Help!!!!

[ilovepinchy]

ok...so my hamster got caught on one of the bars on her cage. she was like that for at least a couple of hours while i was in school. when i got her down, her ankle was all pinched and it didn't seem like the bone was connected anymore. she would drag her leg behind her, but she doesnt cry or anything. today i noticed that her paw has no color it looks all purple and black. i think the blood got cut off. but now she's sort of relies on that foot for support and still tries to climb. will her leg heal? or will it remain broken? someone please help!! :confused: :( :confused:

[Hedgemom]

She needs a vet. She may be developing gangrene in that foot. Gangrene can kill her. It will remain broken and decay while on her body without medical attention. Hamsters deserve veterinary care just like a dog or cat.

[HammieLover]

I agree Hed just because they are smaller that does not mean they are ok. Take her to the vet ASAP :)

[PetLuver21257]

Please take her to a vet. And also, to prevent anything like that from happening again, please get a 10 gallon aquarium! They have no bars that they can get caught in and they are very safe! They only cost about $7 and a screen top only costs like $3-$5. It's a good investment if you ask me. (Going to the vet can get quite costly!)

Here is a link to a picture of one:

http://www.hamsterific.com/HamsterUniversity/images/Cages10.jpg

I hoped that this helped!

[Hedgemom]

An aquarium, especially a 10 gallon one, is not a suitable home. The lack of ventilation causes ammonia to build up and that can cause respiratory damage. Also there isn't enough room.

Wire cages, especially those from Martin's Cage, are perfectly safe IF they were designed for hamsters. Proper wire spacing and grid size will prevent most injuries. Sometimes accidents just plain happen.

[PetLuver21257]

Well, I own a Russian Dwarf hamster in a 10 gallon tank. She is very happy. The tank I have has a screen top and clips. I personally think that aquariums make good homes for hamsters.

But, you're right though, the ventilation for an aquarium isn't as good as it is for wire cages. But air still gets in and out.

The positives for glass aquariums:

1. If there is a draft near by (there never should be...), that draft wouldn't get in as much as it would with a wire cage
2. The hamster can't escape (if their is a wire screen top, and it has clips)
3. The hamster can't chew the bars, because their aren't any...
4. The hamster can't get any injuries from a barless cage. (Such as getting stuck in the bars, or the paint chipping off and the hamster eating it etc.)

I really think that an aquarium is a good home for a hamster.

PLUS: For a Syrian hamster, you can get a 20-30 gallon aquarium. They come in different sizes you know, for only a few $ more. ;)

[Hedgemom]

Cons:

1. Poor ventilation leads to lung and respiratory scarring/damage
2. Too short to have an appropriate sized solid surface wheel unless the top is removed
3. Unnoticed sunlight can cause the aquarium to quickly become a sauna, killing the hamster with heat
4. Lids are often poorly fitted and easily removed by escaping hamsters. Lids can also be knocked off by other animals, resulting in the death of the hamster

Countering your cons:
1. A draft is deadly whether the cage is solid or wire. Drafts can come through the wire lid.

2. The hamster CAN escape, especially if cheap clips are used or the owner is lazy and doesn't properly clip them.

3. Wire chewing is from stress and lack of activity. A properly cared for hamster doesn't chew the wires. Without wires, where does one put the hamster food? In a bowl that sits on the floor and can easily be soiled with litter/bedding. The bottle must hang from the top of the cage, causing the lid to not fit properly. Toys, ladders, hammocks and other play items can not be hung from the wire walls or ceiling because you don't have one.

4. A proper hamster wire cage doesn't have the wire spacing that causes injuries and a proper cage doesn't have paint to chip off.

A wire cage is healthier. A glass aquarium is heavy and hard to carry into the bath for proper cleaning every week. Most people who use aquariums never scrub them, leaving them to become breeding grounds full of bacteria. A wire cage is quick to clean and easily sanitized.

Seriously, aquariums are for fish and pygmy mice. Anything else requires a wire cage or solid surface cage for healthy, happy living.

[ratbrat21]

i have my mice in an aquarium and my gerbils and they seem fine. I wash them out all the time and give fresh bedding all the time. I think aquariums are good cages....IF you keep them clean. I wash all my cages once or twice a week whether they are wire or aquariums.

[HammieLover]

I agree aquariums and bins are fine :) As long as you see that your Hammy is happy. I do have a wire cage for my Hammies.

[HammieLover]

I clean my wire cage each Monday and Friday same week :) I like to see them happy, and i clean their tubes every single day.

[PetLuver21257]

Hedgemom, I am not going to argue with you, but I feel very strongly (in a good way) about my aquarium cage.
A properly cared for hamster doesn't chew the wires. Without wires, where does one put the hamster food? In a bowl that sits on the floor and can easily be soiled with litter/bedding. The bottle must hang from the top of the cage, causing the lid to not fit properly. Toys, ladders, hammocks and other play items can not be hung from the wire walls or ceiling because you don't have one.

I put my hamster's food in a bowl on the ground, where else do you put it? Also, my water bottle has this thing that you put the actual bottle into and a metal part hangs from the outside of the cage whilst the major metal part and the water bottle are inside the cage. The lid fits on perfectly. I bought my cage as a set that came with almost everything (including the fitting water bottle) a hamster needs. The screen top on my cage can have things hanging down... I just choose not to have any. Kiba (my hamster) has little tubes and an extra play house in her cage and is perfectly satisfied, so she doesn't need anything to hang down. I also think that those toys are rip offs! Any hamster toys that cost a lot of money that you can make yourself are rip offs!
Also: 2. Too short to have an appropriate sized solid surface wheel unless the top is removed
What? Kiba's wheel looks like this:
http://www.petdiscounters.com/files/images/d_4507.jpg

She doesn't need to have her lid off for that!
The hamster CAN escape, especially if cheap clips are used or the owner is lazy and doesn't properly clip them.
Well, if the owner is too lazy to remember to put on clips, then that owner shouldn't own a hamster! Also, the clips that I have aren't cheep, when I put them on, and I try to take off the top while they are on, I can't do it! And I bet you a hamster can't do it either!

A properly cared for hamster doesn't chew the wires
In other words, a happy hamster wouldn't chew the wires. So why should a happy hamster try to escape?
And not only lazy people forget to put on the clips, things like that happen! Once, I forgot to put on the clips after playing with her and I went to bed. In the morning, she was asleep inside her little wooden hideaway house. She didn't try to escape in other words...
Unnoticed sunlight can cause the aquarium to quickly become a sauna, killing the hamster with heat
Can't that happen to wire cages too with direct sunlight?!?!

Anyway, I feel that both an aquarium and a wire cage have their pros and cons and they equal out in the end. I guess it just depends on what the owner will get for their hamster...

[HammieLover]

Petluver i strongly agree with you! If your Hammie is happy there should be no reason whats so ever to listen to other people to change your aquarium :) If he is happy you must be doing the right thing. And yes i had a Gerbil in an aquarium and it lived 3 years and a half so i think an aquarium is good enough.

Oh and Hedgemom im sorry to say this but we are here to help someone not to argue about our cages ok?

[PetLuver21257]

Thank you HammieLover! If aquariums were so "bad" to have, then why do pet stores still sell them, or why do hamster owners still buy them, you know? Anyway, I am done arguing and I think I made a good point. And hedgemom, you can have your hamsters in whatever cage you want them to be in, but mine is staying in her aquarium!

[HammieLover]

I know right, if people buy them and they still selling them it must be good :) And hello thats were the pet stores have them, have you ever notice that HEDGEMOM? Well anyway Petluver you are doing the right thing :)

[PetLuver21257]

Yes hammielover! Well, I think that now is the time to stop making "negative" comments and arguing here... I have definatly done enough of that! lol :D

Thanks again Hammielover for agreeing with me, I am sure that other hamster/gerbil owners here have glass aquariums!

[HammieLover]

Lol im sure they do :)

[ratbrat21]

i know i do lol. Aquariums are good cages to have. Like i said before i personally have all my mice in aquariums and my gerbils. You just gotta keep it clean, but you gotta do that with all cages anyways ya know lol. And your right, there are pros and cons to each. Anyways im done lol.

[HammieLover]

Awww i just read your signature and its totaly true! Feeders are the best :)

[ratbrat21]

thanks :) I'm really glad you agree with me ;)

[HammieLover]

I do i cant even see a fish being kill lol, i cant even kill a roach :)