How To Care For A Syrian Hamster

Hi. My name's Marie. I'm the deputy manager of the Small Animal Department of Wood Green Animal Shelters in Cambridge here and I'm going to advise you how to care for hamsters.

I'm going to tell you how to care for a Syrian hamster. Syrian hamsters are one of the largest breeds of hamster. They will also need to be housed in singles as Syrian hamsters, as they mature at around 3 or 4 months of age, they will fight and cause serious damage to each other so they will need to be housed as singles.

Syrian hamsters are extremely active and need a large accommodation. They have been known to escape so please make sure it's filled with lots and lots of enrichment. I'm going to place her back in the cage and give you an idea of what you'll need for your Syrian hamster.

Syrian hamsters will need a really large cage. The best type is a large mesh cage with plastic base. Cages that are designed for rats, to medium to large rat cages, are often far more suitable than the common Syrian hamster cage you'll find on the market.

Ensure that you are going one for small bars so they can't obviously escape through them. As they are so active, the standard hamster cage will often cause them to be really bored and stressed and they'll often chew the bars and try to chew out the base quite quickly. Syrian hamsters have been known to go into rescue shelters as strays so that's how serious they are about moving around.

They'll need lots of enrichment to keep them busy. So, consider tunnels, houses, wheels, we've even got in here a pot filled with organic soil. Syrian hamsters love to have a dig around as well.

When considering their bedding, you need to use either shredded paper or a product called Carefresh. Wood shavings are really not good for your hamsters. It can cause skin issues and allergies for the hamster and your family, so please avoid wood shavings.

As I mentioned, the best product is chopped shredded paper or Carefresh. The hamster will then also need to match some actual bedding to go in its house to make its nest, so you want to consider using a long tissue type bedding. This is often easy for them to store away and also it's not going to get wrapped up around their legs as some of the cotton ball types will.

Feeding your Syrian hamster, keep their diet varied and as natural as possible. You want to offer them a different type of mix. There are many different ones on the market but do boost it with extra bits as well.

So, you can add in a good quality cat mix to make sure they're getting that extra bit of protein. They can also have small amounts of fresh food so they can have small amounts of dandelion leaf, mint and even lemon balm but offer them cautiously and every now and again and monitor their feces for that. You can also offer them fruit tree twigs which are brilliant for their teeth so you can give them apple twigs and these can be fresh from the garden or you can hand buy products like this.

It can be apple twigs, willow twigs, but it's really for them to chew and keep their teeth worn down. You'll also find on the market many types of dried herbs and chew sticks. Try and pick ones that are natural and not ones filled with colorants as that can cause health issues.

Your hamster will need to be cleaned up once a week. Remove the hamster and place it in a secure carrier. Place some of those bedding in there as well so it's got its own smell and feel safe and secure.

Take out all the enrichment from the cage and spray it all down with a pet disinfectant similar to this one. Once you sprayed it all down, wash it all down and then dry it out and refill it with correct bedding and lots and lots of enrichment. Don't be afraid to rearrange it and add new things.

They need variety so keep it busy and make it different regularly for them. Scatter feed their dry mix and hide it in little tunnels and houses. Don't feed them by a bowl.

You'll end up with a fat and quite bored hamster