What is the life expectancy of the hamsters? And what is their natural habitat?
Have some of them developed as a result of humans breeding them for certain
characteristics or are these 'natural' types?
-Animal Gram
For Syrian hamsters, the life expectancy is 2-3 years. For dwarf hamsters the life expectancy is 1-2 years.
In the wild hamsters live in central europe and northern asia. Most commonly in Russia, Siberia, Syria, China, and Mongolia.
In that range they inhabit pretty much anywhere including, deserts, mountains, and forests.
The only really big difference between pet and wild hamsters is that pet hamsters have more coat colors, patterns, and types other than the natural coat type and color.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
How to tame/handle a hamster.
When you get a hamster, odds are they haven't been handled much, so you basically need to tame them. Here's how:
1. Let them get used to your scent.
A good way to do this is to:
let them sniff you
handle their toys a lot before putting them in the hamsters cage
2. Let them get used to your voice.
To do this just spend some time talking to them, though try to do it quietly; not loudly!
3. Feed them treats!
The way to most animals hearts is through their stomach. Give your new hamster some treats. A good treat to try is sunflower seeds, hamsters love them!
tip! You may not want to feed them the treats through cage bars, this can teach them the habit of biting anything that comes through the bars, which could be your finger one day! So just open the door of the cage to give them their treat.
4. Pet them!
Now you can gently stroke them. Most hamsters seem to like being stroked down their back. My hamster, Pipsqueak, likes being pet behind her ears.
5. Time to hold them!
When your hamsters is comfortable with you petting them, you can try holding them. There are a few different ways you can do this. If your hamster is like mine and doesn't particularly like being picked up you can:
see if they will crawl into your hand
coax them into your hand with a treat
let them crawl into something like a toilet paper tube to be transported to your hand (this is Pipsqueaks favorite way!)
If your hamster is okay with being picked up then the best way to do this is to cup your hands around your hamster and lift them up gently.
Once they are in your hand you can let them crawl on you and you can pet them and give them treats to keep them happy.
caution! Make sure to be careful not to let your hamster escape. If you have a roborovski hamster (the really tiny ones!) you may want to just skip holding them or only do it somewhere where there is no chance of them escaping. They are fast!
Once holding them is successful your hamster is tamed!
REMEMBER! Hamsters are nocturnal and many are grumpy about being woken up. When you are taming them it is best to not wake them up and wait till they are awake. Syrian hamsters especially can be very grumpy about being woken up.
1. Let them get used to your scent.
A good way to do this is to:
let them sniff you
handle their toys a lot before putting them in the hamsters cage
2. Let them get used to your voice.
To do this just spend some time talking to them, though try to do it quietly; not loudly!
3. Feed them treats!
The way to most animals hearts is through their stomach. Give your new hamster some treats. A good treat to try is sunflower seeds, hamsters love them!
tip! You may not want to feed them the treats through cage bars, this can teach them the habit of biting anything that comes through the bars, which could be your finger one day! So just open the door of the cage to give them their treat.
4. Pet them!
Now you can gently stroke them. Most hamsters seem to like being stroked down their back. My hamster, Pipsqueak, likes being pet behind her ears.
5. Time to hold them!
When your hamsters is comfortable with you petting them, you can try holding them. There are a few different ways you can do this. If your hamster is like mine and doesn't particularly like being picked up you can:
see if they will crawl into your hand
coax them into your hand with a treat
let them crawl into something like a toilet paper tube to be transported to your hand (this is Pipsqueaks favorite way!)
If your hamster is okay with being picked up then the best way to do this is to cup your hands around your hamster and lift them up gently.
Once they are in your hand you can let them crawl on you and you can pet them and give them treats to keep them happy.
caution! Make sure to be careful not to let your hamster escape. If you have a roborovski hamster (the really tiny ones!) you may want to just skip holding them or only do it somewhere where there is no chance of them escaping. They are fast!
Once holding them is successful your hamster is tamed!
REMEMBER! Hamsters are nocturnal and many are grumpy about being woken up. When you are taming them it is best to not wake them up and wait till they are awake. Syrian hamsters especially can be very grumpy about being woken up.
Quiz Answers!
CREPUSCULAR ANIMALS ARE MOST ACTIVE AT:
The answer is: dawn and dusk.
RABBITS ARE:
The answer is: crepuscular.
FUN FACT! Guinea pigs are diurnal, meaning that they are active during the day and sleep at night just like humans.
FUN FACT #2! Because rabbits are crepuscular, they prefer to eat at dawn and dusk so in the morning and evening is a good time to five them their food.
New quizzes will be up soon after I think of some good questions!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Five Most Common Hamster Breeds
The Syrian Hamster:
The Syrian hamster (also known as the golden hamster) is the most popular hamster to keep as a pet. They are also the biggest hamster growing up to seven inches long.
Syrian hamster are fiercely territorial with other hamsters so they need to be kept by themselves. However, these hamsters are generally fairly friendly and easy to handle with humans. They generally have a lower energy level than dwarf hamsters.
Syrian hamsters come in a variety of coat types, patterns, and colors. They can have short fur, long fur, rex fur (curly), and satin fur (shiny). Their are too many colors to even name, the most popular being golden, and some other common colors being cream, cinnamon, black, white, and grey. There are many patterns of colors including banded, spotted, calico, roan, and more.
The Campbell's or Russian Dwarf Hamster
The Campbell's or Russian hamster is also called the Djungarian hamster. However since that is not the easiest to pronounce it is usually just called the Campbell hamster or the russian hamster.
The russian hamster is the most popular dwarf hamster, if handled frequently they can be very friendly and outgoing.
The russian hamster comes in many different colors. The above coloring and pattern is the natural or "wild" coloring with a dark brownish grey strip on its back, grey-brown fur, and white to cream undersides. Other colors are mostly just variations of this with the fur being lighter or darker grey. They also come in cream, black, and white. The coat pattern usually remains pretty much the same, although the coat type can be regular short hair or satin.
My hamster, Pipsqueak, is a russian dwarf. Her coat coloring is one of my favorites. Her coloration is called "black silver".
The Chinese Dwarf Hamster
The Chinese Dwarf Hamsters is, in my opinion, the most unique out of the dwarf hamsters, as it doesn't really look like most dwarf hamsters. The chinese dwarf has a long thin body with a pink tail that is longer than most hamsters, making it look like a mouse.
Like Syrians, chinese dwarfs are generally very territorial and should not be housed with other hamsters. Females are generally more aggressive than males.
The coloring of chinese dwarfs doesn't vary too much. They have a brownish-grey stripe down their back and the rest of their fur is usually a grey-beige color.
The Winter White Dwarf Hamster
You might be thinking right now that the above picture looks an awfully lot like the russian hamster. That is because the Winter White hamster's coloring is basically exactly the same as the natural, or wild coloring of the russian hamster. At one time these two hamsters were thought to be the same breed.
However there is one big difference. As its name suggests, the winter white turns white in the winter!
They are much like the russian hamster in other respects such as temperament and size.
The winter white does not have many different coat colors. They are usually all the same, however you can find a few dark grey or black ones. And in the winter you can find white ones.
The Roborovski Dwarf Hamster
Roborovskis or robos for short, are the smallest of all hamsters. They are generally just under two inches long, and may even be smaller!
Robos are the newest pet hamster out there. They are very gentle and docile however it is best not to handle them because they are FAST! Think of them as little blurs. They never stop moving so they are hard to pick up and catch. They are more of pet that you just watch, and they are very entertaining to watch since when they are awake they are constantly moving and doing crazy things!
Robos have only one coat type, one patter, and one coloring that I know of which is: short hair, with fur that is a cream color with white undersides and feet. Robos also have unique white "eyebrows", which are super cute!
Quiz Answers!
Quiz answers are here!
HAMSTERS ARE:
The answer to this question is: omnivores.
FUN FACT! Hamsters mostly eat grains, which leads to the incorrect belief that they are herbivores, but they are really omnivores, they like to include some protein in their diet in the form of insects such as mealworms.
FUN FACT! A fun treat for hamsters is a little piece of dog biscuit occasionally. Hamsters like dog biscuits a bit and it gives them that little bit of protein from meat without you having to deal with icky insects.
FUN FACT! My hamster, Pipsqueak, LOVES dried mealworms!!!! It is her favorite treat! (I think they are pretty gross though!)
TRUE OR FALSE: GERBILS HAVE CHEEK POUCHES.
The answer is: false.
New quizzes will be up soon!
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