Hamster died in a week
Hi! Just wanted to ask for some advice on what I might be doing wrong. A couple months ago my boyfriend and I bought a syrian hamster we named Wheaty from PetSmart. She was quite skiddish when we got her, but she calmed down after some time coming home. She was never really social, but she seemed happy. She was big and seemed healthy, but she passed within a few months. She ate and drank well, and exercised frequently on her wheel. She had escaped her cage multiple times, and my boyfriend found her one morning with a bloody nose and she seemed to have something broken because she then passed a couple hours later. We figured that Syrians are picky species and she might have just been unhappy with her cage (hence the multiple escapes).
Fast forward, we decided to try again. We tried to find any adoptables in the back of PetSmart or Petco since my state doesn't have any hamster breeders, only rats. We found that no locations had any, so we decided to purchase another from Petco this time. We fell in love with a little boy we named Kodiak. He was quite small for a male syrian hamster but other than that he seemed healthy, and he was quite social. He hopped onto my hand and started crawling up my arm at the store, so I knew he was the one. We decided brought him home, put him in his cage and decided to leave him alone for a week to allow him to adjust to his new environment before attempting to tame him. Fast forward, I was looking forward to seeing him and start bonding with him this Sunday, but I got a message from my boyfriend this morning telling me he is dead. There are no signs of injury, nor were there signs of distress. He was eating and drinking a lot of water, and exercising a lot on the wheel. I am so upset and disappointed, as I have done a lot of research before bringing home a hammy, I got the best necessities that I could buy, but nothing seems to be going right. If anyone could look over my setup and tell me if there's anything we are doing wrong, I would be very grateful. I feel really bad and heartbroken and it feels like I can't take care of anything, which I don't feel is the case.
Bin Cage:
https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/sterilite-160-qt-clear-wheeled-storage-box/0000000337889
Wheel (11.8 inch):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GS7ZDDR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
Hut:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083HYS1YX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Bedding/Litter:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QGNRR6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Food:
+ spinach leaves
Treats:
- The rest of the cage is made up of cardboard
- For cleaning we spot clean every day for little poops and wet bedding, and every sunday we do a deep clean where we throw out more of the bedding and clean out the stash of poop and food
- Treats are given once a week, spinach leaves are given almost everyday
- Water is tap water
- The platform wood pieces are made of pine, which I am planning to throw out as I read some mixed opinions about pine wood. I've heard the pine shavings are toxic to hamsters, but that solid pieces are fine, but I'm not sure that I want to risk it
- I am also going to try ReptiSand instead for the sand bath, because the brand of sand I got doesn't seem to have enough information about it for it to be completely safe
EDIT: Thank you to everyone for responding. Comments have been super constructive and supportive. I feel determined and confident I can make this work. Will post an update whenever I decide to get a new hammy.
Posted Jan 22, 2022, 7:43 PM UTC · edited
I'm sorry for your loss.
I'm not from the US so I can't see all of the links. Here's what I can say tho!
Hamsters from pet stores are known to die suddenly because they have pretty terrible genes. This is most likely why (at least the second) hamster died. I'm not a vet tho so I can't say for sure
The cage seems pretty small. For male Syrians people usually recommend 800+sq inches and for females 1000+sq inches. With bins you need to measure the bottom, not the rim, because they taper. Ikea Pax and Linnmon are great for Syrians and very affordable!
You're not supposed to deep clean every week because it stresses out the hamster. People usually spot clean 1-3 times a week and if you do it well enough you need to do deep clean max once a month. With a bigger enclosure every 3-6 months.
Most of the cage should have deep bedding that holds burrows. I'm not really sure why the cardboard is there like that?
Thank you for your response!
This is something I feared. I had really wanted to adopt from a breeder as well bred hamsters are healthier and have better longevity, but I couldn't find any breeders in my state unfortunately, and some hamsters available on Craigslist did not seem okay. There was a listing I saw where a woman had adopted two syrian hamsters from PetSmart, housed them together, and they ended up having babies which were also, all housed into one bin.
This bin was the biggest that I could find for a bin cage, it measures at 36.75 in x 18 in which would be 661.5 sq in. I'll look into a bigger cage when my budget allows, probably a tank when I can find one on Craigslist.
I see, I thought more was better. I wasn't wiping down the cage that often by any means, but the hammies seem to enjoy storing their poop with their food... so I would pick out the poop so that the hut wouldn't get soiled over time. I didn't want them sleeping in it. I will keep that in mind when cleaning from now on.
It's hard to tell from the camera angle in the video, but I had well over 6 inches of bedding in the burrow zone. I used the cardboard as a separator so that I'd have a wall between the paper bedding and the aspen bedding.
A tank that’s 1000+ sq in is most likely gonna be expensive as hell, for a standard aquarium that’s around 120 gallons. If you can afford it, that’s great, but it may not be a viable option if you’re on a budget at all!
So, since you just missed the best season for bin cages that large (Christmas tree bins are really the only bins I’ve found that are ever 1000+ sq in), IKEA really may be your best bet.
Check out the Ikea cages because they really are great! I made mine for 70€! There are tutorials online on how to make them. I also recommend to watch Victoria Raechel's new care guide if you haven't yet! There's a lot of useful info in it.
You could have bedding everywhere (for Syrians it's recommended to have 10+ inches deep) and put smaller dig boxes on stands over the burrowable bedding. Hamsters make surprisingly big burrows and they need a lot of room for it!
I had to keep checking but I found a pretty large terrarium for half off at a pet store (not so much) in my area. Drove 45 minutes away to pick it up and my hammy loves it! We use Velcro to attach the water bottle, have to make sure no bedding is under his wheel or it’ll get stuck on the lid tho. Hope you find something!
Just as a side note, thry tend to poop where they're favourite places are, almost like marking their area. Since they are dry poops you dont need to pick out every one, that might even distress them. Its the pee that you need to worry more about but with a good litter area you're fine
That's good to know thank you! I just thought it might be unhygienic for them to sleep in their poop, but I'll leave it alone next time.
I think the potential genetic problems usually make them die within a year but when it’s in the first week they are usually sick from the disease spreading in the rodent mills. The genetic issues also make them more likely to break teeth and have to live that life.
Oh yeah, I meant that the whole pet shop experience affects that, but it was so clear in my mind that I forgot to actually write it :'D