1. Do not keep them in pairs. Hamsters are loners – keeping them together often results in stress, fighting, injuries and death. They are very happy alone.
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2. Minimum cage size
dwarf hamsters: 30 x 20 x 20 inches (80x50x50cm);
bigger hamsters: 40 x 20 x 20inches (100x50x50cm)!
NOT like this:
Living in cages like this for them is like a human living in an elevator – a lot too small and even dangerous!
For them it feels like this:
Behavior like this is a signal for stress because the cage is too small or that they need more bedding:
Better:
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3. Your hamster (always!) needs a hamster wheel – and it must be a lot bigger than you might think!
Hamster must be able to run with a completely straight back
on a closed surface
with a closed back wall!
NOT like this:
Results of those wheels are: spine problems, backache, stress, injuries!
Minimum wheel size for dwarf hamsters: 9-10 inches.
Minimum wheel size for bigger hamsters: 12 inches!
Better:
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4. Do not buy them plastic tubes (at all):
Those tubes are not suitable at all: Hamsters get stuck or suffocate in them easily.
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5. Your hamster needs enough bedding to dig and build tunnels.
NOT like this:
Better:
Your hamster will be extremely happy and dig around and build tunnels all day (night).
Plastic gets swallowed, splinters, can injure or even kill your hamster.
Better:
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7. Hamsters ALWAYS need a sand bath.
Hamsters love rolling around in the sand, for them it’s like showering. How would you feel without a shower?
You can use those little baths as toilets, but you still need a bigger sand bath!
Better:
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8. Hamsters need a house with at least 2 or more chambers to store food, sleep etc. Also make sure that your hamster does have enough hiding places like coconuts, small houses, toilet rolls!
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9. Do use unperfumed toilet paper for nesting material, don’t use “hamster wool” -> it can tangle around a limb and seriously hurt and even kill your hamster!
NOT like this:
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10. Never ever ever put your hamster or any animal in a hamster ball.
They can’t get out, might suffocate or panic, might run against furniture and seriously injure themselves. The ventilation is terrible, your hamster can’t see/smell/hear enough or use any of their senses properly.
In some countries they even discuss about banning those by law!
Even if you think that “your hamster has fun in it” – please don’t use them!
Pet stores often are very misinformed and sell terrible cages and have little to no idea how to keep a happy hamster – please be careful when trusting them. In the end they often just want to make money – and the hamsters suffer.
Please adopt, not buy hamsters – there are too many hamsters in this world that we need any more breeding.
(Sorry for the spelling errors – I made this post in a rush.)
i literally had no idea, so i feel like this really needs to be stressed
Much like with bettas, there’s a lot of companies out there making a huge profit on habitats that are completely unsuitable for your pets, and counting on consumer ignorance.
;
Yes to that betta thing! A lot of people will try to tell you that bettas barely need any space to move around in (to the point of putting them in planted vases!), and all that does is give them a poor quality of life! I had to put my betta in a 2 gallon tank to transport him from my school back to home, and he was so depressed in there! He just sat there looking all sad until I could put him in something larger.
Do you know how many dogs I’ve met that get scared or anxious around men because in their previous home men hit them? A lot, and they are very protective of the women who have adopted them now.
Men who are violent towards women are often violent towards animals as well. They think we’re all chattel. If a man wants you to choose between your dog or cat or him, dump the guy. Those animals will love you for the rest of your life, loyal and true.
Actually, I have something to add.
The other day I saw a story where a woman was asking why her dogs had suddenly started growling at her boyfriend whenever he was in the same room as her son.
And my immediate thought was ‘that boyfriend has hurt the kid somehow.’
Spoilers: that was exactly the case.
Trust ur dogs when they say something is off.
The first time my sister came to visit, via plane, after I got my dog, pupper growled at her and wouldn’t go near her for the first day. Next visit was by car (two day drive)and pupper LOVED my sister. They snuggled and played and none of us could figure out why the change. We thought maybe the scent of my sisters cat had lingered on her clothes, making that first visit a rough one. Whereas when she came by car, the scent had had time to wear off. Well that was partially true…
Fast forward about six months when I went north to visit my family. My sister walked into my parents’ house and pupper ran to greet my sister. Stopped dead in her tracks and started growling and barking. Hackles raised, full protection mode. My sisters husband had just walked in behind her.
My precious puppy wanted NOTHING to do with him. She barked, growled, ran away, and sat between him and my sister. Y’all my dog had spent maybe a weekend a half around my sister but protected her like this was her flesh and blood.
Eventually, my sister filed for divorce on grounds of “Extreme and repeated mental, emotional, and sexual abuse.” Divorce was final in less than a month because her claims were substantiated.
Trust the dog, honey. They KNOW.
I’ve never owned dogs, but I used to work with horses (which are a lot like big dogs).
There was this one horse I worked with named Tonto. He was a doll. He followed me like a puppy, snuck treats out of my pocket, he was the sweetest thing. We were practically inseparable.
A guy I was considering dating came to visit me one day, and Tonto wanted NOTHING to do with him. Normally well behaved, he shoved himself between us and would NOT let this guy near me. He was stomping, acting really aggressive, and tried to bite the guy. This horse was practically dragging me back toward the barn. At that moment, despite being like, 17, I knew something was up, and ultimately things didn’t pan out for guy and me.
A year later I found out he had lied about his age (he said he was 18 but he was actually 27) he was arrested for sexually assaulting an 11 year old girl.
TRUST THE ANIMALS.
On of our old dogs was a saint bernard black lab cross so he was a big boy and loved sleeping outside in his doghouse. People would walk by late at night all the time and he could care less he was a love ball but on 3 occasions he went absolutely ballistic on some people hanging around our back alley scaring them away so I believe completely that dogs can just know these things
This is generally true, but I do want to add some things. I do agree that dogs are just really good at reading people’s intentions somehow.
Sometimes certain types of people just set a dog on edge for other reasons. I use ‘types’ loosely; it can be based on appearance, such as race or even clothing (hats are a common one that can make dogs uncomfortable), and in those cases it may not be that someone with x feature harmed that dog but rather because the dog hasn’t seen someone who looks like that before. It could also be based on things like smell (I believe Patricia McConnell brought up such a case in one of her books? The dog would get aggressive toward the pizza man and they eventually realized it was the pizza smell that was the problem.).
Long story short, if it’s the first time meeting someone and your dog acts funny around them, absolutely take note of it. It doesn’t always mean there’s anything wrong with that person, but it could still tell you important things about your dog and possibly point out problems.
If, however, your dog suddenly changes its behavior toward someone they know, and have never had a problem with before, then you should definitely discuss that with said person, because even if there was some sort of accident or misunderstanding between them and the dog, it needs to be addressed so one of them doesn’t get hurt. And so if that person is abusive, you can get them the hell out of your house.
Humans may lie, but dogs can’t. They put everything on the table in plain view. We just have to know how to interpret it all.
All these things are signs of an untrained and insecure dog, which is a dangerous dog, regardless of size. Train your dogs, always.
“Oh this is a nice breed.” Is also no fucking excuse.
Train your dog.
THIS!
Some of the most aggressive and untrained dogs that I’ve met have been little dogs.
Without fail, the owners are completely unable to see how their dog is dangerous – when their dog tries to bite a person or a dog, they don’t see an animal that could cause a wound that could become infected and kill the person/dog, they don’t see that my dog could be put down if it’s not tolerant enough to put up with another creature sinking its teeth into it and bites back – they just see their little ball of fluff playing.
Your dog can be dangerous or intimidating, especially to other dogs, even if it’s small.
And for the love of god, when your dog jumps up me or tries to take my food, and I say “No. Lie down.” and then I turn away from it… don’t call it over and cuddle it and give it food and tell it how “mean and nasty” I am. I’m not being mean, I just know that it’s a dog not a teddy bear. You’re not supposed to start praising them 0.3 seconds after you’ve told them off, that just hypes them back up.
If you would call a Staffie or German Shepherd doing what your dog does “dangerous” or “unruly” or “intimidating”, then your dog shouldn’t be doing that either.
PiraticOctopus 