Hamster how clean?

Like most domesticated pets, hamsters will generally clean themselves and prefer living in a clean environment. This does however mean that there is a need for you, the hamster's owner, to play your part, by ensuring the cage is always clean and supplied with fresh bedding.

The first thing to point out that your hamster will generally designate one or two areas of its cage for a toilet. If you can change the bedding material in these areas regularly, every couple of days, you should dramatically cut down on the smells that may come from a dirty hamster cage and also prolong the period between full cage cleans.

How often should a hamster cage be cleaned out depends on how dirty they get from day to day, but you do need to ensure that stale food and droppings are removed regularly. A full clean of the hamster cage once a week is recommended.

You should never really have to bathe your hamster. Washing them is not good for their fur as the water removes the natural oils from the fur, which can make them unwell. Chinchilla sand can help keep the coat in good condition, but there may be times when you feel you have to wash your hamster. These should only be in exceptional circumstances, for example if there is something on the fur that may be toxic of harmful to your hamster if ingested (as they lick the fur to clean it). If there is a substance that needs to be removed from the fur you should consider if it is possible to cut it away, or brush it out. If this is not possible or the substance is something like paint or something very sticky and you feel forced to wet your hamster then do so very carefully with a small amount of warm water, keeping it away from the nose, mouth ears and eyes. When clean, dry your hamster very gently with a towel and if possible with a hair drier on a low setting held far away from the hamster. Make sure your hamster is completely dry before returning it to its cage so that the bedding does not stick to the fur.
One thing to consider is that if there is a bad smell coming from your hamster it may be because it is sick and the droppings are not firm, in this case you should take your pet to the vet to be checked over.

If you regularly clean and disinfect your hamster cage and remove droppings and old food as recommended above, you should easily maintain a clean, healthy and sweet smelling home for you and your hamster.

Hamster care

Biology
Lifespan: 2-3 years
Earliest breeding age: Male - 6 weeks;
Female - from 4 weeks
Weaning: 21 days
Daily water amount: approx. 30ml
Daily food amount: approx. 10-15g
Hamsters are mainly nocturnal animals. There are different species of Hamster. The most common, the Golden or Syrian Hamster, should be kept singularly except for short periods when breeding. Other species of hamster (Russian and Chinese) are best kept as a ‘single sex pair’ (2 males or 2 females together) as long as they are together from a very early age.
Housing
There are a number of different types of hamster cage on the market. The most common being a wire cage with a plastic base, and sometimes having a second or third floor above. Woodshavings make ideal bedding/ flooring material for hamster cages and shredded paper is an excellent alternative. Hamsters are actually very house-proud creatures and can be very easy to toilet train. Place a jam jar containing some paper bedding in the area your hamster normally uses to wee. Most hamsters quickly get the idea and do all their wees in the “wee-jar” making the cage much easier to keep clean and smelling fresh. Hamsters are generally solitary creatures that in the wild live in constant fear of being preyed upon. Secure hiding places where they feel safe and get privacy are important. The cage should have some type of box or house for the hamster to retreat into, and a good idea is to have a deep layer of shredded paper in the base for the hamster to burrow into. The wee jar should be cleaned daily the rest of the cage can then be left about two weeks between cleaning.
Toys
Provide your hamster with a wheel for exercise. Hamsters can be destructive by nature and one of the best toys to give them is something they can chew. You will find chew sticks available in pet shops. A hamster ball is useful when cleaning out but they should not be left in it for too long or unsupervised.
Food and water
Hamsters are Omnivorous, which literally means they eat everything! Dry “Hamster mix” from the pet shop is a good basic diet but it should be supplemented with lots of other things. In small amounts fruits and vegetables are good, as are small amounts of meat and occasional chicken or lamb bones. Hamsters can become bored of their cages so anything that keeps them occupied is good. Scattering dry food items all around the cage (mixed in with the paper) provides lots of good activity and exercise. Fresh water should be available at all times, and should be changed daily.

The Care of Hamsters

The Care of Hamsters - A Choice of Standard Or Dwarf

Every species of hamster, whether it's a standard or a dwarf, requires pretty much the same level of care and maintenance. However, the biggest surprise has to be in the amount of food required by both, which is virtually the same, even though the physical size of the dwarf hamster is just a fraction of the Syrian hamster. The highly active metabolism found in the dwarf hamsters accounts for the relatively large volume of necessary nutrition. In fact, a typical hamster will generally eat the equivalent of one-tenth their body weight each day.

The bulk of the dwarf hamster diet will consist of a high quality blend of assorted seeds and grains, as well as, specialized food pellets, containing a well balanced mixture of nutrients, vitamins and proteins, all targeted to the primary requirements for maintaining your hammie's optimum health. Food pellets are important vitally important in the care of hamsters, since they contain all of the essentials, whereas seed and grain mixes too often facilitate the picking and choosing of the most liked components, which in the end, leaves the diet lacking in one or more vital ingredients. Fresh fruits and vegetables will also supplement a well-balanced diet. And, it's extremely important to ensure the availability of clean drinking water, by providing a plastic bottle with a metallic sipper nozzle will prove to be both convenient and sanitary.

Dwarf hamsters generally behave quite socially when kept in same sex pairings, however fights can break out and separation may be necessary, so you should certainly be prepared to accommodate the individuals. Males and females should definitely be kept apart, unless of course breeding and caring for the resulting larger family is planned. And, while this may be difficult to believe, dwarf hamsters will often mate once again within 24 hours of giving birth. So, as you can see, separation of sexes is a genuine necessity.

Your choice of cage will necessarily depend upon your choice of hamster. The Chinese hamsters and Russian dwarf hamsters will still need as much room for their active lifestyle as their larger Syrian cousins, but care must be given to a bit more security, as they do have the reputation for escaping from enclosures designed for larger inhabitants. The Roborovski dwarf hamster is aptly named "the escape artist" for good reason. At roughly two inches in length, this little rodent can squeeze through the bars of a standard "wire-barred" small mammal cage. So, if you intend to make the Robo hamster your choice of pet, the best advice is to utilize a 10 or 20-gallon aquarium for safety and peace of mind. You'll also want to secure the top with a locking cover or lid to prevent intrusion by small kids or other house pets.

Hamsters are by nature, burrowing animals who live in holes and tunnels in the shallow underground in their native habitats. Consequently, they love a thick layer of bedding material covering the bottom of their cages. A two to three inch layer provides a depth that facilitates tunneling around in any direction. The safest type of bedding and nesting material should consist of non-aromatic wood shavings such as Aspen (no cedar or pine), hay, cellulose or dust-free paper products that are void of any chemical dyes or inks, thereby avoiding issues with allergies or respiratory irritants.

Rounding out the essentials needed to maintain your dwarf hamster's optimum health is the hamster wheel or ball. In the wild, these little critters will travel up to an incredible eight miles per day in search of food. Consequently, lots of exercise is critical, as an important daily ingredient in the health maintenance program for all captive hamsters. It's also helpful to allow them time out of the cage, whenever possible. It's an opportunity for them to do what they do best, by investigating their surroundings. Such out of cage interacting will also strengthen the bond between you and your affectionate little pet.

Copyright 2010 Walter Tekman. All rights reserved. Please feel free to share the entire contents of this article with your friends or post it on your site as long as it is left intact with all links unchanged, including this notice.

Walter Tekman is a pet hamster enthusiast and author of The Best Ever Guide To Dwarf Hamsters, available at http://www.careofhamsters.com/bestever.html. He spends much of his time advising others on how to setup and maintain the perfect hamster habitat, while selecting the best possible hamster as a pet. Go to http://www.careofhamsters.com/ for his complimentary 10-day free email mini-course, which reveals lots of tips, techniques and secrets for creating the greatest possible experience with your pet hamster.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Walter_Tekman