How do you train your hamster?

Assalammu'alaikum family, friends and readers!

Alhamdulillah, I am back again to answer your questions.

I received quite a number of people asking me "How do you train your hamster?"

This especially when they see us leaving her cage open, and watching her greet us at her door. Sometimes she will just return back to her hideout, sometimes she will come out to play. Everyone came to an awe when she rushed back to her cage (usually to urine) or just take a stroll back to her cage herself without us guiding her or asking her to.

We never really foresee ourselves to owning this unique hamster who is so unlike others, of whom the owners will say they would run out the moment the cage is open. Well, we came up with a few theories.

Know your hamster breed, is it naturally an active and fast breed? 

Normal Robo. Pictures are not my own, and were found via Google search.

White faced Robo. Pictures are not my own, and were found via Google search.

Roborovski, usually known as just Robo, is the smallest of all drawves and is naturally a really fast and active hamster. They will usually appreciate a really big based cage, minimum 70cm x 40cm or ideally a 100cm x 50cm tank. Robos like to burrow, so ideally, use a paper based  that is soft, and be generous on the bedding, let it be thick. DO NOT use wood shavings! As with all hamsters, they are not natural climbers, so please avoid getting a multi-leveled cage. Although Robos are small, they still need a relatively big wheel say 17cm diameter wheel, and with wheels, makes sure there are no holes, their small feet can get stucked and you may risk him getting terribly injured. They are also the hardest to tame, not many owners really manage to hold Robos in their hand for too long.

This is 2-Tee my hamster, asking me for more food. 

My 2-Tee checking her email. Dang!

Winter Whites. That's 2-Tee's breed! Even so, there are soooo many winter whites! You can read further in many other website that can describe and differentiate them well. One great read is here and  here.

They are fairly easy to be tamed but known to be more timid that the rest. Give them time, and allow them to smell your clean fingers, if they bite, don't retreat or beat it, otherwise you may risk being seen as a threat forever. :p
We gave our 2-Tee about a week to settle down in her cage, just talking and letting her smell us, no carrying unnecessarily or anything. As with Robos, I believe hamster always need a big base cage. Our current cage is about 50cm x 30cm. I am always generous with her bedding - and with that she always ends up doing a defense line in front of her hideout! Diet is important for winter whites, they are diabetes prone, so watch out on the sugar content! We feed her dark leaf greens and tofu on alternate days, we initially feed her once a week, and slowly increased the frequency. Like adults they don't suddenly change their diet suddenly, so introduce new food slowly. As for dry food, we started with Harry Hamster, but she wasn't eating much, so we switched to Vitacraft slowly (mixing 80-20 with the Harry Hamster), and slowly increase to 50-50, and now fully on Vitacraft, as she clearly prefers Vitacraft. We mix some Emotions and Beauty for her. As for bedding, we use Kaytee Clean & Cozy.

Syrians is known to be the easiest to tame and the most friendliest, it is also the biggest hamster. :)
It being big, makes it easier to handle as well. And because it is bigger, naturally it will need a much bigger cage/tank! Get a 21cm diameter wheel please - because even 2-Tee gets a 21cm dia wheel! With Syrians, their treats is of a bigger range, you can give them celery, broccoli (2-Tee loves Broccoli too!), and even dog  biscuit! But treats, so that means once a week at most.

Space

Does your hamster have enough space, as per above read, I kept emphasizing a good large base space! The larger the better. Although hamsters are small compared to other house pets like cats and dogs, they need that much space to exercise and move about. When hamsters are constrained to a small cage, the tendency of it trying to escape at any chance is higher. It is really like putting you in a small room with a toilet, treadmill and a bowl of food, won't you just feel like running out when the door is open?

Are you having too many in a cage? I prefer to keep just one - and trust me, they are not lonely as long as you bond and play with it once in awhile. Those big bases I was talking about is for one hamster, double it up with you have two, and IF you have two, please have two of everything. Hamsters are territorial too, and they don't fancy sharing. And IF you ever spotted them fighting (even if there is no injury), it is really time to separate them unless you wanna wake up one morning to find one of them dead.

Health

Are your hamster healthy? Hamsters are really good at hiding their pain and sufferings, and should you find them acting weird, it might be a good idea to visit the vet (and pls make sure they can handle small animals!). Weird in the sense, they are always tripping on themselves, falling, being extra slow, reluctant to move, eating or drinking less, or scratching excessively. Some hamsters are prone to cancer - especially so if they are in-bred, which is why I despise owners who breeds irresponsibly. 

Diet

How about diet? Are you only feeding it sunflower seed? Do you know, sunflower seed to hamsters are like French Fries to our children? They are the nicest food in their list, but not healthy in the long run! And no, you don't need to buy all the "vitamins" and the long list of "supplements". Just feed them well with a good mixture of protein and best would be natural food, such as Tofu, darked green leaves - kangkung, sawi, broccoli, etc, buckwheat, grains, and many more. Just google to get a good list of healthy hamster treats. These treats can be fed once a week alternately or alternate days, just remember to introduce them in small fractions and slowly as not to shock them, and so you can figure if they like it or otherwise.

Breeding / In-Bred

Stop doing so. And don't put a female and male in one cage and expect them to NOT mate. They are animals, and there is no such thing as "oh she's my sister, I can't mate her" kindda thing for them. Incest is dangerous, as it will bring in pups who are much more prone to hereditary diseases. Plus, if the female is too young, it might be dangerous for her, like imagine if you daughter is pregnant at 9. Wouldn't you worry? It doesn't take long for hamsters to get pregnant and to give birth, a turnover of 3weeks is all it takes to "surprise" you with a bunch of pups. And taking care of a pregnant female is as is can be quite a challenge, and more so when you're taking care of a new hamster mom and her pups. 

Adopt, don't buy. I adopted 2-Tee from a stranger who had pups, I wasn't sure if it was an accident or if he is helping someone to give away or anything, I just adopt because it is the right thing to do. 

Cleansing

How does a hamster clean itself, how do you train it to urine in her bowl of sand or not anywhere else? I'd say, like how you'd do with a cat. I don't shower my hamster with water - hamster in water can be dangerous to the little guy. It will send chills and this may make your hamster sick - although I've come across owners who does shower their Syrians. Mine will just roll in her big bowl of sand to rid of excess oil (especially after we touch her!), and pretty much lick or scratch a little herself. She urines in her small bowl of sand. Yes, we have two bowl of sand in her cage, and she pretty much choose which would be her "shower bowl" and which would be her "toilet bowl", BUT she poop everywhere and anywhere, and cleverly hide them all beneath all the bedding- sometimes in one corner, good thing her poop are all dry.

When we first introduced her to the sand, she didn't like it, and hardly use it. We search and asked through the forums. First, the sand should not be too fine or scented, as this will cause respiratory problems for them. We use the recommended Supreme Science Bathing Sand for Chinchillas.

Secondly, if it is her first time being introduced to the sand, we have to "teach" her how, by having her in the sand bowl, and we sprinkle some on her body. I do that once or twice (while talking to her, just assume they understand our language), before she finally figured what the sand is for, and since then, she has been bathing and urinating in the sand bowl. 

Bedding

What bedding to use? I personally use Kaytee Clean and Cozy (white), and love it. It is soft, fluffy and traps odor pretty well, and because 2-Tee only urinates in her sand bowl, it pretty much will be odorless for 2 weeks, I never kept it any longer than 2 weeks, so couldn't tell how long before it will start to smell. 

I pretty much use something that will feel comfortable, because if it is hard, your hamster might just lose their fur from the everyday rubbing - especially for dwarves as their stomach touches the ground as they move. And the other reason why I like Kaytee C&C is because it can be pressed to make tunnels - which 2-Tee will make herself, and sometimes she will just gather all the bedding she can to make a defense line in front of her hideout when she don't wish to be disturbed. 

And oh yes, we talk to her alright, and she will stuck her nose out when we call or said we couldn't see her! I guess she does understand us!

Freedom

We put her in the hamster ball to have a walk around our whole house after she was with us for about a month, at this time she already can tell who we are, and had settled down with her cage. When she was in her ball, she went real fast, and we limit her to 10 mins max before we let her step out of the ball into her cage herself. It is possible that this initiate her instinct that the cage is where she should return to when she is done with exploring. We did that ball run once a week.

After about a month of running in the ball, we let her come out without any ball restrictions, free to walk all over our bed, guiding her and talking to her that she will fall if she is too near the edge by shielding it with our palms. Soon enough, she avoided our palm when we had them where she is not allowed to automatically. One day as she does her exploring on our bed, she ran into her cage and she got us surprised. She headed to her sand bowl to urinate! How clever! She came out again after that, resumed for 5minutes before returning back to her cage, drink and rest in her hide out. 

Having Guests

When introducing strangers to your pet hamster, don't just carry and pass it around. It will stress your poor pet, allow your hamster to pick up your guests' scent (and before that, ensure yourself that your guests had a clean pair of hands!). Tell your guests that your hamster reserves all rights to get on or continue to hide/run away, and that it is normal. Advice them not to force carry your hamster or to do drastic movements while she was trying to pick up his/her scent as this will only scare your pet further.

2-Tee took almost 2 months to get use to my parents' voices and scent. Likewise for my nieces and nephews, she wont get on anyone's hands, but would come out to greet them with her nose protruding out of her hideout or by coming to her gate to look at our guests before returning to her hideout. 

Unique

Do remember, each pet is different and unique. Not all will behave the same way. 2-Tee is probably one out of hundreds who would choose her cage over the outside world. 

My little 2-Tee peeping out the hole and see what's there... 

With lots of love, I hope this write up do you good in choosing a pet hamster and what it takes to care for one.

Wassalam,
Jun