Hi! I read in your journal that Maria has been naughty lately (although congratulations on potty training her!) When I was about 3, my sister and I were being really naughty and loud. As a punishment, my mother burst into the room and said in a really loud voice: RIGHT. WE'RE GOING FOR A DRIVE. She bundled us up into the car and we started driving. When we go to the bottom of the road, she turned to look at us and said "you've been so naughty and hurt mummies' feelings so I'm going to send you to an orphanage." She drove us around this big abandoned hospital and my sister and I were so scared we never dared to hit each other or scream for no reason again. Perhaps you could try something like that?
Thanks you Maria is being a little bugger lol, wants constant attension now but she does try to play with Liam tho, can't wait til he is a bit older I think she will enjoy being with him more.
Congrats on the new baby! I hope Maria isn't giving you too much trouble -- I hear a lot of kids start to feel left out when the new baby is born. Silly little munchkins, eh? I bet she loves him loads, though. (I'm a bit late with the congrats, sorry!)
Syrians especially are renound for trying to escape (although they're definately the best type of hamster to have when you also have young children.) He might be storing the carrot up in his cheek, which is okay for hamsters to do -- try to limit his carrot stick down to twice a week at the most, though. Hamsters get diarrhea easily which isn't good. Also, if the weather is very hot where you are, include a very tiny piece of cucumber into his cage every couple of days -- it'll keep him cool! Hamsters aren't very sociable with other hamsters and they can fight to the death when introduced. The best bet for housing hamsters together is buying twins and keeping them together, but even then there's still no guarantee they wouldn't try to hurt each other -- it's really hit or miss with hamsters. I adopted twin dwarves lately that had to be seperated because they began to attack each other. It's a real shame, but it just happens sometimes.
He always seemed to be trying to get out of the other cage and whenever it was open he would go mental and do a flying jump out of the cage, so we thought a bigger one might calm him down a little bit. We have always used musli, it was the same stuff the shop fed him, so he is used to it. I somethimes give him a carrot stick before I go to bed and thats always gone by the morning, I've never seen it in his tunnels so I presumed that he ate it all. We did want to get another hamster, so that he had company but we were told that he would fight with the other one which is a shame.
Lavender woodshavings aren't bad for the hamster, but it's best to stick to the brand you have if he's used to it. It's great that you have a big cage -- hamsters adore all the space they can get. To answer your question: It wouldn't hurt to add a few extra pieces of food into his cage; hamsters will never overreat because of their sensitive digestive systems so there's nothing to worry about in that aspect. If you use hamster musli or Harry Hamster food mix, the food will not go off easily, although it's best to change it every few days (a week maximum). Hamster seed mixes and musli's recipes are designed to stay in date so that if hamsters hide them, it won't go soggy or go off easily. If you're using any wet or sticky foods, you should replace it every two days. Fruits and veg you might want to give your hamster must be replaced daily to prevent it from going bad and making the hamster sick.
Yeah he is a syian, he only started moving his food and bedding into the tunnels after we brought him a bigger cage. Maria has calmed down with him now, so he is safe from being thrown. I think it's just normal woodshavings we use, I did see some lavender scented shavings but werent sure if he would like them or not, so I played it safe and kept to the normal basic stuff. There is one question I have for you, cos the tunnels are see-through I can see that he has quite alot of food stored in there, so I've been abit unsure whether I should keep filling up his bowl with more food or would he be ok with what is in his tunnel, I don't want to overfed him but I don't want him to store too much and it goes yucky
You said: Hammy is acting very werid tho, he has decided to live in one of his tunnels, I noticed yesterday that he has stored aload of food in the top of th tunnel and when I woke up this morning I found aload of his bedding in the tunnel below the food with hammy asleep in it, is this normal behaviour for a hamster? I just saw this! I run a rescue home for hamsters so I know a lot about them. What kind of hamster is it? If it's a Syrian, moving food into tunnels is normal. Some hamsters naturally move their bedding just because they prefer making their own nest; they're really independant creatures so it's best to let them move their own things around. Try not to let the hamster get hurt or thrown, they have really sensitive limbs that can break easily. (Also, please never to use pine or cedar woodshavings for your hamster! It smells nice but hamsters can develop respitory problems from it which kills!) Let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help.
Thanks.
Happy Birthday!! hope you have a great day
