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Oh dear mum bought the hamster...

Dwarfs are usually the size of a golfball when sitting squished up. Lol. (that's the best I can think of to describe it.)
Yes he's bigger than a golf ball. But smaller than a syrian which we have at work for some animal behaviour classes. At least he's defintely a hamster, I was slightly concerned Mum could have come home with a gerbil or rat or mouse!
 
Thanks so much @Julie M ! Its a bit of a weird situation this and completely embarassing as I lecture in animal health and welfare and in purely intellectual terms Mum isnt fit to have a pet but... now she has one, and she's old and ill and thinks a hammy friend will keep her company when she's too ill to sleep, so... we are just going to have to go with it I think and be prepared to step in when needed!
As long as there's someone to help make sure the wee souls fed, cleaned and watered I'm sure your mum will do well with her new pet. And pets bring so much joy
 
Not a Russian then... do they ever interbreed in pet shop back rooms? What other breeds are there that are in between syrians and russians in size that can be albino and have big ears? Or is he just a mystery cheap cross breed reject hammy... pics tomorrow anyway :)
 
Winter whites, Russian dwarfs, winter white Russian dwarf hybrids, also Chinese hamsters although these tend to look more like mice. She may have a young Syrian.
 
Winter whites, Russian dwarfs, winter white Russian dwarf hybrids, also Chinese hamsters although these tend to look more like mice. She may have a young Syrian.
I will take pics tomorrow and look forward to getting some expert info! I got as far as identiying him as "male hamster" in the 5 mins I saw him, based on his tail and cutey little paws and the less cute bulgy bit under his tail :)
 
Oh dear. I knew you were dreading this.

I probably can't help much on brands, as I'm in Canada and many of our brands are different. I've had both dwarf hamsters and Syrian hamsters (if you post a pic I'll tell you the difference!) Dwarf hamsters are pretty tiny... Robo hamsters are even smaller. Young Syrians may start out little but end up larger, kind of like roly-poly gerbils.

We have our hamsters housed in cages sold as rat habitats, so they have a decent-sized footprint for the base but the bars are still narrow. We do have a wheel for them and use paper bedding, same as what I use for the pigs. Most of ours have really liked nesting, so we give them plenty of paper towels to tear up and build nests out of. You can give a mixed food with seeds and pellets, but can also choose a food that is all pellets (kind of forces the hamster to get complete nutrition against their will- they like to sort all the food, can be picky about what they will eat, and as they like to hoard it anyhow it can be really tough to know what they are actually eating.

You have good reason to be wary, but I do have to say that the name cracked me up. That's just freaking adorable. At least hammy has a cute name, hopefully by the time you're done he/she will have a decent living arrangement as well. Good luck!
 
Oh dear :( Even my degu’s are in a cage with far less than 3cm bar spacing otherwise they’d be out!

But you are doing all you can by buying the bigger cage and educating your mum. Could you take the cage she was sold back and reclaim the money? You could spend it on accessories
 
Can you take the cage back to the shop, 3cm gapping it bonkers, surely they should refund your Mum, not sure what animal would go in such a small cage with that bar spacing? Can’t offer advise on hammy, it was about 50 years since I had a hamster and knowledge and care moves on x
Good luck, it’s a pain for you but your Mum will get lots of pleasure from him x
 
I thought the same, can you take the cage back.
You would think they would have done a better job in recommending a suitable cage.
I'm not really up to date on hamster care as I haven't kept one since I was a kid, but do know they prefer to live alone.
Sorry I can't be more help.
Hope your mum and little Alice get on ok.xx
 
Well this is Mum's new hammy, Tsar Alice 88th!
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I think he's cream and white unless he's just a bit wee stained but he doesnt smell at all. He is exactly the size of a toilet roll middle, has to wriggle a bit to get in then there is a tail sticking out one end and whiskers sticking out the other so I dont think he"s a dwarf breed- would love to find out what he actually is if anyone can help!
Sadly he really hates Mum, I arrived to find her trying to grab him while he rolled on his back and made shrieking noises. This is very bad, am I right? Again (not dissing any particular pet shop brand before anyone jumps on me for that but this is not good at all) Mum was told in the shop that it was a happy excited sound that means he likes being handled. I cant even think of a vaguely polite family friendly forum appropriate comment to make on that :(
So I had to disillusion Mum that hamsters generally do not shriek for joy, high pitched hamster sounds are not good at all... then she cried... so we had a big hug and I said its not her fault then we started again.
No handling for now. I was very strict. And Mr. Alice stopped squealing just as I was wondering if it was emergency vet time. He'll be off to the vet next week for a health check anyway but I told Mum any more bad sounds when she isnt harassing him and we'll get him straight to the emergency vet.
After the harassment and terror ceased, hammy had a quick groom to get the scary old lady smell off himself, then I talked to him in my idiotic rodent calming voice and he came and took some organic pumpkin seeds from my hand and put them in his cheek pouches. So he's fairly emotionally resilient which is good!
Then I "upgraded" (rather a crappy upgrade offer but all I can do today) his 15x25cm bug carrier to a larger 25x40cm snail tank he'll live in until his new cage is delivered on Thursday or Friday.
Here he is in his pitifully small "upgrade" temporary house tank, but at least he has a toilet roll middle and a cardboard box house filled with strips of kitchen paper now which is more than he had before!
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That’s almost certainly a Syrian, a very cute one!
Shrieking noises aren’t good, could it be in pain? My hamster (Ghost a Syrian, who we got from Pets at Home) isn’t friendly either, hates being handled and will bite anybody given the opportunity, but never shrieks
Your mum may want to rub her hands in the hamsters bedding before handling him, as she will smell like him and he will be less scared
 
He is absolutely 100% a Syrian. As @Sophie B says rubbing your hands in bedding also helps, or putting a square of toilet roll in your bra for the day and then putting it in hammys cage.
 
I did wonder if he was in pain but when the harassment stopped the noise stopped and he started eating and pooping straight away and trying to climb out of his box, so I think to avoid traumatising him further its a watch and wait thing, Mum has strict instructions to do no more harassment/befriending than refill his water and food or offer him a pumpkin seed or bit of veg, and that if he shrieks again at all to phone me straight away and we'll go to the emergency vet.
I'll pop in to check on him on Wednesday, then hopefully get him rehoused on Friday!
 
He will probably just be terrified. Hopefully the shrieking will stop. Good advice. Just to feed and water and generally give nice treats to.
 
Y
He will probably just be terrified. Hopefully the shrieking will stop. Good advice. Just to feed and water and generally give nice treats to.
Yes poor old Mum just wants everyone and everything to love her and goes overboard with the intensity and scares them senseless! She does this with her grandkids and great grandkids too as well as small animals. So I was very strict about the no handling and left a little box of pumpkin seeds and cashew nuts she can offer hammy if she feels the need to love him in some way...
Mr Alice was thinking that there's no way he's leaving that cardboard box bed sanctuary for a fair few hours though, he stocked it up with the pumpkin seeds and some baby corn and he's settled in there for a while now I reckon!
Poor Mum and poor hammy... I hope they learn to be friends on appropriate hamster terms!
 
I don't know what he is, he is either a very big male albino dwarf, or the albino runt of a syrian litter- he's sort of in between size! He's supposed to be the last of a litter where his prettier brothers were all bought young but he's been left alone as a teenager/subadult with big hairy hamster boy bits that nobody wanted. I will go see him tomorrow and take pics :)
Can he have newspaper or kitchen roll bedding until we sort some proper stuff?
I'm not surprised nobody wanted those boy bits, you make them sound so attractive 🤣🤣🤣
 
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