russian white dwarf hamsters. They live in the steppes of Tuva on a plain and hilly terrain. Siberian hamsters in care are not exacting, habits are not significantly different from other species. These pets adore amusing to wash and brush their hair, burrow into the litter with the onset of cold weather.