Archive for November, 2009

They are very tiny creatures and they don’t create that much fuss with their noise as compared to other pets, which can be very annoying. But hamsters are an exceptions; they don’t make that much noise at all; in fact the only noise they make is while playing; the noise of wheel or the bumping of hamster ball into the wall..

Though that doesn’t means that they are dumb or deaf; as for speaking of deaf they have hearing power superior to humans and Hamsters do vocalize from time to time. They squeak – this is a mating call; when ever they are trying to woo their partner or to make the partner aware of their desire or to alert the partner about their sexual jaunt to start. They scream – when they are in distress; when you try to handle them and they don’t want to get handled or when they are constantly disturbed by something or they want to get attention. They also produce sounds apart from screaming and squeaking; when they catch cold they also sneeze and cough; though that is a very meek sound that they produce but if one try to hear it with some attention that does sounds like a usual sneeze and cough sound.

Hamsters are very active creatures and they also like running a lot; also they can run very fast but the problem is that they are not like dogs or some other pet that you tie a belt around their neck and take them out for a walk or you can just leave them in the open so they would run tire themselves and upon exhaustion they would come back to you. So what to do now, God with every problem created a solution for that and a solution for hamster’s recreation and exercise do exist; their exist toy in the market that can be handy to address the above factor of Hamster’s liking for moving around and that can also be handy if you are tired of you hamster chewing and biting the things around him or climbing to places where he shouldn’t be.

One toy to specially deal with hamsters urge to run for long distances is the Hamster wheel; this is a very great creation and hamster just can not get enough of that, you will notice that as soon as the hamster eats his food or gets done with the rest session he would climb into the wheel and run, run and run..

A very interesting situation arises when the hamster inside the wheel after running for hours look around to see that where is he now after running so long and he gets sort of confused that still its where I started from.

Another very frequently used toy Is the hamster ball; it can play for hours in that ball and it’s a very interesting thing though you should be very careful because your hamster can injure itself if fallen from even a little height with the hamster inside.

Here is a list of routine thing that we should know followed by some really awesome facts about Hamsters.

Scientific name Mesocricetus auratus
Potential life span 2-3 years
Adult body weight 100-150 grams (Adult females are slightly larger than adult males)
Desirable environmental
Temperature range 65-75 F
Desirable relative
Humidity range 30-70%
Recommended age
at 1st breeding male: 10-14 weeks; female: 6-10 weeks
Length of estrous (heat) cycle 94 hours
Gestation (pregnancy) 15 1/2-16 days
Average litter size 5-10 young
Age at weaning 3 weeks

Now the real deal
Hamsters can store food into their cheeks up to 20 % of their body weight.
Hamsters can run at 2-3 mph for long distances and 5-7 mph for short distances.

Hamsters can travel about 8 Miles in search of food.

Hamsters react to their names.

Hamsters are color blind.

Hamsters can hear sound in Ultrasonic range.

Hamsters can dig up to 3 Meters in the wild.

Hamsters can only see up to 6 Inches in front of them.

Hamsters can store as much as 38 pounds of grain in a single burrow.

Hamsters follow path by trails of smell they leave by rubbing their body with things along the path.

Hamster’s heart beat falls from 400-4 beats per minuet during hibernation state.

Hamster remembers their relatives.

Hamsters are also living beings; they also need fresh air, new places and new things to explore but before going for an expedition you need to be careful about certain things. Hamsters don’t like extreme temperatures and due to cold weather they can even get into a hibernation state therefore choose when the temperature is decent but not too hot either. Always carry it inside the cage when marching towards a destination or coming back to home as it can jump off your hands and meet some trouble.

Consider going to a place outside where there is some nice green grass as Hamsters like to eat grass and if they do so don’t stop them it wouldn’t hurt. They also like clover, so if there are any clover patches around, let the hamster have some fun running on those clover patches

You have to be very careful as Hamsters run very fast, so keep it close to you possible even under its cage top if it’s helpful.

This change of atmosphere is definitely going to take some time for the hamster to settle down with, as the world will seem huge to such a tiny little thing, it is probably going to be scared at first and it is recommended to keep the Hamster around yourself so that it feels protected. You can sit in middle in nowhere they wouldn’t run away from you as it can be very scary but do keep an eye on it.

Make sure it never gets lost and if it does then it’s very difficult to find.