Hamster Price in India 2023- Everything You Need To Know

Cage-

Hamsters may be small, but in the wild, they can travel up to 5 miles every single night doing all sorts of things like foraging, looking for nesting materials, burrowing, and so much more. So that’s why it’s important that we have a large hamster cage, because the larger the cage, the more enrichment that you’re able to fit in it, and the more enrichment you can provide your hamster with, the happier the hamster. Personally, the hamster cage should have 800sq inc s  floor space or larger.

Placement of the cage –

Your hamster cage is essentially their entire world, and they do not get to choose when they can come or go. You’ll want to place your hamster’s enclosure somewhere where there usually is the lowest amount of traffic, as well as you, want to keep it out of direct sunlight, unless, of course, you have curtains in which you can close, as well as you, want to keep their enclosure out of any direct drafts.

Bedding-

Bedding is very important as hamsters are ground dwellers and would spend the majority of their time in their burrows, which can go as deep as 31 inches. These burrows would have multiple chambers with things such as their nest, food storage, and even one for their bathroom.

I wouldn’t recommend using anything less than six inches, but ten inches is much more preferred so that it allows them to not just dig, but actually create tunnels. It’s even been studied that hamsters have shown fewer stress behaviours when they were given around 16 inches of bedding.

Unsafe bedding–  pine shavings, cheddar shavings, and scented bedding.

Safe bedding- any paper-based beddings, hemp shavings, spruce shavings, birch shavings, or aspen shavings.

Hamster Wheel-

The hamster’s natural behaviour to forge causes them to have the urge to travel, which is why hamster wheels are a necessity in every cage, but they do not replace a large enclosure. It’s really important we pick the proper size and type for our hamster. A hamster’s wheel needs to be completely solid, as wire and mesh wheels can easily injure a hamster, either by getting toes or legs caught or causing infections on the foot. There are several safe options out there, such as silent runners, silent spinners, wooden wheels, the night angel wheels, as well as quark and wooden wheels.

 A hamster’s back should be completely straight when running, so it’s recommended that Syrian and Chinese hamsters have a ten to twelve-inch wheel and dwarfs should have no smaller than an eight-inch wheel. There is no such thing as too large of a wheel as long as the hamster can spin it. And in fact, the larger the wheel, the more control the hamster has and it prevents them from flying out of the wheel.

Diet-

Diet is an important aspect of any pet’s care. Hamsters are omnivores and in the wild, they would eat a variety of different herbs, vegetables, seeds, grains, insects and sometimes even small mammals. Therefore it’s important that we provide them with a variety of diets. 

Diet is often a very debated topic. Therefore, I highly would recommend you guys to go read the Hamming Ways Guide to Choosing an Appropriate Hamster Food Mix, which will help you understand hamster diets. best hamster food in India

A great tip to include when feeding things like fruits and vegetables or other soft foods is to chop them up into really small bits. As you may know, hamsters are hoarders, so if you’re giving them a large chunk of vegetables, this does have a chance to mould. But if you chop it up into tiny, tiny little bits, this actually will cause the vegetable to rather dry out than mould.

Water-

Water is a necessity. Unfortunately, a myth I have heard is that hamsters don’t need a water source and they can just be fed fruits. Hamsters need a freshwater source all the time. This can either be served in a water bowl or a water bottle. Both of these options are safe as long as you are washing them out and replenishing fresh water every single day.

Cage cleaning –

 A long time ago, it was common to see people cleaning out their hamster’s cages every single week. But we since have then learned that cleaning out a hamster’s cage every single week is not only unnecessary but stressful to the hamster. It’s very likely people had to clean their hamster’s cage every single week if the size of the cage is small. So, it is important to have a large cage.

A study shows that a complete cage clean causes a hamster’s heartbeat increases by 150 beats per minute and takes them 50 minutes to calm back down.

So when using large enclosures in reality we only have to completely clean them out if the hamster has some sort of illness or the hamster has passed. instead, we spot clean! This means any areas that have been peed in, this usually is pretty easy to spot as the bedding will be darker in colour and of course, use your nose! If you need to clean out more try removing 1/3rd of the bedding every couple of weeks, this way it keeps the stress levels down and you eventually get a completely clean cage.

 Grooming-

Hamsters typically do not need to be groomed, on occasion a long-haired Syrian hamster may need you to brush out their fur because sometimes they can get bedding tangled in it or you may need to give it a trim if you notice any mats in its fur. A hamster should not be bathed in water for a couple of reasons, it’s damaging to their coats because they do produce an oil that keeps their coats nice and overwashing them can cause their fur to overproduce those oils. It’s stressful to the hamster as a hamster naturally wouldn’t go in water nor would they swim unless absolutely necessary. 

Instead of a water bath, you can provide them with a sand bath! Sand helps a hamster to properly remove any excess oils that have built up, safely all healthy hamsters need a sand bath. When providing a sand bath you need to avoid any Dust or Powder these can easily cause respiratory infections, instead, use safe sand. A safe option is soft children’s play sand as long as you sift through and bake it or reptile sand that has no calcium or dyes added. Do not use bird sand or cat litter as these can be harmful to your hamster.

 Hamster nails usually stay trim on their own, especially if you are providing different textures in their enclosure, but on occasion, some hamsters’ nails may just grow faster than others and they may need to be clipped. If they are too long they can hurt themselves. 

Teeth are another thing that is constantly growing which is why you need to have natural materials in their enclosure to help keep their teeth worn down as well as hard foods in their diet, Healthy hamster teeth should also be yellow/orange in colour, and in fact, white teeth can indicate either stress or poor nutrition. some hamsters have teeth that grow faster than others, and in this case, you should not clip them yourself. You need to see your local exotic vet who can then trim them for you.

Alone or with a group-

Hamsters unlike the majority of animals actually are solitary. Syrians and Chinese hamsters in particular are solitary in the wild, and while some dwarfs in the wild may be social they still should not be housed together in captivity. This is because it really isn’t natural. We should not house a male and female hamster together due to reproduction a dwarf hamster would not naturally live with a group of the same sex, and they are territorial so they end up fighting. So, it is better to keep them alone.

Human Interaction-

Because hamsters have not been domesticated for long, many will often not be used to human interaction when you get them, and many may be fearful or even bite. Hamsters often will need to be tamed and this can take days, weeks, months sometimes even years. and oftentimes there are many hamsters who prefer no human interaction at all besides just regularly feeding them, and spot-cleaning their enclosure. Keep in mind hamsters are nocturnal/crepuscular so they may not be awake when you are, and this means you should not be waking your hamster up during the day to play with them because it simply just isn’t nice.