Hello everyone, I’m John Yon, someone who loves sharing knowledge about hamster care. Today, I will continue to teach you how to raise hamsters in a refined way (just keeping them alive is good enough) 😏.
If you have read my previous blog post, I believe you have learned many money-saving tips. But if you haven’t started raising hamsters yet and plan to adopt a cute little hamster soon, congratulations on finding this article! I will help you skip over most of the pitfalls in hamster care right from the start. And I want to commend you for researching before getting a pet; this shows responsibility towards both the pet and yourself 👍.
Now, let’s take a look at how much it actually costs to raise a hamster.
1. A Hamster
As an average person, you might see hamsters being sold at pet stores or malls, where they are often overpriced and kept in poor health due to being crowded together. But am I just an average person? I strongly recommend buying from second-hand platforms. Why? Because most hamsters on these platforms are family-raised and have been socialized from birth, so their temperament, personality, and health are generally better. Additionally, family-raised hamsters are less likely to have been fed various medications, reducing the risk of them dying shortly after being brought home.
However, there are a few important points to consider when buying a hamster from a second-hand platform, based on my experience:
First, try to find someone nearby. Just search for hamsters and sort by distance. The reason for this is that it allows you to see the hamster in person before purchasing. You can also choose from multiple options (as a litter usually has many) and observe the parents, as their appearance generally reflects how the little hamsters will look when they grow up. If the distance is too far, you would have to resort to shipping, which can be extremely harmful to the hamster. They might die in transit without proper care or experience severe stress, and I really don’t want that for you. Moreover, if you buy locally, you can easily contact the original owner for help if any problems arise with the hamster—so remember to keep their contact information.
Second, be careful to identify whether the seller is a regular family or someone who specializes in breeding and selling hamsters. This is another advantage of buying locally; you can visit and verify their identity. Regular families are usually happy to have you come over to observe the little hamsters because they don’t want to give their pets to someone who doesn’t care for them.
Third, you can ask the original owner to give you some bedding and food that the hamster has been using. This can help the hamster adjust to its new environment. By the way, when the little hamster first arrives, try to minimize handling it for a day or two to allow it to acclimate; I will explain this in detail in future articles about hamster care.
After all this, you might be wondering, didn’t you say it could be free? 😂 Well, it’s quite simple. Many people on these platforms are willing to give away hamsters for free. Their hamsters often have many babies, but most families don’t have the time or energy to care for so many. Instead of abandoning them, the best option is to give them away or sell them. So, if you pay attention and ask around, you can get your beloved hamster for free or at a very low cost. As for the specifics of how to do this, just ask around and get started!
2. Cage
Before bringing the hamster home, you need to prepare a cage. Don’t tell me you’re going to close this article after reading that and only come back to it after you’ve gotten the hamster 😨. I won’t go into detail here; I will cover cage-related knowledge in future posts. For now, let me tell you the approximate size of the cage needed for different hamster breeds. Generally, for smaller dwarf hamsters, a cage that is about 15 inches long and wide is sufficient. For larger hamsters like Syrian hamsters, I recommend buying a cage that is at least 23 inches to provide enough living space.
However, cages can be quite expensive. What should you do? The main purpose of a cage is to allow you to observe the hamster’s activities well, especially if it’s a transparent cage where you can see from all angles. But if you don’t need that or want to save costs, I have a great alternative: find a plastic storage box, remove the lid, and you can observe them from above. Just make sure the box is tall enough because hamsters are great escape artists and always want to escape. Also, it must be made of plastic, as they can chew through cardboard. If you have a glass tank, that works too. If you’re not worried about losing them, you can even let them roam freely in your home, but I generally don’t recommend this to avoid accidentally stepping on or crushing your cute little hamster.
3. Furniture
This is the area where you can save the most money. Here’s a quick rundown:
- Food Bowl: You can just scatter the food around the cage; not only does this save you from buying a bowl, but it also provides the hamsters with a treasure-hunting experience.
- Water Bottle: This is usually used for hamsters to lick and get water without making a mess. However, you can also find any container that can hold water, like a bottle cap; hamsters can find and drink from it. Just ensure the container is stable and not easily tipped over, and change the water daily to keep it clean.
- Bedding: For details, you can check my article on preparing for hamsters in winter. In short, when bedding is sufficient, hamsters can build their own nests.
- Exercise Wheel: What is this? If there’s enough space, let the hamsters run around freely. Having one is great, but it’s not a huge issue if you don’t.
- Decorations: Besides wanting to create a specific scene, I personally enjoy collecting beautiful branches, leaves, stones, and other items from the roadside during my hamster-raising journey. This provides the hamsters with different scents every day and looks great. Feel free to let your imagination run wild!
4. Bedding
Common options include wood shavings, paper bedding, cotton, bath sand, and litter, as well as alternatives like cork granules and corn cob. I’ve discussed how to choose substitutes in previous articles, so you can refer to those. If you happen to have access to wood shavings, you can use them without purchasing, but they must be dry and sifted multiple times to remove dust; otherwise, they can harm the hamster’s respiratory system. Paper bedding can be made from paper towels, and cotton can be replaced with medical cotton balls. Bath sand is just regular dry sand. Here’s a little tip: hamsters actually bathe in sand because they originally lived in desert areas, so never wash them with water; they can clean themselves just fine with sand. Other bedding options like straw or soil are also acceptable as long as you can clean them regularly.
5. Food
Commercial hamster food is generally quite expensive, but it provides balanced nutrition. I usually recommend supplementing your hamster’s diet with fresh vegetables and fruits, such as leafy greens, apples, and root vegetables like carrots. I will cover this in detail in a dedicated food article later. If you don’t want to buy hamster food, in addition to the above, you should provide grains as the main diet, which typically includes wheat, rice, sunflower seeds, and peanuts.
Besides serving as food, these hard grains can also help meet the hamster’s dental needs. However, if you notice your hamster’s teeth are too long, you might need to buy some chew sticks to provide for them.
Final Thoughts
Whether you choose to raise hamsters on a budget or lavishly, it’s all a matter of choice, and both can bring us a lot of joy. In the process of lavish care, we can see hamsters darting around in luxurious castles, while in budget care, we can watch them explore the little homes we made ourselves. It’s just like living as a prince or princess in a palace or running wild as a farm kid in the fields. As long as they are happy, that’s what matters! As long as our hamsters are well taken care of, that’s enough!