Archive for December, 2009

The immune system of hamsters is very fragile and they can easily get affected by foreign elements. The humans do transmit and receive such viruses that causes multiple diseases, you should be very careful as most of them were reported upon getting bitten by a Hamster or the hamsters transmitted them when they were carried by a sick owner; though they shouldn’t be straight away threw outside but should be dealt with care. The common diseases that can be transmitted to humans from Hamster are listed below:

Salmonellosis:

These infections are usually used by Salmonella enteritidis bio typhimurium. If salmonellosis occurs in a child who has a rodent pet, the pet’s feces should be cultured for Salmonella. Negative cultures may occur because shedding may be only intermittent. So the feces of the Hamsters should be carefully put away and avoid any excessive contact with it.

Lymphocytic choriorneningitis:

LCM virus is found many rodent species and spreads to humans through contact with infected aerosols, direct animal contact or rodent bites.

The LCM virus (an RNA virus of the arenaviridae family) is transmitted among rodents horizontally through secretions (urine, saliva, feces)

In hamsters LCM virus infection can be detected only by laboratory tests. In humans the course of infection varies from clinically inapparent to a flu-like infection with fever, headache and severe myalgia, occurring 5 to 10 days after infection.

Humans should avoid contact with hamsters upon having cough, cold or suffering from flu, as that can easily be transmitted and vice versa. Hands should be properly washed before and after handling hamster for the health of both hamster and humans. Try to avoid the hamster bite as this can be the primary source of receiving diseases from Hamster.

They are very small in size and so is their voice, to convey their happiness or displeasure over something unlike other pets; Hamster can not express itself using the vocal means, so it is left with only one thing that is their body language though Hamsters can convey their distress by biting as well.

Having said that; Hamsters convey their feeling through body language but for a moment we have to imagine that how many feeling are there; so how can they be translated through body language but Hamster are very good at it. They have different convulsive moments and every Convulsive movement, as well as sudden continual face washing, signifies fright. Defensive raising of both front paws can be observed in males that have been unexpectedly attacked by females and have no way of escaping.

Puffing up the cheeks and showing the abdominal regions are to be construed as a threat. Lying motionless on the back shows resistance and fear. Stiff-legged walking of a young animal, with its tail stiffly stretched up and its hindquarters turned toward the adult hamster, denotes fear and submission. This can also often be observed in vanquished adult hamsters. Stretching and yawning with half-closed eyes is an expression of cosines and inner peace.