Photos! Newly Rescued Dwarfs!

[Zouave]

Three new dwarfs! Rescued from a pet store yesterday where they had been ill (OK now) and headed for a snake bin. :mad:

I will name them later, and give further details in due course. It is nice to see them interacting, and I do now admit that SOME dwarfs can live safely in groups; depends on the dwarf I suppose.

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL19/924030/5364842/68600735.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL19/924030/5364842/68600779.jpg

[Padfoot]

Cute little guys! The white with black eyes looks like my niece's hamster, Snoopy. 8) He's white with black eyes and ears. Here's a picture of him:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/padfoot82/Hamsters/Snoopy.jpg

If they are all the same, maybe you can try and keep them together... 8)

[Zouave]

They CAME together.

The black-eyed white one is a little messed-up on his underside owing to their illness: he has little fur but it seems alright. The pet store and rescue person I know gave them tetracycline when they came in and they perked up.

So far, they seem to be getting along. And Jerry the dwarf, who was moved into their tall cage with ramps and levels (after a thorough cleaning), has been able to negotiate the ramps quite nicely. The three were moved into Jerry's Habittrail Space station with three add-ons that was too big for one dwarf - a waste of space.

They are very tame.

[Padfoot]

Cool!

I have always read that dwarfs are a bit wild... but I have 4 (and my nieces have 1) and out of the 5 hamsters only 1 is a wild savage girl that likes to bite. She lives in with her daughter, but lately they have been fighting, so I separated them. I have a male and a female together and they get along great. The wild one was in with that male and female before but she used to fight them too, so I separated her. She had that litter of 1 female and I kept them together cause she seemed to be ok with it.. but now she's not... She's just a problematic little hamster.. hehe

[J mouse]

Your hamsters are sooooo cute!!! :hyper: I wish I had a dwarf... Are they hard to handle?

[Zouave]

Two things concerned me previously.

I had heard dwarfs were very bitey and I'd need gloves to handle them! Not so in my case. All five of mine are calm and tame, and the three above especially so. They are so light in weight it was surprising at first.

There has been some discussion on boards about dwarfs together. I had read many horror stories about fighting and injuries, so I figured it was safer to keep them all alone. They are not especially social like gerbils so it didn't really seem to matter. These three came together and right now are being housed together in that Habitrail Spacestation with add-ons. Lots of room and two wheels.

They seem to get along, although every now and then I hear squabling noises, but no one gets hurt. It is like a bunch of rude kids shoving each other and yelling, and then they forget about it! I hope this jostling never turns into a real fight.

Anyone else with experience housing groups of dwarfs??

Meanwhile, Jerry, the dwarf who was living alone in the Habitrail (too much room for one), has been moved to their cage which has ramps and two levels; he manages them very well. I also added a plastic house and a wheel for him.

[Zouave]

BTW, regarding the above mentioned tetracycline. It is apparently in the pencillin family, and its use on hamsters is in some question. I would definitely recommended speaking to a hamster vet before ever using it. Its use (successfully) on this trio may have been out of desperation.

[Zouave]

Here is what the rescue person said in response to the tetracycline question. She is experienced and very caring. So I don't know, but the issue deserves further online research by those interested. Of course in an ideal world where we are all wealthy and seek the optimum treatment we would be able to run off to a good hamster vet every time we see something wrong.

-> Re: Use of tetracyclene... Every antibiotic will have
> it's downside, but I know that many sick & near-death
> rodents I have treated owe their lives to
> tetracyclene. I have used it to treat rodents for
> years with much success, on the recommendation from an
> exotics vet back in San Diego. It is perhaps not the
> first choice in an antibiotic, but is cost-effective
> and I think the success speaks for itself, at least in
> my experience. An instance in which I would NOT use it
> would be in a female who is either pregnant or
> nursing, as it can cause problems in the young. Also,
> in the case of intestinal/digestive disorders,
> "Marvel-Aid" - a general antibiotic for birds - can be
> used. Just for your medicine chest info. (:

[wheels]

I have 3 dwarf hamsters. I am housing two russian dwarf's together, and one russian dwarf by itself. All 3 of them are very friendly. The third russian dwarf, Ginger, is very friendly to humans, but does not like to be around other hamsters. To me, how the hamster will act depends on how it is rasied. Obviously, dwarf's that are bred are going to be a bit more tame then a pet store hamster. You also have to factor in personality. Naturally, hamsters see us as people who are going to hurt them, and instinct is to bite. If properly raised, and handled correctly, the dwarf's should be friendly towards humans. If they are mishandled, and not raised correctly, there is more of a chance that the hamster will bite, in what it see's as self defense.

Personally, I think the syrian breed is overall more tame then the dwarf breed, but that is a whole different topic.

[turtlegirl1073]

wow, those are really cute!!!! i was thinking about dwarves, but i decided that i would rather have a hammy that is boring to watch, but fun to play with.

[townprep]

I have 2 Dwarf Hamsters and mine are quite tame. I've only had them since Thursday and one immediately took to me and the other one was used to me by this last weekend. They don't seem very "wild" to me but maybe I just got lucky. They stay in the same cage together and they love it and they love coming out into their balls and one even will sit on my shoulder and walk with me places and sit on my lap when I watch TV although sometimes he gets curious and wanders away but he always is in sight and reach.

[SBonnier]

Hi Zouave, I know you read my post about my dwarfs and their fights. The dark eyed one looks very weak right now and I would suggest keeping her alone. Another breeder suggested to me to get vitamins supplements to put in my gerbils water to help them gain a little more strength. This might help perk your guys up even more. I also found using spray millet made for birds helped my gerbils coat and vitality. My dwarfs absolutely loved spray millet and rolled oats. Both will help them gain their health back a little quicker. Just keep checking the black eyed one as much as possible and if he shows any new bites on him, then get him away from the other two. Good luck and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!

[Zouave]

I am watching the black-eyed one for any signs of bites. None.

They have spray millet. And veggies including dandelion.

I think I'll make them a little scrambled egg.

If I removed the dark-eyed one, I would be concerned about re-introducing her later. I have no place for a single critter right now.

[Zouave]

wow, those are really cute!!!! i was thinking about dwarves, but i decided that i would rather have a hammy that is boring to watch, but fun to play with.


When I have time I create places for Syrians to climb on and explore and try to escape from. It is not boring to watch; in fact, it is quite funny.

[SBonnier]

Hi Zouave, these are the cages I was using for my dwarfs. They are 16 quart storage container with locking lids. The floor space is almost equal to a 10 gal aquarium. I only paid $3.99 each for them at K-Mart and $5.00 for a big roll of hardware cloth. These worked out really well for the dwarfs and gave them plenty of room to run around in. Although it may be harder to re-introduce them later and least you know she'll be safe. Hope I helped a little.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v498/sbonnier/Picture3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v498/sbonnier/Picture2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v498/sbonnier/Picture1.jpg

[Zouave]

I haven't heard any squeaking all night, and I have been up. The darker one is sleeping in the outpost and on the other side of the cage the others are in the explorer. All is peaceful.

[Mistertron]

Zouave - good on you for rescuing the hammys! its so cruel that hamsters are sold as feeders :( . Sounds like they are in good hands now and i hope they are happy in their new home. If only there were more people like you in the world!