hi sorry my sister wrote that

Question
hi! I have been spoiling my 2 syrian hamsters.  i have been feeding them lettace, tomatoes, american cheese, roast beef, cicken, (never fried) strawberries, bananas, and some more.  is that healthy? i give them some of those foods everyday.  i am a  little nervous.

My hamsters have mated several times, but they still nerver got pregnant.  do you think they will ever get pregnant?  if you think so, then when do you think it will happen.


how can you tell if it is a syrian hamster?

What do you know about panda hamsters?

How do you get rid of the urine smell on them?  i clean my hamsters cage every week.  It still smells.  I gave my hamster a bath but that was a bad idea because i aasked Heather and she said so.

Answer
Hi Brianna

The first thing is to establish what type of hamsters these are.  If they are Syrian, they should be living in their own cages otherwise they will fight.  If they are dwarf they can live together providing you want them to mate.  If you go onto www.thehamstersite.com there are some photos of the different types of hamsters which might help you identify which ones you have.

In terms of pregnancy, female hamsters come into season every 4 days and can be pregnant any time after 4 weeks - although the ideal time to mate hamsters is when they are 4-6 months old.  The gestation period for a Syrian is 16-18 days, for a dwarf it is 18-21 days.  At 4 weeks the males have to be separated out of the cage and put into a cage away from the females to prevent more pregnancies.  At 6 weeks (if they are Syrian) they all need a cage of their own.  If your hamsters are dwarf ones, you should note that they will mate again the day a litter is born, therefore a second litter could appear 18 days later.  It is therefore important to be clear why you want to mate them and if you can find sufficient homes for the babies otherwise you could get over-run.  Also, it is important not to over-mate a female as she can get quite tired and sick if she is continually getting pregnant.  

In terms of food - lettuce should only be given in moderation.  This is because it can cause diarrhea and make your hamster very sick.  I only give a small amount of this once every couple of weeks.  The type of food they should be given are:  dry hamster mix (should be available all the time).  This can be bought in the pet shop.  Ideally they should be given a small amount of fresh fruit/vegetable daily: such as peas, corn on the cob, cabbage, broccoli, apple, spinach etc.  I have never fed any of mine meat (because I'm vegetarian and don't have this in the house) - in moderation it should be OK, but it must not be salted or fried.  You can feed a little piece of fish and scrambled egg.  Again, it is important that no salt or flavoring has been added.  The key thing is to vary their diet so it is well balanced.  Nuts and seeds can also be given.

With regard to the urine smell.  Cleaning the cage weekly is good.  Do you use any disinfectant on the cage?  If not, you can buy a special one that is safe for small animals.  What type of bedding have you given them?  Have they got wood chippings?  These should help absorb the urine and stop the cage from smelling, but it is very important that you don't use wood chippings from cedar, pine or cypresses as they contain an oil that is deadly to hamsters.  Only use a bedding/wood chipping that is packaged specially for small animals and is safe.  You can train some hamsters to use a 'hamster toilet'.  There are special 'hamster toilets' that look like triangular plastic containers - you can probably find them on the Internet.  You also need to buy a packet of the special 'hamster litter'.  If you place some of the litter in the bottom, and then some of the hamster's soiled bedding in this, then clean the cage out thoroughly and put this in the corner that they use as a toilet, there is a good chance that they will start to use this.  Sometimes it takes a few attempts to get them to use it.  If they do, then this can be rinsed out daily, with the rest of the cage being cleaned weekly.  If you can't get the special hamster litter, woodchippings will be OK to put in there instead.

Hamsters should not be given a bath unless there is some medical condition that requires it.  You can give them a dust bath - for this you need to buy the special chinchilla dust.  If you put a small amount in a low dish, the hamster will roll around in this.  I give mine this as a treat once in a while.  Some of them love it, others ignore it!

I hope this helps.

Regards