Daydreaming while waiting impatiently!

[Lazy Gardener]

If you can visit at a pet shop, and handle the rodents there without reactions, you should be good to go. I agree, the bedding would be the greater issue, at least for me. Animals are not an issue for me. but... the odor from wood resin is an issue.

 

[tortoise]

I'm planning to use coconut bedding or paper bedding. I'm not sure yet. The coconut bedding doesn't hold moisture unless it's moist. The species of hamster I picked is not a desert species, but hamster people (mostly teens with questionable information) are saying that a wet hamster is a dead hamster. uhm... I'm NOT CONVINCED. Especially when one says that her hamster "almost died" by almost spraining a toe. seriously. The only think about this hamster thing getting on my nerves is the misinformation and lack of good information.

Don't tell me that a hamster will die at 60 degrees F, but that it's okay in the wild because they burrow 3 feet deep. okaaaaaaay, so that's 45 - 50 degrees. Bluff called. Jeez. The breed I picked is from Siberia. If we get a cold snap or power goes out in winter the last thing I need to worry about is a hamster. If it can survive in torpor for 48 hours, it's fine.

 

[Britesea]

One thing about guineas that win over hamsters and gerbils in my book: They are diurnal. The others tend to sleep through most of the day and are more active at night. Matter of fact I had gerbils and I got rid of them because they disturbed my sleep.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I wouldn't be so quick to discount the statements about hampsters not being able to survive a chill. I had a hampster who got hypothermic when I took her out of her cage to clean it. If I had recognized the signs of hypothermia, I'd have been able to save her by tucking her into my pocket. But, sadly, I put the shivering creature back into her cage with cold litter. It was her undoing.

 

[Britesea]

found this:

To potty train a hamster, start by buying a small, plastic litter box that can easily fit into your pet's cage and fill it with commercial litter or sand. Next, put a small amount of soiled bedding and droppings from the cage inside the litter box to signal to your hamster that it should go to the bathroom there.

 

[flowerbug]

i only got bit once by a hamster and that was because i put some frosting on my finger for it to lick off, sure it licked it off then it decided to chomp on it because it was so tasty.

i never had a problem with them getting too hot. they were kept in a wire cage with various kinds of shaved wood bedding. cedar smelled the best. i'm sure we had some days up into the 90s and we didn't have whole house AC back then at that place.

 

[Britesea]

My MIL used to raise and breed guinea pigs (in fact, she developed or helped to develop 3 or 4 new breeds, including Teddys and Satin Teddys) She had hundred of animals, in what used to be a large chicken coop. During the hot summer, she kept everything cool enough by just putting a hose on the roof and letting water trickle over the roof: it would evaporate and apparently the resultant coolness, along with a an old evaporative cooler inside did the trick.

 

[tortoise]

DS4 got his hamster today. settled on a baby Chinese dwarf. Cute little thing! He had a rough ride home. I had to pick up DS12 from biodad and go shopping at two stores - so I stuffed his cardboard carry box in my backpack and brought him in. He is in his cage to settle in. DH and I have been distracting DS4 so he leaves poor hamster alone, and just letting him look in the cage once per hour.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh my goodness! I had to google 'em - but they are so cute! May he have a long, happy hamster life with DS!

 

[flowerbug]

DS4 got his hamster today. settled on a baby Chinese dwarf. Cute little thing! He had a rough ride home. I had to pick up DS12 from biodad and go shopping at two stores - so I stuffed his cardboard carry box in my backpack and brought him in. He is in his cage to settle in. DH and I have been distracting DS4 so he leaves poor hamster alone, and just letting him look in the cage once per hour.

i hope they have a very happy life together. has he been handling it so it knows him? you don't want it to get too isolated and territorial right from the start (IMO ). i would hope he's able to read up on it or look at youtube vids if he's not comfortable to start with.