Sarah Yee, Author at Dwarf Hamster Blog

Can You Give a Hamster Dog Treats?

June 3, 2013 By Sarah Yee 11 Comments

Yes! Dog treats or biscuits are pretty hard and are usually given to hamsters to help them wear down their teeth. Although wooden chews do a fine job of that, some hamsters simply refuse to use them. In that case, getting a plain dog treat (no additional flavors) for the hamster can help encourage it to bite on the treat and prevent their teeth from being overgrown.

It’s important to get a plain dog treat because not all of them are safe for hamsters. For example, dog biscuits with garlic or onion in them should not be given to hamsters as these food can be harmful to your pet hammy.

Many experienced owners milk bones which you can get online or in major pet stores. It’s quite big so a single piece should last a long time (the entire box would probably last forever in hamster-years) These are not available where I am so I got my hamster another type. You can see my winter white dwarf hamster, Flaxseed, chewing on a dog treat in the photo. That was taken weeks ago and right now, it’s still a whole piece with lots of bite marks on it (:

Dog treats may also be a good source of protein although I would not recommend anyone giving it to their hamster as food. Some hamsters may enjoy the treat so much that they eat the treat instead of their regular food. If you notice your hamster going through the biscuit really quickly and not touching their food, it might be wise to remove the treat for a while. This is important because the treats do not contain all the nutrients that hamsters require to be healthy.

That said, it’s rare for a hamster to eat only the dog treat instead of their regular food mix (I’ve only heard it happen once). All four of my dwarf hamsters enjoy chewing on dog biscuits, but never as their main source of food.

Hamster Weight & Weighing Guide

May 22, 2013 By Sarah Yee 14 Comments

What is the average hamster weight?

If you’ve weighed your hamster (if you haven’t, check out the instructions at the bottom), you probably want to know whether it’s too heavy or light compared to other hammies. So here’s a list of average hamster weights. The weight ranges are from the book Hamsters A to Z which also contains plenty of helpful information on hamsters and dwarf hamsters.

Note: These are adult hamster weights.

Syrian hamster weight: 5oz – 7oz (140g – 200g)

Dwarf hamster weights

Winter White dwarf hamster: 1.5oz – 2 oz (40g – 60g)
Campbell’s dwarf hamster: same as above
Note: the two species of hamsters are also commonly referred to as Russian dwarf hamsters or Siberian hamsters

Roborovski dwarf hamster: 1oz – 1.5oz (25g – 40g)

Chinese hamster: 1.5oz – 1.8oz (40g – 50g)

My dwarf hamsters’ weights

I weighed my hamsters today. The winter white dwarf hamsters are still under two months old (as of May 2013) so they’re not fully grown yet. Their weights are 31 grams (Oatmeal) and 25 grams (Flaxseed). My Roborovskis are fully-grown but their sizes are so different! I don’t have their exact ages because I got them from the pet shop. Ichigo is 40grams and Blueberry is slightly underweight at just 24grams.

How to weigh your hamster

If you’re wondering how to weigh your hamster, this is a short guide that will hopefully help you. As we all know, hamsters aren’t particularly keen on staying put in a single place. Of course, if you have an exceptionally tame hamster, you might not think the same, but a hamster (especially if it’s a Robo dwarf hamster!) would likely prefer running about than standing on a weighing scale for you to record how heavy it is.

Why weigh your hamster?

It’s a good idea to weigh your hamster regularly so you can spot any excessive weight loss and deal with it. Sometimes, hamsters lose weight quickly when they get sick, or if their teeth is overgrown and they can’t eat. If you’ve just changed your hamster’s food, it’s also good to track its weight so you can be sure it’s eating properly and not just hiding all the new food somewhere because it doesn’t like it.

Guide to weighing your hamster

Digital scale
You want to use one that’s for weighing postal items or kitchen ingredients. I use this kitchen scale which is under $10 if you get it from Amazon.
Small cardboard box or container
This is for putting your hamster in. I’ve found that my hamsters tend to stay in the house/box so I get enough time to record their weight. If I place them on the scale directly, they just walk off it immediately >.>
Treats or sunflower seeds
If your hamster doesn’t stay in the box or if you can’t find a box, put some treats or sunflower seeds on the scale to get them to stay on it longer. Remember to take into account the weight of the treats. A few sunflower seeds usually don’t weigh anything unless you’re using very large ones.
Your hamster
This is pretty self-explanatory ^^

What I do is put a few sunflower seeds in the box or container and weigh it first. Then, I lure my hamster into the box and weigh the box + hamster together. Subtract the weight of the box from the total weight and you’re done!

Thank you for reading and if you’ve found this post helpful or interesting, please share us with your friends! ^_^

DIY Hamster Bath House

May 8, 2013 By Sarah Yee 25 Comments

Dwarf hamsters should never be bathed in water but they do enjoy rolling in bath sand. Mine are always kicking the sand out of their bath tub. Also, my original hamster bath tub was tiny, made from plastic, and as you can see from the photo, it gets chewed on! I could get a chew-proof ceramic bath, but I had plenty of material leftover from my last DIY hamster platform project so I decided to build one.

This hamster bath house / giant bath tub was made with leftover wood dowels, popsicle sticks, and part of an old gift box. Since it’s mostly wood and cardboard, it’s not so bad if the hamster chews on it. Plus it’s much bigger and a hamster would have to kick the sand pretty high to get them out. It’s easy to build, requires few materials and took me only twenty minutes at most.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Some readers have reported hamsters getting their legs stuck between the popsicle stick wall. To prevent this from happening, please build the bath house with sticks placed horizontally (unlike the photo above which shows the sticks placed in a vertical position)

Materials needed for DIY Hamster Bath House

Base: cardboard box or old gift box
I used the cover of an old gift box to make the base. You want something that’s hard enough, so use anything that’s made from cardboard or harder. Old plastic containers would probably be fine too.
Wall: ice-cream or popsicle sticks
These will form the wall around your base and prevent the sand from getting kicked out.
Entrance: wood dowels, or cut-up popsicle sticks
I used the leftover wood dowels from the DIY hamster platform but you could cut up popsicle sticks for the entrance too. We want the entrance to be a little lower so your hamster can get in easily.
PVA glue to stick everything together

Instructions for DIY Hamster Bath House

Glue popsicle sticks to the sides and back of the base to form walls.
On the front of the base, leave enough space for an entrance and glue the popsicle sticks on both sides of the entrance
Glue the wood dowels or cut-up popsicle sticks to make an entrance that’s a little lower than the rest of the popsicle stick wall
Decorate your bath tub and fill with sand

That’s it! If you wanted to, you could probably add a roof or even convert this into a hamster house.

If you’ve enjoyed the tutorial, please help us spread the word by sharing this with your friends. And if you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a message below. Thank you!

Dwarf Hamster Food List

May 3, 2013 By Sarah Yee 305 Comments

Not all dwarf hamster food is equal

Dwarf hamster food usually comes in the form of hamster mixes but the occasional fresh food is also fine. However, not all fresh food can be fed to dwarf hamsters as they may be toxic. Different species of dwarf hamsters also have different food requirements. ~~For example, Russian dwarf hamsters such as Winter Whites and Campbells are not able to eat many fresh fruit because fruit are mostly high sugar and these hamsters get diabetes easily~~. Some people prefer not to feed their Russian dwarves fruit because they think it may cause diabetes. Roborovskis, on the other hand, can enjoy a seedless grape now and then (like my hamster in the photo ^_^)

Some food is toxic for hamsters and pets

And then there are the foods that are toxic or unhealthy for all types of hamsters. The obvious ones are human junk food like potato chips, chocolate, and candy. But there are also food that are seemingly harmless but are still very bad for your hamster. For example, Avocadoes contain a substance that can cause heart failure in pets when eaten in large quantities. Bitter almonds contain cyanide which can be highly toxic to small pets.

Dwarf hamster safe food list

To help you pick the right dwarf hamster food, here’s a list of food for dwarf hamsters that are safe. Unlike other lists on the internet, I have 1) checked that they are safe from various sources 2) given these food to my hamsters and can confirm that they are safe. I will update the list as I find more food. If a food is not on the list and you would like me to check, please leave a comment below!

Important: Please feed these food in moderation. They should never be used to replace a hamster food mix or pellet

Try our hamster food bot

Check if any food is safe or unsafe instantly with our free (and experimental) hamster food bot. Click on the Send to Messenger button below to start.

Grains, seeds and nuts:

Barley
Cashew
Flaxseed
Millet
Oats
Peanut
Pumpkin seed
Quinoa
Sesame seed
Sunflower seed
Walnut

Vegetables:

Asparagus
Basil
Bean sprouts
Bell pepper
Broccoli
Carrot
Celery
Choy sum
Cooked potato
Corn
Cucumber
Green bean
Kale
Okra (a.k.a ladies’ fingers)
Spinach
Watercress
Wheatgrass

Others:

Brown rice pasta
Boiled egg
Mealworm (yikes, but they love it)
Grasshopper
Crickets
Cooked plain salmon
Cooked plain chicken
Tofu
Yogurt

Fruits

~~You may notice that I didn’t include any fruit. That’s because most fruit is high in sugar and bad for Russian dwarves which get diabetes easily.~~ This is why I think some fruits are okay for diabetic or diabetes-prone hamsters. Don’t give these to your winter white, campbell’s, hybrid, or Chinese hamsters if you’re worried.

Apple (without seeds)
Banana
Blackberry
Blueberry
Cantaloupe
Coconut
Cherry
Grape (without seeds)
Guava
Honeydew
Lychee
Papaya
Peach (without pit)
Pear
Plum (without pit)
Starfruit
Strawberry

Once again, if there is anything that’s not on the list but you would like me to check, please leave a comment below. Thank you for reading!

Hamster Bowling Invented by 12-Year-Old

May 2, 2013 By Sarah Yee Leave a Comment

A hamster ball like this one is used in hamster bowling

“Hamster bowling” was invented by twelve-year-old Alyssa Reiter from Michigan. (She is getting her patent for this invention on May 7 2013!). She came up with the invention when she was merely nine years old, after being inspired by her pet Syrian hamster knocking over chew sticks in its hamster ball.

How does hamster bowling work?

My first reaction when I heard about hamster bowling was to think it’s some kind of cruel game you play with your hamster. Luckily, the actual game is completely hamster-safe. It appears to involve a hamster ball you can find easily in pet stores or on Amazon and some colorful chew sticks. You put your hamster in the ball and let it knock over the chew sticks (like bowling pins!) at the end of a mini bowling lane.

Where can I buy this?

Alyssa hopes to sell her invention in pet stores, but at the moment it’s not yet available. However, nobody’s stopping you from getting a hamster ball and some chew sticks and making the game yourself.

Our take on hamster bowling

Alyssa’s used a Syrian hamster in her demonstration, but I don’t see why it couldn’t work with a dwarf hamster. In fact, with Roborovski hamsters, hamster bowling might get even more exciting since Robos run really quickly for their size.

While Alyssa seems very enthusiastic about her invention, it doesn’t look very fun from the video. Maybe the video wasn’t too clear but the bowling lane looked kind of short. The idea is pretty creative and interesting though and if she does sell it in pet stores, I would probably get one just to see how it works.

DIY Hamster Platform

April 28, 2013 By Sarah Yee 9 Comments

I wanted to make a platform for my dwarf hamsters because the one that came with their cage was kind of ugly. After looking at Nikkigrace’s Ikea Knuff hamster platform on Hamster Central, I was inspired to make my own DIY hamster platform.

This platform is suitable for dwarf hamsters. There’s enough space for a hamster (or two) to go on it as well as sleep under it. My dwarf hamsters seem to like sleeping under the platform during the day. Scroll down for detailed instructions to make this platform ^_^

Time taken to build this hamster platform: About 30 minutes (not including time taken for glue to dry)

Materials for DIY Hamster Platform

Here are the materials I used and instructions to make them. Note: I didn’t make any stairs because I forgot! Luckily, my dwarf hamsters were able to climb up the platform on their own. You could probably make stairs with popsicle sticks or paper tubes if you wanted to. You could also use these bendable fiddlesticks as makeshift stairs.

Platform base: A piece of corkboard – $2
I used a round corkboard for this because I wanted something different. You could use a square one or even cut out your own shapes
Fence: 2 packets (40 pieces each) of 8 x 40 mm wooden dowels – $4
There were 80 pieces of wooden dowels but I didn’t finish using all of them. You might need to get more or less depending on the size of the platform base
Legs for platform: 30 x 90mm cylindrical wood pieces – $2
I used only three legs and I should have used four! But it’s not wobbly so nevermind. You’ll need more or less depending on the platform base. You can also use shorter legs to make a lower platform.
PVA glue to stick everything together – $2

Total cost: 10SGD (approximately 8USD)

You should be able to find these materials easily in a hardware store. Amazon also carries wood dowels but I think they’re kind of pricey. If you’re in Singapore, I got all of these items from Daiso Sembawang — the corkboard is in the Stationery section and the rest are from the Crafts section.

DIY Hamster Platform Instructions

Glue the legs to the base and wait about 10 to 15 minutes for the glue to hold it together. I used three legs, but like I mentioned earlier, you could use more or less legs depending on the shape of your platform and how stable you want it to be.
Flip the platform over and stick the wooden dowels along the edges of the base. Turn your platform as you stick the dowels so you can see clearly whether you’re sticking them in the correct position.
Remember to leave an opening in the fence for your hamster to go on the platform.
Put PVA glue on the outside of the fence between the dowels to make them less likely to fall out. You want to put glue on the bottom half only so that if your hamster chews on the fence, it doesn’t eat the glue too (although PVA glue is hamster-safe, it’s better if they don’t eat it).
Leave it alone for a few hours to dry and we’re done! ^_^

Ready-made hamster platforms

Super Pet Woodland Getaway

If you prefer not to make your own, there are plenty of hamster platforms available for purchase as well. A good one would be the Super Pet Woodland Getaway which is a platform and a house in one. For under 10 bucks, you can get a medium-sized platform/house that has enough space for a hamster or two to nest in and climb on. Larger sizes are also available but they might be a little too big for a dwarf hamster to climb onto. This is made from wood that is safe for animals (our DIY platform is too!) so there’s no issue if your hamsters chew on it.

Any questions or comments? Leave a message below. If you’ve found this helpful, please help us out and share it with your friends! ^_^