We have two hamsters over for the Hannukah holiday week. They usually live in my son's kindergarten, but we volunteered to take them over for a week.
I really didn't know anything about hamsters. Only knew I like all furry critters, so why not?
They arrived in a fairly dirty cage, with rodent poop mixed all over the sawdust, and a plastic cup with some disgusting looking pellets for their food. They had no names, and the staff doesn't even know what sex they are. Turns out they were given to the kindergarten but the kids aren't too enthusiastic and neither is anyone else. Basically, the staff just throws in their food, adding the occasional piece of vegetable, and makes sure they have drinking water.
Well, that didn't sound right to me. Plus, no animal can possibly like to live in such a dirty cage... I wanted to take them out and noticed right away that one of them was totally terrified. It would squeal and curl away as I tried to touch it. It didn't take long to see why either
as soon as I put it back into the cage, the other one began chasing it around, literally driving it up on the walls of the cage. You know, it just didn't look like playing...
I checked on the internet and sure enough, hamsters are solitary animals and don't tolerate another hamster in their cage... So, off I went to get them another cage, clean bedding and better food.
A couple of hours and $40 later, they were separated into clean cages, with cool little plastic "homes" and better food. I figured I better introduce the new food gradually, but they just wouldn't touch the old stuff now that they had natural yummy hamster food.
We've been taking them out everyday too, into a makeshift playground I made them, where I hide the yummy food and let them "forage" for it. Once they fill up their cheek pouches, I get them back into their cage, where they apparently stock it up into their little homes.
They're both so much relaxed now. The bullied one is actually fatter already, and lets us handle him or her without a problem (can't tell which, but I now think they're both females).
Made me think just how important knowledge and education are when it comes to pet care. It really isn't that difficult to make a pet's life good, if you know how. On the other hand, you may like animals, but you can easily turn their world into a terrible place just by doing something as simple as putting two loners into the same cage.
Anyway, makes me feel all good and warm inside seeing them so happy now. Here are a couple of pictures (hotlinked from my blog post about them here):
I really didn't know anything about hamsters. Only knew I like all furry critters, so why not?
They arrived in a fairly dirty cage, with rodent poop mixed all over the sawdust, and a plastic cup with some disgusting looking pellets for their food. They had no names, and the staff doesn't even know what sex they are. Turns out they were given to the kindergarten but the kids aren't too enthusiastic and neither is anyone else. Basically, the staff just throws in their food, adding the occasional piece of vegetable, and makes sure they have drinking water.
Well, that didn't sound right to me. Plus, no animal can possibly like to live in such a dirty cage... I wanted to take them out and noticed right away that one of them was totally terrified. It would squeal and curl away as I tried to touch it. It didn't take long to see why either
I checked on the internet and sure enough, hamsters are solitary animals and don't tolerate another hamster in their cage... So, off I went to get them another cage, clean bedding and better food.
A couple of hours and $40 later, they were separated into clean cages, with cool little plastic "homes" and better food. I figured I better introduce the new food gradually, but they just wouldn't touch the old stuff now that they had natural yummy hamster food.
We've been taking them out everyday too, into a makeshift playground I made them, where I hide the yummy food and let them "forage" for it. Once they fill up their cheek pouches, I get them back into their cage, where they apparently stock it up into their little homes.
They're both so much relaxed now. The bullied one is actually fatter already, and lets us handle him or her without a problem (can't tell which, but I now think they're both females).
Made me think just how important knowledge and education are when it comes to pet care. It really isn't that difficult to make a pet's life good, if you know how. On the other hand, you may like animals, but you can easily turn their world into a terrible place just by doing something as simple as putting two loners into the same cage.
Anyway, makes me feel all good and warm inside seeing them so happy now. Here are a couple of pictures (hotlinked from my blog post about them here):