we're getting a hammie.....

[booklady]

ok, last week we stopped in one of the small local pet stops to pick up some meds for one of our mice and hubby caught sight of an adorable "little" hammie. we managed to make it out of the store then without him, cuz we were on our way to a dental apointment, but hubby keeps thinking about this lil guy, so he's going back monday in hopes he's still there..
Hubby has already named this guy Ben.. as in Big Ben or Gentle Ben, etc.. this "little" hammie was HUGE!! he was the biggest hamster we've ever seen, filled up both hands to hold him. Was fairly tame though.. he came right over and sniffed our fingers, didn't try to bite at all. so, if he's still there monday, we'll be adding a hammie to our list.....

we picked up a big 95 qt plastic tub for him tonight and we've got enough spare stuff from the mice that he'll have the basics, we'll have to see if he fits in any of our wheels or not though :)

anyone know if hammies do well on dirt? or should we stick with the "artificial" beddings?? we've been thinking of switiching at least some of the mice (ie the boys..) over to dirt

[LaGypsyEyes]

dirt...? Hmm... I dont know..I mean since they are naturally from the wild... I dont think domesticated hamsters will like it much though...

I could be wrong. Im curious for an answer to this myself.

[TiaMaria]

Dirt!! No way!! The dust from dirt will cause respitory infections, stick to aspen or carefresh, even toilet paper or paper towel..no dirt please!

[booklady]

good to know!
no dirt for hammie...
we were just wondering about that since we've been hearing that it's ok for the mice and helps cut down on the boy mouse stink (which is considerable with 7 boys.. *sigh*)
he'll stay on carefresh then, we've got tons of it around here since that's what the mice have been on..
thanks!

[TiaMaria]

Mice can go on dirt..but carefresh is best for hamsters! :)

[yodelinghamster]

yes co carefresh!! lol!

[booklady]

*sulk* just called the pet store to see if the hammie in question was still there.. took a while to get them to understand which hammie i was talking about (they didn't have _that_ many when we were in there...) they said he was already gone...
so we might not be getting a hammie today after all... hubby's still going to check on his way home tonight just in case they were talking bout a different one..
hubby was set on getting that particular one though and doesn't seem too keen on getting any other one.. drat.. we'd gotten his bin all set up last night and ready to go and i'd gotten all excted about adding a hammie to the mix....
*sigh*

[TiaMaria]

Well i hope u get him if he is still there, and if not, i hope your hubby reconsiders and gets a different one, you guys can love just as much :)

[Zouave]

>> 95 qt plastic tub <<

Big enough, if it is deep. A little warning about plastic tubs. On rare occasions a hammie will be so determined (and strong) to get out they can gnaw through the corner wall of the plastic. This rarely happens, but I have seen it occur. So just check every day to be sure no holes are slowly appearing.

Good luck with the new fella.

[booklady]

well, the hammie hubby wanted was gone.. but we're going to look around and see if we can find another..

the tub is nice and deep, and we do know that they like to chew, so whenever we do find one to bring home, we plan on checking things at least once a day.. not a new routine since we also have 14 mice (7 of them males.. *sigh* thanks to a surprise litter 2 weeks after we brought one of the gals home..) so i regualrly check on all of them for water levels, food status, fights, injuries, etc, etc....

[booklady]

well, we've found one.. a little black female, about 6 months old or so.. from a local rescue.. we'll be picking her up on Thursday!!
woohoo :)
haven't seen her yet, but we're all excited about adding her to our little group...

[TiaMaria]

Thats Great!!!!!!!! Congratz!!