Summer: It's best not to turn on the air conditioner, because if you turn it off when you go out, and turn it on when you come in, the temperature difference inside the house will be too big, and the hamster is very sensitive to the temperature, and will easily catch a cold.
Winter: don't put it outside, hamsters will pseudo hibernate because it's too cold. Spread more wood shavings and other bedding materials, and configure a wooden or grass hut for the hamster to keep warm. Or give more cotton for the hamster to make its own nest. Skimmed cotton is fine, preferably natural cotton. The easiest way is to put the whole cage in a cardboard or plastic box, but be careful about ventilation. Don't give them items woven from cotton threads to use as nests. It's warm but hamsters are burrowers by nature and they will chew the woven cotton items out of shape and burrow into them to sleep. However, some unbroken threads can become entangled in their feet or other parts of their body, and some can become dangerously entangled in their necks, causing them to suffocate and die. So don't put any threads in it.
Sex differentiation
The way to distinguish between male and female hamsters is very simple:
The buttocks of a male hamster are usually large, red and swollen;
The buttocks of a female hamster are usually inverted triangular in shape, and the anus is small and closed. Individuals can be seen with rounded objects.
Male and female hamsters can be distinguished mainly by the distance between their anus and genitals. Female rats' genitals and anus are closer together, while male rats' genitals and anus are further apart. In addition, mature male rats will have protruding testicles, which are very obvious in golden rats, gerbils, and macaroni rats, and less obvious in maple rats. However, most people start from raising mice, which are not easy to distinguish because their sex organs are not so obvious. Here is a convenient way to differentiate between mice: small male mice will have hairs between the two points because their genitals and anus are far away from each other; small female mice will have no hairs between the two points because they are close to each other. With careful identification, you can usually tell the difference correctly.
Growth and reproduction
Multiple litters are produced each year. Each litter produces 1 to 15 litters. Lifespan is 2 to nearly 3 years. (Breeding occurs from April to October each year, with 3 to 5 litters of 4 to 8 litters)
They have a short lifespan, averaging about 2 years, with males becoming sexually mature at 1.5 months, and females becoming sexually mature at 2 months. Of course, different breeds of hamsters will have slightly different life spans.
The Roborovski hamster has the longest lifespan, 3 to 3.5 years.
Habitat
Hamsters are nocturnal, sleeping during the day and active at night. They are usually most active until 19 to 22 o'clock (some 0 to 4 o'clock). So keepers should give hamsters a good rest during the day and play with them at night. Arbitrarily changing the habits of nocturnal animals can easily lead to a short life span. Why do hamsters always hide? Because hamsters live in burrows in desert areas, they sleep in their burrows during the day to avoid attacks from wild animals. It is their instinct to hide in the dark, and they believe that darkness is the only way to feel safe. However, hamsters become less alert after spending time with people and change their wilderness instincts to huff and puff wherever they are. A baby hamster transporting food by mouth
Hamsters inhabit deserts and other areas. Nocturnal. Good at digging burrows. They like to hide food in the sides of their gills and then walk to a safe place to spit it out, hence the name hamster. Their incisors will keep growing, so their upper and lower incisors must constantly gnaw on something hard to sharpen their teeth, on the one hand, to avoid the incisors growing too long, hindering chewing, on the other hand, to maintain the sharpness of the incisors. They feed on weed seeds, as well as insects.
The hamster is a solitary animal, unlike group animals. Hamsters are solitary and highly territorial, especially females. Only during the breeding season do hamsters mate in pairs. However, hamsters only live in couples for a few minutes during mating, after which they go their separate ways. The mother takes on the responsibility of caring for the babies on her own, and the babies are forcibly evicted by the mother after 20 days or so to start living on their own. It can be seen that hamsters, no matter one male and one female or parents and siblings, should not be kept together as adults, which may easily lead to death or injury, and the correct practice is to keep one rat in a separate cage. Please always remember that solitary animals do not have such feelings as loneliness, they will never be happy to share their own territory and food, it is absolutely not advisable to impose our human thoughts on hamsters and do things that go against their nature.
The hamster is small, lively and sensitive, very amusing, and the odor is not strong, with ornamental value, suitable for pets indoors, so it is regarded as a pet in all parts of China.
Healthy hamster judgment standards
1, whether the hair is soft and shiny; if the rat is sick, but will lose hair; [1]
2, whether the eyes are God; eye color if there is dull, or swelling, eye boogers, etc. are signs of disease;
3, whether the nose is nasal; if the rat has a runny nose, if the mouse will be dirty, it may be a cold, and the mouse may have a cold, and it may be a cold.
4, whether the ears are clean; if there is earwax or an unusual odor it may also be sick;
5, whether the stool is wet; it may be diarrhea;
6, loss of appetite; often lying in the corner, and do not eat even if there is something to eat;
7, not very active;
8, weight suddenly lost;
8, Suddenly lose weight;
9. Have a stiff feeling somewhere in the body; may have a tumor, it is recommended to take him to see a vet;
10. Have drooling phenomenon; may be overgrown teeth, which will affect the rat's diet.
Edit this paragraph hamster precautions
If you want to keep hamsters, please decisively for the hamsters in separate cages, preferably a rat in a cage - to put the two hamsters together ultimately the situation is that has been constantly having babies, babies (different sex oh)... ...and in serious cases, they will fight each other to death! That's why people still don't combine cages.
What to do when bitten by a hamster
Many people have been bitten by hamsters, and they ask if they need to get a rabies vaccine. The hamster bite may also be infected with rabies (perhaps not very likely, but rabies has a 100% mortality rate), and it is up to you to decide whether or not to get a rabies vaccine, but no matter what, it is recommended that you have your wounds treated first.
Wound management of the skin: all bites and scratches should be rinsed immediately or as soon as possible (about 15 minutes if conditions permit) with soapy water/detergent and plenty of water, and, if available, wounds should be coated with iodine-containing preparations or similar topical virucidal preparations [2]. Antitetanus treatment and antibiotics, as appropriate, should be administered for deeper, more contaminated wounds to control infections other than rabies virus.
If the bite wound is red and swollen or there are other uncomfortable symptoms, it should be checked in the hospital.
How to pick a hamster
How can you pick a healthier hamster? Here are a few ways for you to refer to:
1. Choose a hamster that has eyes that are bright and free of eye droppings.
2, see if the hamster has runny nose, don't pick it if it has.
3, whether the shape of the ear is intact, there is no trace of being bitten. If there is, it means the hamster is too weak or sick to be bullied and bitten by other hamsters.
4. Teeth are not sticking out, fur is shiny, check for hair loss or tumors.
5, the tail must not have spots, and the vicinity of the stomach is not good, indicating that this hamster may have diarrhea.
6, walking is not normal, there is no feeling of stiffness, limbs healthy or not is also the focus. If it looks good, there should be no problem.
7. There should be no urine stains on the buttocks, and if there are, don't pick them. Don't pick it because it's probably sick.
8, whether the nose is bitten, whether it is red and swollen or even bleeding. If there is it means that this hamster is not too healthy and strong to be bullied by other hamsters.
9. To choose a hamster that is bright and energetic means it is healthy. A floppy wilted poorly spirited mouse must be sick.
10, the hamster's nose should be pink and tender, ears of the same size, eyes watery, and the hair on its back has no signs of being bitten. You can also observe whether the hamster runs around energetically, if so, it means the rat has a strong body and is not prone to illness.
The last thing you need to do is to choose a hamster that you like, and in addition to the color of the fur you should also consider seeing if it will be close to people.
Usually, Syrian hamsters and Carcharias are easy to get along with after a period of time, while Campbell's hamsters and Roborovski's hamsters are a little more difficult to get along with, especially since Roborovski's hamster is a very timid and sensitive animal, so it may take a little more time for it to gain your trust.
After mating, the female will be grumpy due to her pregnancy, so it's best not to touch her at this time to avoid being bitten by her. This is the best time to avoid touching her to avoid being bitten by her, except if she is docile enough to listen to you. Don't put male and female rats together during the maternity period. If you put male and female rats in the same cage, it may make the female rats nervous, which may lead to premature labor and other consequences.
Twelve Taboos of Hamster Feeding
(1) It is forbidden to feed human food, which is too high in salt and seasoned, and will increase the body burden of the rats. Especially snacks and other foods. But unprocessed roughage can be fed, corn and barley are allowed.
(2) Prohibit direct contact with the sun, rats are very afraid of heat, summer is here, please use a heat sink or marble to cool them down. Being exposed to the sun is like wearing glow-in-the-dark goggles and having someone throw a flashbulb at you.
(3) Washing hamsters in water is prohibited. It will make the hamster catch a cold, and in severe cases, it may die.
(4) Please know your own hamster breed, hamsters are forbidden to be kept in a combined cage.
(5) If you are not psychologically prepared or financially capable, please do not combine female and male hamsters in a cage, as the reproduction ability of rats is very considerable.
(6) Please do not use feeds of unknown origin, and do not feed them to worms or mold!
(7) Prohibit the rats from drinking raw water, please let them drink boiled cold water, or mineral water, pure water.
(8) Prohibit the use of bamboo chopsticks, popsicle sticks and other things to make the rats grind their teeth, please use the special teeth grinding supplies and feed for rats on the market.
(9) Prohibit the use of newspaper and tissue paper as bedding material. Newspaper has too much ink, and Kleenex contains bleach.
(10) It is forbidden to keep rats in too small a space, which should have at least a roller, water bottle and other supplies.
(11) Try to avoid letting hamsters stay in air-conditioned rooms, so as not to cause the rat to catch a cold.
(12) Although melon seeds, bread worms and other high-calorie food for rats love to eat, but can not be used as staple food, easy to cause fire, the staple food or use the market brand food is best.
Precautions for rat mothers during the production period:
(1) During the period of pregnancy of female rats, remember to separate the cage with male rats. The male rats will sometimes eat the baby rats; the main thing is that the male rats may still be in heat at this time, and if you don't separate the cages, you will cause the female rats that are still in the nursing period to get pregnant again, which will affect the female rats' physical quality and even life expectancy. The female rats still have the ability to store sperm, and there is a possibility that one litter will be followed by a second litter. Therefore, it is very important to separate the male rats from the cage in time.
(2) Please help the moms to take care of their health, it's very hard to give birth to a baby, and they will eat some of the babies if they don't have enough nutrients!
You can use flaxseed, nutrient water, dried small fish, yellow mealworms, barley worms, etc., so that the mother rat can increase her nutrition.
(3) Please don't change the placement items, padding materials, etc. in the mother rat's cage between full moon. It is very easy to scare the mother mouse, resulting in not nursing the baby or recycling (eating the mouse). Before weaning the mice, do not touch them with your hands, or the mother mouse will eat her own baby.
(4) When the mice are weaned, they will be able to leave their mothers after they have reached the end of their first month of life, when their fur grows and their eyes are open, so you can try to touch the babies!
(5) It is best to wait until the mice are full term before feeding them breadworms, which have shells.
At this time, the baby's digestive system is not yet complete, please do not feed breadworms, as it is easy to get indigestion. The mother will feed the mice by herself, please do not intentionally help the mice to feed.
(6) During the pregnancy, please remember to pick up the roller, sometimes the mother will neglect to breastfeed in order to play with the roller.
Check your mouse's body yourself
(1) Teeth: Mouse's incisors are constantly growing, and sometimes the teeth are too long, making it impossible to eat. At this time, you can cut your own teeth, please use small animal teeth cutting utensils, if you are afraid to cut, you can bring it to the doctor to cut the teeth.
(2) Scent gland: male rats only have, in the middle of the abdomen, there is a yellow grain of something, that is the scent gland, male rats in heat, the smell here will be particularly heavy. Sometimes the scent glands will be too much, so remember to use hydrogen peroxide mixed with saline at a rate of 1:10 to help them wipe it off! If there is too much, please take them to the veterinary hospital and ask the doctor to clean them.
(3) Eyes: If the rat is healthy, its eyes should be very shiny and glossy, but if they are red, oily, or have eye droppings, then it is time to pay attention and bring them to the doctor.
(4) Poop: The rat's poop should be a little hard, the size of a grain of rice, black and odorless. Sometimes it will turn green or red, don't be too nervous, please think back to the rats' feed, whether there is green or red feed, if so, the green color of the stool is normal. If there is any green or red color in the rat's diet, it is normal for the stool to be green in color.
(5) Buccal sacs: Sometimes it is necessary to pay attention to the buccal sacs to see if the food has been eaten, and if it has not been eaten, please don't give the food again. If the food in the bursa is rotten and smelly, it will easily lead to bursitis. Regularly monitor the cheek pouches for the odor of rotting food and help him to remove the food from the cheek pouches at regular intervals. Use a cotton swab to probe into the cheek pouches carefully and do not rotate it! The rat will spit out all the food in the cheek pouches on its own. Or use a feeding syringe (with the needle removed!) to rinse out the cheek pouches using saline mixed with water in a 1:3 ratio. Stick it in the cheek pouch and rinse it out.
(6) COAT COLOR: Rat's fur is usually soft and shiny. If there is hair loss, please note if it is an allergy and bring it to your doctor for examination as soon as possible.
(7) Body temperature: the body temperature of rats and mice is usually touched by hand, which is slightly higher than ours, but the feeling is not obvious. If it is obvious that the rat or mouse's body temperature is too high, please send it to the hospital immediately, as it is very likely to be the precursor of heatstroke!
The business of raising hamsters
Bathing rats
Do rats need to take a bath? To bathe! This is a good starting point, but for rats and mice, they can't enjoy bathing as much as humans. Because of the wet fur can easily cause rats and mice to catch a cold or even die! So please use bath sand to give rats a bath !
Giving rats a sick call
If a rat gets sick, it's a sad and troublesome thing to do! Because the current pet medicine, or for kittens, dogs, horses and so on, these and human life together for thousands of years of partners, as for the rat, only in recent years the popularity of the rat. We still have a lot of research to do on rats and mice, and we only know how to treat some major diseases. Rats and mice have small bodies and fast metabolisms, so it's hard to detect the signs of illness in the early stages, and usually by the time they are detected, they're already in a very serious condition, which causes problems in treatment, and may not necessarily lead to a cure. What's more, for these reasons, there are very few veterinarians who can treat rats and mice, and it's even harder to find a veterinarian who specializes in this field. The best way to prevent rats and mice from getting sick is to do a good job of preventive care in your daily life.
Pay attention to environmental hygiene
Rats are prone to get sick when they have a lazy and dirty owner! A dirty environment is prone to harboring bacteria, or attracting flies, cockroaches, and mites to visit and bring some germs as "companions", and the rats and mice will suffer. Nest owners are advised to clean the water container, feed bowl and poop every day, change the damp wood shavings regularly, and clean the cage weekly and disinfect it with hot water. Wash your hands before and after playing with your rat.
Balanced and diversified nutrition
Feeding rats with balanced and diversified food is not the best way to be lazy and just pour some ready-made feeds, because only when they are well fed will they be able to resist! In addition, drinking water is also an area that littermasters tend to neglect. Drinking water should be changed every day, and if it is contaminated, it should be changed. If you are in an area where tap water is not safe to drink, please give your rat drinking water for human use, as it doesn't drink a lot anyway.
Stable temperature and humidity
Most rats come from dry areas, so the cage should be placed in a dry and quiet place to avoid moisture (so change the wood shavings often). Rats are very sensitive to temperature. Rats in the wild live in holes in the ground, which have a natural thermoregulation function and should be maintained at a stable temperature. In weather with large temperature differences and in winter, please pay attention to keep warm to prevent hibernation. Generally speaking, rats are not likely to hibernate, that is, they will sleep longer than usual.
Avoid stress and tension
Rats are sensitive by nature (e.g., Roborovski's hamster is particularly timid), and when kept in artificial environments, they are prone to stress and tension, which seems to be the same as in human beings, and often leads to gastrointestinal discomfort, dysentery, and even gastric ulcers. Don't play too much with hamsters, such as chasing, forcing them to jump, throwing them in unfamiliar environments, etc. We may think it is fun, but the hamster may feel pain and fear. The first step to solving your rat's stress problem is to provide plenty of room for exercise by giving your hamster a large cage, placing it on a treadmill, and letting it out to play every day.
Basic equipment
Cage:
Large space (at least as big as a small organizer), best not to buy domestic ones, which are cheap but unsafe. Hamster living supplies(13 pictures)
The rat's feet can easily get stuck causing broken bones, or break out of the cage. And the paint that falls off is not safe for the rat (the rat has to chew the cage).
If you buy an imported cage, used ones are usually between 50 and 100. Brand new ones range from 100 to 300. (Newbies recommend Rex) 30 to 50 dollars.
Or some rat friends DIY organizer is also good, the whole set down to 100 can be done, of course, except for the aesthetic. Unless you have the ability to do it.
Rat toilet:
Rats will be scheduled to go to the toilet (rats are very like clean little animals, but not every good behavior Oh)
Use their habit, clean up will be much more convenient. Otherwise, you'll get their pee all over the place, and the cage will be full of flavor in a day or two.
You can buy some plastic products for rat sand, or buy a customized rat toilet for rats.
In order to make the rats develop the habit of defecating at regular intervals, you can use cotton swabs to put their feces in the rat toilet, and rats are very sensitive to smell.
This can cost anywhere from a few dollars to tens of dollars.
Water bottles and food bowls:
A dozen or so dollars will do the trick. (Imported cages you buy usually come with a water bottle and food bowl)
Rollers:
Basically, they come with the cage.
If you're a DIY rat lover, you'll have to buy your own, or make one yourself. Remember to buy a seamless one,
Never buy the kind with a seam in the middle, the rat runs very fast.
If you get your calf stuck in it, it's easy to break it.
The roller is generally divided into non-silent and silent two kinds, the price of this thing is also from five dollars to dozens of dollars ranging.
Hut:
Rats are nocturnal animals, so they like to sleep during the day,
So we need to prepare a hiding place for them to sleep,
From a small cardboard box (note that rats are not very honest, he will break out of jail, remember that it is best not to use the cardboard box, he ran away from the bad back) to the customized for the rats of the beautiful mouse house can be
(Some imported cages come with a second floor that can be used as a sleeping area). Prices range from a few dollars to tens of dollars.
Edit this section of the basic supplies
Feed: imported feed a packet of about 30 to 60 yuan ranging, you can eat a long time.
Some boast the effect of removing urine odor. It is forbidden to use pigeon or feed store's own mix of grains, the nutrition does not meet the requirements of rats and mice.
Don't think they can eat and absorb anything like house mice, hygiene is not very good, there will be rice worms or other moths
In order to prevent worms, seal the mouth of the mouse food tightly, but if you really don't have the financial ability to buy too expensive imported feeds,
please buy Hamada Fruit Foods or your own mix of grains and fruits. And strongly avoid giving rats human snacks.
Padding: We recommend using wood shavings in winter and cat litter in summer. Imported poplar wood is better but also more expensive. A bag will cost nearly 50 dollars.
Pine a lot of people use, from 5 to more than 20 yuan have, try to pick less dust
(is that you change the wood shavings will not be snotty kind of tears), other kinds of paper cotton, corn burgundy, wood shavings sand, and so on.
Cat litter has the function of sterilization, cooler, recommended for summer use. A small bag of 5 to 10 yuan.
Bath sand: one bag is about 5 yuan. It can be used for about half a year and can be recycled.
When the odor should be replaced, if just replaced with a new one is wet with urine, you can take out the wet place separately.
Some people will use cat litter instead of bath sand, I do not agree with this practice, cat litter used as a mouse toilet sand works pretty well.
But the particles are too large for the rats to get rid of the bacteria on their bodies.
(Remember to never bathe your rat with water, as rats are naturally afraid of water. (After washing it may die).
Drinking water: Use cool white water, and if possible, feed the rats pure water (the female rats should be fed with milk substitute during lactation).
Teething supplies: there are special teething wood and mineral salts for teething, but the rats may not like them, and teething snacks will be more popular. The price ranges from 13 to 10 dollars. Don't use anything like no-clean fastener, popsicle sticks, etc. ！！！！ (If you are keeping them in an organizer, make sure you have these. If it is a cage, the rat will bite the cage way to grind teeth, is a little noisy)
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