Personal items for your ceremony such as flowers or candles. Something to dig a grave for your hamster. A marker for the grave site. Bury your hamster.
After you have found a good site for your hamster to be buried and have collected the materials needed, it is time to bury your hamster. You will need to dig a deep grave for your hamster and fill it in properly to prevent any birds or animals from disturbing it. Try to dig at least two feet down. Once your hamster is inside its container, place the container inside the hole. Place stones over the container before filling the top of the hole in with dirt.
Place a marker and complete your ceremony. Once you have finished burying your hamster you will want to place a marker. The marker will help you remember exactly where you have laid your hamster to rest.
Placing the marker and finalizing your ceremony will help you to say goodbye to your friend and serve as a reminder of your time together. Your marker can be something simple, such as a stone that you can place in the ground.
You can paint, draw, engrave, or carve anything you want to on your hamster's marker. Part 2. Experience your grief. Losing a pet can be a difficult and painful time. Many powerful emotions are likely to be experienced during this time and they will need to be worked through.
Don't be afraid to experience and process these emotions during the following stages of loss: [2] X Trustworthy Source The Humane Society of the United States National organization devoted to the promotion of animal welfare Go to source [3] X Research source Denial is usually the first feeling to arise during a time of loss, being a kind of disbelief in regards to the loss.
Anger is a reaction to the pain of loss. Depression is generally felt right before acceptance. It can be a quiet sadness before letting your pet go. Acceptance is that final stage where you have fully come to terms and integrated your loss.
Talk about it. It might be tempting to deal with your feelings of loss alone. However, talking about your loss with friends and family can help you share your feelings and work towards accepting the loss. Speak with your family and friends to lessen the pain of losing your hamster.
Try writing down your feelings. After the loss of your hamster, you might want to consider writing your thoughts down. Expressing your feelings by writing after the loss of your hamster can help you understand and work through them during grieving process. Try some of the following written formats that you can use to express your feelings: [5] X Trustworthy Source The Humane Society of the United States National organization devoted to the promotion of animal welfare Go to source Journaling Poetry Essay or short stories about your hamsters life.
You can even try writing a letter to your hamster that explains how important they were to you. Take your time. Overcoming the feelings of grief that can come from losing a pet will take different amounts of time for everyone.
Don't be in a rush to feel better and allow yourself time to process and come to terms with your loss. There is no hurry or set time line that you must feel better by. Listen to yourself and you will know when the time is right for a new hamster.
Losing a pet is difficult, and being bullied about it is even more traumatic. Tell an adult or teacher, as they should never allow bullying regardless of the situation. Also, take a moment to tell your loved ones about your feelings. And like Su said a stressful environment can make them more prone to illness. BUT waking your ham up once is more likely to annoy them than scare them!
She could be a little bit freaked out at being disturbed, when my ham had tubes she would sometimes run and sit in there for a while if say I dropped something or made a sudden noise and accidentally woke her up during the day, they feel secure in tubes.
But it's not something that will do them any real harm as a one-off, you shouldn't make a habit of it though. You can choose whether or not you want to breed them at this point. Make sure that your female hamster wants to breed because otherwise, it could become aggressive and attack the male. You will know that your female hamster is pregnant because it will be fatter about 2 weeks after mating, and it will move around less.
It will also become more and more aggressive as it gets closer to its due date. Female hamsters are usually pregnant for about 18 to 22 days. Most commonly, it gives birth to 4 to 6 hamsters. However, depending on the type of your hamster, there can also be less than 3 or more than Be careful because sometimes female hamsters eat their babies. If you know that your hamster is pregnant and you hear it squeaking, it could mean that it is getting into labor. Female hamsters want to give birth alone so that they can focus.
It will give birth to the hamsters in 10 to minute intervals and cut off the umbilical cord on its own. It tends to clean the area after the birth of each hamster. Make sure you give your female hamster enough food and water. It can think that they are in danger and eat their babies.
Your hamster is injured If you notice that your hamster is squeaking, it might be in pain or injured. Sick or injured hamsters tend to hide, so if you notice your hamster hiding, make sure you check for any injuries. The most common injuries in hamsters are cuts and scrapes. Try to figure out what it got cut on so you can remove it and reduce the chances of your hamster cutting itself on it again. Your hamster will probably squeak as soon as it cuts itself, so it should be easy to see what it has cut itself on.
To clean the cut, you can use some lukewarm water and a cotton pad. It could also have abscesses in the mouth. Regardless of where they are located, they are very painful for your hamster, and they will have to be drained by a vet Ultimate Guide to Breeding Syrian Hamsters All Syrian hamsters that you can find on the market today have originated from the original 3 Syrian hamsters that were bred in the s.
Because they frequently go into heat and their pregnancy lasts for a short amount of time, Syrian hamsters are able to produce more babies than mice and rats.
If you want to breed your hamsters, you will have to get involved. All-female hamsters come into heat every 4 days, which means that you can breed them every 4 days. There are some things you should think about before you decide to breed your hamster. Responsible breeders have to take into consideration the size of the hamster, the depth of the color, quality of markings and fur, and health along with the good temperament. You also have to think about whether or not you have enough room to keep 20 hamsters at the same time considering that each of them has to be in its own cage.
Syrian hamsters live for about 3 years, so try to think about whether you can afford to feed that many hamsters for 3 years and provide toys. Keep in mind that there will also be unexpected trips to the vet. You should also think about whether you can cope if the mother eats its babies, or if it dies during labor. Table of Contents What are the Syrian hamsters? How to breed Syrian hamsters? How often do Syrian hamsters go into heat? How do you know when your hamster is ready to mate?
How long are Syrian hamsters pregnant for? How many babies do Syrian hamsters have? Do hamsters kill their babies? When should I separate my Syrian hamsters? How do you take care of Syrian hamster babies? How to take care of the mother?
What are the Syrian hamsters? Syrian hamsters are hamsters that originated from dry parts of Syria and Turkey. They are also known as golden hamsters. They are the most common hamsters people keep as pets because they are easy to tame and take care of and fun to play with. Most of these hamsters will have golden brown fur with a lighter belly. You can, however, find Syrian hamsters in many different colors because of the selective breeding. Syrian hamsters have been bred since the s both for scientific purposes and for pet shops.
They are 5 to 9 inches long and they weigh about 5 ounces. If you take good care of them you can expect them to live for 2 to 4 years. In the wild, Syrian hamsters are very solitary and territorial. It is very important that you always keep your Syrian hamsters separated and that each of them has its own cage.
Syrian hamsters will tolerate each other while they are still young, but as they grow up they will become more aggressive and even kill each other. You should also keep your Syrian hamster from any pets because they could get into a fight.
Syrian hamsters are nocturnal, which means that they sleep during the day and are active during the night. They usually wake up in the evening.
They will sometimes come to the side of their cage if they see you and most hamsters will like sleeping in your hands. Syrian hamsters need very big cages because they need a lot of exercises. The smallest cage you can put your Syrian hamster into can be 1x2x1 feet.
You can choose between a plastic cage that has a wire on the top and a glass aquarium. While the glass aquarium allows your hamster to see the outside world better, the wire cage allows better airflow. Make sure your hamster has a lot of toys in its cage. If you have more than one hamster, make sure that each hamster has its own toys, water bottles, and food bowls.
You should also give your hamster wooden blocks so it has something to chew on and always place a sleeping nest in the cage. You will have to add bedding to the bottom of the cage.
It is not recommended that you use cedar or pine bedding because it can cause respiratory problems for your hamster. Because they are omnivores, you can give them some cooked chicken, hardboiled eggs, or insects. A hamster that has mites will be itchy, and it will lose hair in patches.
Make sure you take your hamster to the vet if you suspect that it has mites. Another common health problem that hamsters can develop is overgrown teeth. You can get a Syrian hamster from a pet shop or a reputable breeder or a rescue group.
Rescue groups and breeders take better care of their hamsters. When trying to pick which one to get, always observe them while they are awake.
Some sellers will wake up their hamsters with treats during the day so you will be able to decide which one you want. You will recognize a healthy hamster because it will be active and curious. A healthy hamster will have clean fur and clear and bright eyes. Never get a hamster that has trouble breathing or a dirty bottom- How to breed Syrian hamsters?
To breed your Syrian hamsters, you will need a box that is 18 inches square and about 12 inches high. Place the female hamster and the male hamster into the box and watch how they act. The female hamster will put its nose under the belly of the male hamster to try and turn it onto its back. If this happens, you should take the female hamster out of the box and try to mate them some other night. In most cases, mating will be successful if both of your hamsters have been bred before.
You should leave them to mate for about 20 to 30 minutes but keep an eye on them in case any of them loses interest.
If they do, they will get aggressive and start fighting. Remove the female from the box after 20 to 30 minutes, or if you notice that either of them is losing interest. Female hamsters become sterile when they are 12 to 14 months old, but some of them still go into heat. If you are considering breeding your hamsters to sell the babies to pet stores or even online, you should think again.
You should also check laws about selling hamsters in your state. Female Syrian hamsters go into heat every four days, but that depends on the season. The female hamster should be at least 13 weeks old because younger hamsters have problems in pregnancy. Male hamsters are always ready to mate, you will have to see if your female hamster is ready to mate. We know that female hamster comes into heat about every 4 days, and some come into heat every 3 to 5 days. They will go into heat during the evening and this can last between 4 and 24 hours.
Before the female comes into heat it will produce a strong musky smell. You will probably notice this more in the summer. A day after your female hamster goes into heat you will be able to notice a thick white discharge which can make its urine appear cloudy. It will usually go into heat again 3 days after you notice this. Female hamsters are pregnant for 16 days, which is one of the shortest pregnancies in mammals. You can give it some runny porridge, or bread soaked in milk.
You can also give it some sunflower seeds from the twelfth day of the pregnancy to help with lactation. About two days before the female is supposed to have babies, you have to clean the cage and put a lot of new bedding so that the female can make a nest.
You should also remove any old and uneaten food and put new food in the cage. In most cases, the babies will be born after 6 p. Most babies will be born in the first few hours, however, some might not come until the next evening.
Once your hamster has given birth you should continue giving it food with milk and sunflower seeds, but you should be careful with how much milk you put in the bowl. Baby hamsters can walk and they might wander and drown in the milk. You might also want to sprinkle some solid food into the nest for babies to eat. On average, a Syrian hamster will have 4 to 12 babies.
Sometimes it can happen that your hamster has up to 20 babies. This depends on the age of your hamster. You could end up with babies that are born without eyes or teeth and they will probably die in the first two weeks of their life. This can also happen if you breed two Syrian hamsters with a recessive anophthalmia gene.
The female hamster will think that they are in danger and eat them. You will notice that some female hamsters let their babies wander and explore the cage, while others drag their babies by the paw or tailback to the nest. When the babies are 14 days old, you can try to clean any wet areas of the cage, remove any old food and water and add fresh food and water, but you have to be careful not to upset the female hamster. Syrian hamsters are solitary, which means that they live alone, and you will need to place each hamster into its own cage.
Usually, Syrian hamsters have to be removed from the cage when they are 8 to 10 weeks old. It is advisable that you remove them even earlier. If your hamsters become sexually mature and you still keep them together, it could lead to babies becoming pregnant, or the mother becoming pregnant again.
You can split them from their mother as early as 21 days after they were born. Hamster babies will be born naked and blind. They will weigh less than 0. They will start nursing right away. By the time they are 4 days old, they will have doubled in weight, their ear canals will start to open and you will be able to see their fur.
They will start to crawl around 6 days of age and by the time they are 10 days old, they will blindly wander around the cage and eat solid food. The eyes of the baby hamsters open when they are two weeks old and they are finally able to see.
Their mother will nurse them until they are three months old and then lose interest. After four months the mother will abandon them but it will still tolerate if you keep them in the same cage for a while. If your female hamster abandons its babies, you will have to try and find a surrogate mother, or hand raises them, which is very difficult. If you decide to hand raise them you will have to talk to your vet and they will advise you on how to do it.
You will need to get a special baby formula and a syringe to feed them and you will have to feed them every hour during the whole day and night. It would be better and easier if you got another female hamster that would raise the babies.
You should then convince the other mother to come out of its cage by offering it a treat and place the orphan babies with its other babies. You can help your female hamster take care of its babies by adding some strips of toilet paper in the cage to create soft, clean bedding that it can use to make a nest.
Make sure you clean the cage completely before the babies arrive. You should feed your female hamster with a high-quality hamster diet that has a lot of protein all throughout its pregnancy and until the babies are weaned. You can feed your female hamster with some hardboiled eggs, cooked chicken, cheese, and wheat germ.
You should always keep an eye on its water bottle to make sure it always has fresh water. You will upset the mother if you try to touch the babies or get your scent on them. If you absolutely have to move a baby hamster for some reason, do it with a spoon so you avoid leaving any of your scent on the baby. The mother will be very protective and it will be more aggressive than it usually is.
It will try to bite you or stand on its back legs if you get too close to the babies. And Mongolia, which is right next to China.
This hamster is very different from the Dwarf types Roborovski, Campbell, Djungarian , partly because of how he looks, and partly because of temperament. Chinese hamsters are halfway between a Dwarf and a Syrian in terms of size. The Chinese hamster has a long body, fairly thin, and a generally brown color on the back, with a thing dark stripe going down the back, and white on their belly.
These hammies are not social like Dwarf types, instead the lean more towards Syrians in terms of solitude. They like being alone, on their own, and they get along just fine.
Females in particular are more aggressive towards other hamsters, but both sexes will start a deathmatch if introduced to another hamster. But after taming they tend to remain calm around humans and like to play with them.
Is the Chinese hamster a Dwarf hamster? But in terms of biology and official naming, Chinese hamsters are not Dwarf hamsters. The only true Dwarf hamsters are those of the Phodophus genus. To be fair, hamsters are a big family, and there are dozens of subspecies. Confusions are fairly common when we look at the hamsters who are not Syrians. Simply because Syrian hamsters are easy to tell apart from every other hamster. The Asian hamsters often look alike to an untrained eye, even if they have a few distinctive features like the presence or absence of a dark stripe, coat colorations, and so on.
These hammies have a shorter looking fur, set closer to the body than the other types. His fur is usually brown, with flecks of dark grey and some white. His belly is whitish, and he has a dark, thin stripe going down his back. Every other hamster has a short, stubby tail, fleshy and hairless. There are other color variations, though not many. The wild color and the most common is the one described above with brown and white.
But breeders have tried for other colors, like a sort of light grey instead of the brown, still with a dark stripe down the back, and a white belly. And there is a 3rd option, of an almost completely white Chinese hamster, with a black spot around one eye. The dark stripe is not usually present in this variation. There is the danger of wet-tail, that threatens all hamsters regardless of type. This disease shows its ugly head mostly when the hamster is young around 4 weeks of age and is separated from the mother, and put into same-sex groups, to later be brought to a pet shop and them home.
The whole process can be a bit stressful for the hamster, and stress s the biggest trigger for wet-tail, though not the only one. Aside from this, Chinese hamsters can have the usual health problems associated with hamsters. Eye infection, ear problems, tumors, fur loss, and so on. There are treatments for most, if not all of these problems. Chinese hamster lifespan and breeding The Chinese hamster can live up to years, depending on genetics and the conditions the hamster is kept in.
In captivity though, with the proper food and care their lifespan has increased significantly. These hamsters are hardy, and they reach adulthood around 12 weeks of life. Pregnancies started past that period can be dangerous both for the female, and the babies.
The usual gestation period for Chinese hamsters is between 18 and 21 days, resulting in a litter of 3 to 15 hamsters. You can find out more about hamster reproduction here, and how to make sure the female carries her pregnancy safely. Chinese hamster food and treats Usually the Chinese hamster will eat grains, along with some fruits and vegetables he can find.
Nuts and seeds are welcome too, along with a couple of insects or mealworms. Without the insects or the mealworms, though. The protein in the commercial hamster food is either soy-based, whey or beef-based. A hamster safe food list will help you figure out which foods from your pantry or fridge are great for hamster snacks. For example a bit of cooked plain chicken, a bit of cheese, a small sized carrot, some lettuce and most leafy greens are all okay for hamster treats.
Not given often though. There are foods you should definitely keep away from your little Chinese hamster, like onions, garlic, leek, citrus aloe vera plant skin, rosemary, and so on.
You can find a safe and unsafe herb guide here as well. Chinese hamster exercise and toys Now, Chinese hamsters are still hamsters. You can check the listing on Amazon here, and see it for yourself. Aside from the wheel, which your hamster will use a-plenty, there are other toys and cage objects he will need.
Like a chew toy or two, or tunnel toys, hide and seek toys, a few puzzle toys as well. Most of these toys can be DYIed at home, out of cardboard. It could be cardboard rolls from paper towels or toilet paper, it could be egg cartons with holes cut in them. Your hamster needs lots exercise and stimulation, to keep him happy and stimulated. This can lead to behaviors like chewing the cage bars, nippy when trying to handle the hamster, and can even develop some illnesses. For example loss of appetite, fur loss, lethargy, can all be triggered by an extremely depressed and listless hamster.
It can be avoided by giving the hamster plenty of toys and stimulation, and a large enough cage. Chinese hamster cage requirements The usual cage requirements for a Chinese hamster vary from continent to continent, sometimes from country to country.
This is because a larger cage will always be preferred, even if the hamster only needs a small space for himself to build a nest.
The rest of the space available he considers his territory, which in the wild can be as large as 3. Given how small this hamster is, he can find some cages easy to escape. If not, try for an Ikea Detolf.
Remove the shelves, lay it on its side, and cover with a wire mesh. The spacing between the bars is small enough so the hamster will not escape. Aside from the ground floor, there is an upper level, which you can set to whichever height you like. You can fit a lot of toys in it, and even the wheel I talked about earlier. Very important, and I know I mentioned this earlier too. Chinese hamsters are not social like Dwarf type hamsters.
This means that keeping more than one Chinese hamster in the cage is not alright, since they will do a lot of fighting. However, hamsters are not as easy to look after as people may think, and a variety of issues can arise when not looked after properly, potentially causing death.
A hamster exposed to stress such as an extremely dirty cage, too much handling or rough handling, or sudden changes in temperature amongst others; for a prolonged period of time can cause major health issues, and some can even be fatal. Animals bred for pet shops are often mistreated and housed in appalling and crowded conditions.
This causes stress in hamsters which in turn can develop transmitted diseases such as wet tail, pneumonia, and others. It is best to avoid buying your hamster from a pet store. As hamsters are at the bottom of the food chain they are good at hiding any physical problems they may be experiencing, it is their survival mechanism. My suggestion- get a hamster from a rescue place or from a reputable breeder; someone that breeds hamster for the love and passion they may have for the animals and not for the money they can get.
If however, you only want one form the pet store; look at the hamster you are intending to get and all the other hamsters it is sharing the cage with. If your hamster or any of the other hamsters are hunching in a corner, have unhealthy looking coats, have sunken eyes, are lethargic, or have a wet tail.
Wet tail is a stress-related disease. It is often treated with antibiotics, but even with treatment, your little furry friend can die within 48 to 72 hours. It occurs when the hamster is exposed to bacterial or viral infections, coupled with environmental stresses such as a dirty cage, sudden low temperatures, droughts, etc…. Hamsters are very clean little creatures. For most of them, there is a clear line between where they sleep to where they go to the toilet.
This will cause a lot of stress in your hamster, potentially developing stresses induce disease such as wet tail. A hamster cage, and all the toys, bowls and bottles, should be cleaned at least once a week, sometimes twice depending on how much your hamster urinates.
If you see your hamster dribbling, moving sluggishly, or lying flat on the cage floor. Just be careful, this awakening can be very abrupt and consequently, they can end up injuring themselves. To potentially avoid any injury hold the hamster over your lap or a table in case it moves very suddenly.
Once your furry friend is awake make sure you rehydrate them with small amounts of watery foods such as cucumber or watermelon; or simple water if they take it. One of the beauties of having a hamster as a pet is that they and all their things are small, so they can be placed anywhere out of the way.
However, what many owners do not realize, is that these guys have a very well developed olfactory system. Losing our beloved furry friends is not easy, but thinking ahead of time whether you want your little friend buried or cremated, will allow you to make the decision that is right for you, rather than making it last minute when you are grieving and under stress.
Although by the time Puffy left us we were expecting it. I avoided thinking about his death for as long as I could, until one day time caught up with us.
I took him to the vets to confirm he was indeed dead. What would you like to do with his body? My mind and heart were with my friendly, courageous, cuddly hamster, not with the limp Puffy in front of me.
I am someone that likes to have all her ducks in a row, but I felt so out of control at that time. So my husband had to take control. In the end, he was buried at the bottom of the garden in a shoebox.
0コメント