Choosing The Right Hamster For You And Your Family

Choosing The Right Hamster For You And Your Family

Hamsters are loved as pets around the world by young and old alike. Their cute antics and playful nature make them a popular choice for a family pet. The average hamster lives anywhere from one to three years, so when considering a hamster as a pet for a child it is important to keep this in mind. Coping with the loss of a pet hamster can be a sad yet important life lesson for a young child, and in the meantime they can learn responsibility while they care for the daily needs of their pet hamster.

The two most common pet hamsters are the Syrian hamster and the Dwarf hamster. The Syrian hamster has been bred into many different types that go by several different names: Teddy Bear hamster, Golden hamster, and Fancy hamster to name a few. A fully grown Syrian hamster can reach about seven inches in length, with the females being just a touch larger than the males. The most important thing to remember about Syrian hamsters is that they’re extremely territorial, so you must only ever have one Syrian hamster per cage. They will fight to the death if housed with another Syrian hamster!

Dwarf hamsters are smaller, and most importantly, can share a cage with other Dwarf hamsters without fights breaking out. Dwarf hamsters are a popular choice as they tend to be quite tame and friendly as long as you handle them correctly.

When taking your hamster home it’s important to remember that hamsters are extremely susceptible to stress, so you want to make the journey to their new home as pleasant as possible. A pet store will typically give you a small cardboard box to carry your hamster home with, but if possible you should bring a larger container filled with hay and some hamster food.

You should buy and prepare your hamster cage before heading out to get your hamster so that when you return to your house his home is ready and waiting for him. Be sure to get the essentials such as bedding and nesting material, a food dish, a water bottle, and some toys. Having all of this prepared will drastically reduce the stress on your hamster.

If you choose a wire cage for your hamster make sure that the distance between the wires is no more than half a centimeter or else your hamster can squeeze right through!

The location of your hamster cage is just as important as the type of cage you choose. Hamsters are nocturnal creatures and so they sleep during the day. They’ll need some peace and quiet during daylight hours, so don’t put their cage next to a blaring TV set! Hamsters are also very susceptible to temperature changes, so keep them away from direct sunlight or drafts. And even though they’re in a cage, having a cat or dog tormenting them all day long will lead to a very stressed-out hamster. If you already have other pets please keep this in mind when deciding on a location for your hamster cage.

Hamsters are naturally quite clean creatures, but even so you’ll need to clean the cage about once a week. The hamster will need to be removed from the cage while you do this, so it’s a great opportunity for him to get some playtime in a hamster ball. Throw away all the old bedding material and replace it with fresh material. Use a light disinfectant as any strong smells left behind by your cleaning will upset your hamster, and make sure that the cage is completely dry before you put the new bedding material back in the cage.

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How To Choose The Right Bird Toys To Keep Your Pet Bird From Getting Bored

Birds are intelligent creatures with active minds and they can soon become bored if they had not kept entertained. Birds that are bored and start to exhibit a desirable behavior such as squawking a lot and pulling out all the feathers. One way to keep your bird amused even when you’re not around is to make sure that you provide him with a variety of bird toys.

One thing to think about when picking out toys for your bird is whether or not the toys match with your bird size. Toys designed for small bird like a parakeet might not be safe for a large parrot because the powerful beaks of the bigger birds can easily break the toys into pieces which can be dangerous for your pet.

Different sized birds do seem to enjoy different types of toys but one toy that all birds seem to like is the ladder. you want to be careful, however, that you choose the right side letter for your bird obviously smaller birds will meet once with wrongs that are closer together.

Swings and hanging ring seemed to be a bit more popular for the smaller pet birds. That’s not to say that larger birds don’t enjoy them as some do but in general the smaller birds seem to have a lot more fun. Hang a couple in your pets cage and you soon see him swinging around and hanging from them and just having a heck of a time.

The bigger birds seem to like maize toys and puzzles especially if you can put some of their favorite treats inside the toy. They also like ropes that have leather knots which they can unknot with their beaks. This gives them something to work out of their mind instead of hanging around doing nothing.

Birds have the mentality of small child and just like children birds can really get enjoyment out of a play gym. you can find these In all shapes and sizes, but typically they either sit on a table on top of the birds cage and when he is out of the cage they provide him with a variety of interesting things to play on including ladders seesaws and swings. Not only will your bird entertain himself on these though probably entertain you as well!

When you are shopping for bird toys there are some you might want to think twice about buying. Although most birds love mirrors and love to look at themselves, it does might not serve the purpose you want if they actually think it’s another bird they may bond with their own reflection and not care so much about bonding with people.

Always evaluated toy for safety purposes toys that are not well made and can come apart and harm your bird should be avoided. Also toys that have little areas that might pinch your bird’s toes or that he can get his head caught and should be avoided. Remember, your bird can get his little beak into just about anything so you want and make sure the toys are tough enough so that he can’t break anything off and swallow it which could be disastrous and possibly even fatal.

Your pet bird doesn’t necessarily need expensive toys to play with, many birds love things like paper towel tubes and tongue depressors. Just be sure that if you do you keep your bird toy like that that you make sure he doesn’t rip apart and start eating it – it might not be a bad idea to stay around and watch them whenever you give him any new toy.

Because your pet bird gets bored easily you want to rotate his toys. Put a few toys in his cage and then hide the others away where he can’t see them. After a week or two remove the toys that are in his cage and replace them with the ones you hid away. You can take this opportunity to clean the toys that he has already played with, then hide them away for a week or two. When you bring them out again he’ll think he’s got new toys to play with!

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