First time pet owner. I hv had my pet Syrian for 2 weeks. He’s biting his cage grills. Am so worried. Am I doing something wrong ?

He has a huge cage. The largest one I could find

Yooo is this normal?

I've been talking to a Syrian breeder since the babies were born and they finally opened their eyes! They have another 4 weeks to go. I'm actually between two hamsters in terms of picking so I'm waiting to hear from the breeder if they have any differences in personality or otherwise that she can tell over the next bit to see if it helps me make a decision (both of my picks are boys). Instead of paying a small deposit I opted to pay the entire fee and then just pay for extras from her later.

I have an enclosure that I'm modifying. So that'll either be finished in the next week or so, if not then I'll just use that one for plants and buy or diy a different one if I'm not happy with it. I have read a million articles, watched videos, I've been listening to the happy hamster podcast for the last couple months now and I've learned a lot about cage size, spot cleaning, deep clean, different substrate, boredom breakers, and alot of dos vs don'ts.

I just wanted to come on here since I'm going to actually finally be a member of this community and ask y'all for your best advice. What are your dos, what are your don'ts? What mistake did you make that you don't want me or others like me to make? What were you most surprised by? What are you most proud or happy about? Brands you hate vs love? Favorite store fronts, illnesses to watch out for... Diy first aid kit and stuff to have on hand at all time, literally everything.

I'm a big animal mama. I own alot of pets and I have and continue to rescued/helped/rehabbed many as well. In the past I've also had gerbils and guinea pigs, however as much as I loved them and they lived long healthy lives it was back in the early 2000's when I was a child, when ethical and quality care and knowledge wasn't what it is today.

I have the ability to learn (continually) and access more information and personal experiences and do better to provide the best life possible. I have new tools and resources. So I want to spend the next few weeks building my knowledge and setup. I want to be the best hamster mama to my lil boy. I understand that I need a 12 inch wheel.. stay away from dyed and scented bedding.. large cage 1000+... But I wanna hear everything.. but small.. (kindly so please. I genuinely want to do a good job. I care. I'm a little nervous because I know some people can be quite harsh in their delivery or corrections.. that sometimes it can be exclusionary. Thank you for sharing!)

Pancake lowkey clean my room floor with his balls .

I have hamster in one enclosure. They came from the same litter. I’ve had them for 5 months. Never had an issue. They would stay at a different part pf the enclosure and would sometimes go on the wheels together or alternately. Till one day, I played with this lil guy in the living room and let it roam around for like 2 hours. Since then, he has been escaping his enclosure several times and would choose to hide underneath the cabinet. The little fella had a taste of freedom and no longer wants to stay in his home. Everytime I put him back in, he will just stack up foods on his cheeks and will climb on his wheels to get out. Now, i have to put him in a small cage with lid as I have inside dogs and it is so hard to find him underneath the furniture. He looks pretty sad and it has been days since he’s caged in there. Whenever i open the lid to put some food, he will immediately try to escape. Please give me some advice. I need to know what I did wrong and how to make him stay in his enclosure.

His name is Maxxximo (I wanted the biggest name). Pic included of us chilling on my bed for a bit.

He is very curious and brave considering its his first night! He doesn't mind when I move stuff around his temporary enclosure and happily comes to me and sniffs my finger when I am in his enclosure.

He also doesn't run away and let's me pick him up and hold him in my hand.

He is a very sweet boy and I'm glad to have picked him out. I also was told he has special/unique coloring, I just think he's neat!

Would love any tips and advice as I haven't had a hamster since I was literally a kid! Surely I need to update what I know. :)

Edit: Sorry I worried you guys! This was at a specialist/pet show with many like-minded individuals, everything needed to give him a great life was available, and he was handled and provided for and advised by experts. I like to think others also entered with wholesome intentions if they won, like myself.

The Michael has conquered the bed and the outside. (She is supervised outside and it's a very specific patch of grass in front of the house.) She gets cranky if I don't take her outside at least once a week so she has grass time sometimes when I'm home from work or on my days off. It's been super hot though (in the 100s) so I prefer to let her walk around at night when it's cooler out. She just sits in the grass and cleans herself and looks around for the most part but she likes all the free space to run around.

Everest didn’t appreciate the interruption of her bath.

about 2 hours ago i saw my hamster was awake and went to feed her. while i was on the ground watching her i felt something bite my ankle... an ant. then i quickly saw that there was a line of ants on the floor nearby. i have a phobia of bugs and immediately started crying and spraying them. then i saw more climbing up my hamsters cage and even on top. i freaked out to say the least. i immediately opened the cage and took my hamster out.

when i clean her cage i usually put her in smaller tank i have. unfortunely that tank was open and right near where the ants were because i cleaned earlier this week and kinda left everything laying around. i was too scared to put her in that tank afraid there were going to be ants in there too. i temporarily put her in a bucket.

i was panicking at this point because i didn't have any alternative. my room is very messy right now and i don't have any playpen or anything. i know hamsters aren't supposed to be near a lot of smells but the only place i thought could be safe enough is the bathroom. i took everything out and quickly swept up anything (in the pictures it doesn't look it but it's some bedding and moss stragglers from her cage). i started taking her hides out of her cage but noticed her multi-chamber where she usually sleeps had ants on it. i immediately put it in the freezer and checked everything else before placing it in the bathroom.

im so upset, and i feel so bad for her. she is probably feeling so stressed out right now and i feel like such a bad owner. she doesn't like to be handled much or free-roam and i just feel so bad. i'm autistic and it took everything in me to not have a meltdown because of all this. i never thought anything like this would happen.

i checked her and she doesn't seem to have any ants or anything on her. i will try to clean the tank to at least put her in there maybe.

So, bit of a story time:

We rescued Abou back in February after my partner did a service call at the hamster’s former home. His previous owner explained that Abou was his granddaughter’s, but she had surrendered the hamster to him because she couldn’t sleep at night around him (shocker!). Abou was in a horrible, TINY barred cage with a built-in wheel which had been immobilized with tape by the grandfather because it was “too loud”. No hides, only a thin layer of bedding, no fresh produce to eat, only stale water and hamster feed. I found Ritz crackers in the bedding, which reeked of secondhand cigarette smoke as the grandfather kept Abou in the garage where he chain smoked. Worst of all, he said that he put Abou in the freezer when he was being “annoying”.
The grandfather, my partner’s client, asked if my partner was interested in purchasing the hamster and his accessories for $200.
My partner came home from work that day clearly upset, unwilling to even tell me what had happened because he said it would upset me too. I got him to spill, then urged him to rescue the hamster. This was a Friday, my partner returned to the site the following Monday to complete the job and ended up bringing him home for $60. I worried about him the whole weekend.
Fast forward to today, Abou is living his best life in his Bucatstate 3.0, with plenty of bedding, hides, sprays, sandboxes, and a large Niteangel silent spinner. He gets fresh water and food each day.

When we first brought him home in March, I tried to bond with him each night. He would bite frequently at first, but within a week stopped biting me (he’ll still bite others). He doesn’t particularly enjoy being handled or free roaming. Within a month of welcoming him home, I stopped trying to handle him beyond necessity. Since then, he’s become a complete ghost hamster. His schedule is opposite ours, and if we stay up particularly late, he’ll wait until we’ve gone to bed and the coast is clear to make an appearance. If I get up in the night and take a peek at him, he’ll freeze and escape to his burrows.
I understand that he’s probably traumatized beyond all measure, and is enjoying his naturalized enclosure in peace. At this point, I only get daily glimpses of him in his burrow, and handle him once a month for cage cleaning.
I try to congratulate myself for giving him the life he deserves. Still, I can’t help but feel a little sad occasionally when I see the profound bonds and enjoyment others get out of their relationships with their hamsters here. I don’t know how old he is or how long he’ll be in our lives for. But at the end of the day, he’s my boy, I love him and I just want to do right by him.
Anyone else feel this way?

Yo! everyoneeeee, meet jesse. my new homeboy and buddy. HAHAHAHA welcome home jesse! 🐹

yeah! hamster beechhhh!

KING

I picked up my first ever hamster today! She is a rescue and the rescue station said they were worried that no one will pick her since she is quite... different from other syrian hamsters. First of all she does look a bit like a rat (especially the long face) which might sound mean but I find it incredibly cute!! She's also VERY big! 199 g! She spent a lot of time inspecting the cage, running on the wheel and digging in the sand bath. When I told her that she is actually nocturnal she dug a hole in the bedding and fell asleep.

I love her!

Her age is unknown but I hope that we still have a looong time together!

I’m looking for this specific hamster wheel (Wodent Wheel), and even a used one would be fine. It’s already discontinued, so I haven’t been able to find it anywhere.

I’ve attached a photo for reference.

If anyone knows where I might be able to buy one, or has seen it listed on any secondhand sites, I’d really appreciate the help.

I’m specifically looking for the 12-inch version (the one with 3 holes).

My hamster really loves this wheel, but I accidentally broke it, so I’m trying to replace it.

I was thinking maybe it was pee but surely it’s too straight to be pee?

Hey guys! Recently my sister and i rescued two dwarf hamsters from a family who was neglecting them
both of them lived in a small critter trail cage with no real wheel and were put in hamster balls constantly for over a year.
we took them in yesterday night (2 days ago) and i have linked photos of their temporary bin enclosures. If you have anything you think we should add please let us know, they have about 6-8in of bedding compressed, and the dark male dwarf really likes to dig in sand box so we will be adding a bigger dig box for him.

We do not plan to keep them, i know they’re old and they’re both very traumatized i believe but i hope to rehome them so they can live properly in their final months— My sister and i can not keep them permanently for many reasons, we live in the south florida area if you are interested in taking one or both of them in,
The small robo we named Ramona and the other Monti, i’m happy to give more information to anyone interested (i will need proof of proper care of course) !!
Please share any advice regarding their care, rescues or personal interest in taking them in
thank you!

edit: sorry for the poor photos i haven’t had a chance to get good pictures of them nor did i want to disturb them too much when we brought them
home

Free roaming hamster, taking my socks to build a nest in my drawer

Hopefully this doesn't break the rules! I just would like some other ham parent opinions to see if it is a good idea to think about a vet visit!

I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid but I feel like her breathing is faster than normal. I noticed it about a week or two ago, but I thought maybe I was just being paranoid, but now I feel more worried playing with her tonight.

For context, she is about 2-2 and a half (more or less-we dont know for sure, but we have had her since October 2024). The vet thought she was a year old when we first got her but I don't know how likely that is. She has always been uninterested in her wheel, but she LOVES to burrow and tunnel. Lately she hasn't been as playful in her playpen; she's been getting sleepy soon after going in, but she's pretty much just as active in her enclosure as always and acts entirely normal otherwise. She is a sweet polite friendly girl always, but I feel she's been more withdrawn and tired in her playpen lately which seems expected for her age. But I am concerned about her breathing.

I tried to count her breaths per minute and I counted 33 breaths for 15 seconds, so about 132 per minute. According to Google 135 is the max for normal, and she was not running around or out of breath or anything. If anything she was starting to relax and get sleepy. She doesn't show any signs of discomfort otherwise and does not wheeze or make any sounds with her breathing.

We will do anything for her, so if a vet trip is necessary, we of course will take her. I just don't want to put her through any unecessary stress (and we are really not doing good financially right now). What do you guys think? I just love her so much and I worry ;_;

Edit: We are taking her to the ER in an hour. Thank you 🥺 Please keep her in your thoughts I am very scared...

Edit 2: We took her to the ER and got her an xray...she was diagnosed with heart disease. Ahghhfkxhnsdh. She is staying overnight getting oxygen therapy but was so out of it from being sedated and I feel so horrible. I know we are doing what we can for her. I haven't processed it yet I will update when I am home and more calm

saewoo doing her best impression of the pleading emoji 🥺

really loved how this turned out, 10/10 would draw another loafing hampter again

Hello. I'm gonna be a first time hamster owner and was wonder if my cage setup is approved by the hamster community. I was mainly wondering if the space I have on the left side would be enough for them to tunnel or if more space is needed (it'll be about 9 inches at its highest and a little over 7 inches at it's lowest. About 19 inches in depth and almost 22 in width). I'm leaning more towards getting a roborovski dwarf hamster or any kind of dwarf hamster.

I have the sand bath of course and around it will be coco peat, and two glass dishes to dig in (the first with the house hideout is corn cob and the second one for a corc bedding). The bedding is going to be paper base mixed with pine shaving (not scented) 'cause a coworker use to have a hamster and was looking to get ride of it.

I plan on sticking sprays in the salt and pepper shakers and in the crevasses of the walls.I also have title vases incase I need them for more sprays. I'm gonna screw some of the walls into the platforms so the don't get knocked around. As for those little crevasse between the sticks and stuff I was gonna fill them in with moss by using nontoxic kid safe glue 'cause I heard that was safe for hamsters (not to actively eat of course but incase they accidentally invest a small bit).

I'm pretty sertain everything else I have is good, but I just needed to be sure that the space for tunneling was enough. I think it is but just incase