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Interesting information, facts and tips about Hamsters
1. Campbell's Dwarf Hamsters are a very new breed that has
only been sold as pets since the last half of the 1990's.
2. Hamsters can be taught to come when you call their name.
3. Hamsters can remember their relatives even when they have
been separated for a long time.
4. Dwarf hamsters normally live about one and one half to
two years but some have lived as long as four years.
5. Wild hamsters dig long tunnels underground that go down
as far as three feet deep.
6. Hamsters line their tunnels with hair or wool from other
animals and with dried grasses. This acts as insulation and
helps to keep the burrow temperature comfortable no matter
what temperature it is outside.
7. Hamsters are rodents, so like other rodents their teeth
grow continually all of their lives. You will need to help
them keep their teeth worn and clean by making sure that
they have safe chew toys at all times.
8. Hamsters can't be spayed or neutered. The only way to
keep your hamsters from breeding is to keep the males and
the females separate from each other.
9. If your hamster's toenails get too long, you can try
clipping off tiny bits of the nails with baby nail clippers,
or line the running wheel with fine grain sandpaper as long
as it doesn't irritate his feet too much.
10. If your hamster chews on the cage bars or other
inappropriate items, try giving him dog biscuits to chew
instead.
11. Golden or Syrian hamsters must be kept alone after they
are ten weeks old. They will bond with you, but they don't
like other hamsters or other animals.
12. Like most animals that are classified as nocturnal,
hamsters usually have sleeping and awake periods all
throughout the day.
13. Dwarf hamsters are more social with other Dwarf Hamsters
than the Golden or Syrian Hamsters and sometimes live in
pairs or very small groups when they have all grown up
together.
14. The breeding season for Dwarf Hamsters is from April to
September. But, if you keep the lighting on for eight hours
or more a day, they will probably breed throughout the
entire year.
15. Female dwarf hamsters can give birth as young as five
weeks old, but don't breed them when they are that young,
wait until they are at least three months old to preserve
their health.
16. You can determine what gender your Dwarf Hamster babies
will be by controlling the temperature in the room the
mother is kept. If you keep the temperature warmer she will
have more boys, in cooler temperatures she will have more
girls.
* Hamsters, or at least the most common species kept as
pets, came originally from the Asian deserts.
* Djungarian Hamsters, though, came from the
steppes of
Russia.
* Djungarian Hamsters are also known as
Campbell's Dwarfs
and are the most common dwarf species.
* Hamsters were originally called hamstern, which
is the
German word that means "to hoard."
* Hamsters are color blind, besides being
nearsighted. They
can only see clearly about six inches (one hundred and
fifty-two millimeters) in front of them, but since they live
mostly in tunnels, they get around okay.
* Since hamsters don't have very good eyesight or
depth
perception, to help them find their way home after foraging
in an unfamiliar place, hamsters have scent glands on their
flanks (Chinese hamsters also have such glands on their
bellies). They rub those areas of their bodies against
grasses and other items along their path and leave a trail
of smells it can follow to get back home, just like Hansel
and Gretel and their breadcrumbs in the fairy tale.
* If you are getting hamsters as pets, don't buy
one of the
cute plastic cages often sold for hamsters. Many hamsters
have chewed their way right out of plastic cages. (We had
one that not only chewed its way out of the plastic cage but
then chewed through the room wall and ran around inside the
walls of the house!)
* Hamsters mothers are called does and the
fathers are
called bucks, but the babies are often called puppies.
* A human year is 25 hamster years. That means
that hamsters
usually live about two or three years.
* Hamsters can eat almost any vegetable, and they
will also
eat insects and worms sometimes. They will even drink fresh
milk, but you shouldn't give them much or they might get
diarrhea.
* Make sure not to use cedar chips for bedding or
to give
your hamster gnawing toys made from cedar, because cedar can
make them very ill or even kill them.
* Hamsters are great escape artists. They love to
tunnel and
find hiding holes, so if your hamster escapes, look under
furniture and behind the refrigerator.
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