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kashumz · May 13, 2007, 12:16 PM

I'm sure you're all getting tired of my hamster posts by now ;)

My panda bear (Syrian) hamster lives in a 10 gallon aquarium with a metal wheel, a food bowl (obviously) , a small plastic hamster house, a water bottle (duh) and a paper towel roll. (I heard they like to crawl in them, although she looks a little big for it -_-)

She claws at the walls and runs back and forth. These are signs of stress and boredom.
I recently bought a hamster book and it said a hamster can't be confined to a small wire cage
Or a glass box. They need tunnels to run through and sand boxes to burrow through, so it's like their natural habitat. The book also says that too much stress can cause wet tail, (a common, fatal intestinal disease in hamsters, mostly the Teddy bear (Syrian) hamster. Serious cases can cause rectal prolapse, ewwie!) And the book showed examples of Hamster Habitat Cages, Huge cages with millions of tunnels and lookout towers, mazes, and wheels!

The problem is, My dad has NO money! (seriously, my mom always spends his money
And now because of it the checks bounced and his balance is -50$ or something.)

So I can't afford a cage like this, and I don't want my hamster to get stressed out and get wet tail! Also, stress makes the hamsters more aggressive. (i.e more biting -_-)

What do I do?

J_9 · May 13, 2007, 12:22 PM

Hi sweetie, don't fret, please, it makes me sad to see my Kasey fret :(.

We had a teddy bear hamster that lived for over 6 years in a 10 gallon tank much like yours. :D

Just make sure you change it's bedding often, let it out to run if you can (have you got one of those balls? They love those balls)

But don't fret honey, if you can't afford it, your tank will suffice. Ours did. ;)

J_9 · May 13, 2007, 07:43 PM

Yes, Flower was her (?) name. She lived 6 years and moved over 650 miles in her life. She was a happy little hamster.

NowWhat · May 14, 2007, 08:18 AM

I would recommend getting a wheel for your hamster to run in.
We have two cages (at one point we had 2 hamsters) - one is a one level wire cage that just had a hiding spot and a wheel. Our girl did fine. The other cage (which is the 1st we got) has tubes on each side and a look out tower plus the wheel. Both are fine. We use the larger one now. We actually made a tube for ours out of pvc pipe - it is bigger around that a toilet paper roll - she liked it.
Now, when we shopped for the second cage - the sales person recommended the glass - 10 gallon aquarium type. I just didn't like it. That's just me - but it was recommended.

Also... I learned after I bought these that if you check on eBay - they have all kinds of choices for a lot less than what you can buy at the store.

kashumz · May 19, 2007, 11:16 AM

I've already stated in my above post that I have a metal wheel in my cage.

NowWhat · May 19, 2007, 11:54 AM

Sorry, Missed that part. :)

bacforever · Jul 24, 2007, 06:19 AM

If you enjoy this kind of stuff I used to love cutting up old carboard boxes and loo rolls and creating mazes etc. It always brightened up my gerbils days and they used to love finding treats I hid for them.

Currently, I just let my gerbil have a free run of my room once its gerbil friendly, just every now and again to free up his legs.

So long as you take care of it then don't worry about the tank or see if a friend or local animal shelter are giving one away (my local gave me a 6ft tank for my gerbils)

csussa · Aug 27, 2007, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by kashumz

I'm sure you're all getting tired of my hamster posts by now ;)

My panda bear (Syrian) hamster lives in a 10 gallon aquarium with a metal wheel, a food bowl (obviously) , a small plastic hamster house, a water bottle (duh) and a paper towel roll. (I heard they like to crawl in them, although she looks a little big for it -_-)

She claws at the walls and runs back and forth. These are signs of stress and boredom.
I recently bought a hamster book and it said a hamster can't be confined to a small wire cage
or a glass box. They need tunnels to run through and sand boxes to burrow through, so it's like their natural habitat. The book also says that too much stress can cause wet tail, (a common, fatal intestinal disease in hamsters, mostly the Teddy bear (Syrian) hamster. Serious cases can cause rectal prolapse, ewwie!) And the book showed examples of Hamster Habitat Cages, Huge cages with millions of tunnels and lookout towers, mazes, and wheels!

The problem is, My dad has NO money! (seriously, my mom always spends his money
and now because of it the checks bounced and his balance is -50$ or something.)

So I can't afford a cage like this, and I dont want my hamster to get stressed out and get wet tail! Also, stress makes the hamsters more aggressive. (i.e more biting -_-)

What do I do?

Y don't u get a job or ask for pocket money which will be earned from helping your mum and dad round the house and cleening and stuff also be creative and leeve toilet roll tubes in peculiar places and make things maybe out of lego hold it and play wiv it on your bed and loadza stuff so it won't gte bored!

hammieslove · Sep 14, 2007, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by kashumz

I'm sure you're all getting tired of my hamster posts by now ;)

My panda bear (Syrian) hamster lives in a 10 gallon aquarium with a metal wheel, a food bowl (obviously) , a small plastic hamster house, a water bottle (duh) and a paper towel roll. (I heard they like to crawl in them, although she looks a little big for it -_-)

She claws at the walls and runs back and forth. These are signs of stress and boredom.
I recently bought a hamster book and it said a hamster can't be confined to a small wire cage
or a glass box. They need tunnels to run through and sand boxes to burrow through, so it's like their natural habitat. The book also says that too much stress can cause wet tail, (a common, fatal intestinal disease in hamsters, mostly the Teddy bear (Syrian) hamster. Serious cases can cause rectal prolapse, ewwie!) And the book showed examples of Hamster Habitat Cages, Huge cages with millions of tunnels and lookout towers, mazes, and wheels!

The problem is, My dad has NO money! (seriously, my mom always spends his money
and now because of it the checks bounced and his balance is -50$ or something.)

So I can't afford a cage like this, and I dont want my hamster to get stressed out and get wet tail! Also, stress makes the hamsters more aggressive. (i.e more biting -_-)

What do I do?

Don't buy a small cage but if you by something a little small until you can buy something more bigger later. My hamster has gone through 4 different cages because he found ways to constantly escape. We currently have a three story ferret cage with a tiny bed because when hamsters sleep they like small places.