Hamsters do not need grooming, with the exception of Long Haired male Syrian Hamsters that may need the occasional brush to remove shavings from their coat and this is best done using a soft toothbrush.
Hamsters do not require bathing as they clean themselves and to bath a hamster removes the natural oils from the coat and there is a risk the hamster will catch a chill. Hamsters do appreciate having a dish of sand to roll in though and this helps to remove the greasiness from the coat - in the wild they live in deserts so this is natural for them.
Cage Cleaning
The cage should be cleaned weekly by removing the hamster from the cage and throwing away all old wood shavings and food. Any fresh food that may have been stored by the hamster should be removed after a couple of days to avoid it rotting. The hamster will appreciate it if some of its old bedding is placed in the clean cage along with some fresh bedding.
Health Checks
When cleaning the cage it is recommended that the hamster be checked over for any signs of ilness. This is an ideal time to check that the droppings in the cage look normal: soft droppings could indicate diarrhoea, lack of droppings could indicate constipation.
Feeding Hamsters - Basics
The basis of a hamster's diet should be a good quality store-bought food designed specifically for hamsters. Should you choose a pelleted diet or a diet based on a loose seed mix?
Pelleted Diets
Pelleted foods offer a completely balanced diet, and for this reason I generally recommend pelleted diets. As explained below, a hamster can be picky iwth loose mixes resulting in an imbalanced diet. However, pelleted diets are a bit monotonous and some hamsters will refuse them. A pelleted mix can be supplemented with a variety of other items, as long as the pelleted food makes up the bulk of the diet to ensure well-balanced nutrition.
Loose Mix/Seed Diets
It is important to pick a loose mix diet that contains a variety of foods such as grains and dried vegetables along with some seeds -- and some loose mixed foods also contained a balanced pellet food as part of the mix. As mentioned previously, the biggest problem with loose mixes is that hamsters can pick and choose their favorite bits, which could result in a dietary imbalance. When feeding a loose mix, make sure your hamster empties the food bowl before adding more as this is the best way to make sure your hamster does not just eat his or her favorite parts.
My recommendation: try to get your hamster to eat a pelleted diet, and supplement it with a vareity of other foods such as human foods. If you like, you can even sprinkle a bit of a loose mix diet in with the pellets to add a bit of variety.
Fresh Foods and Treats
You can feed your hamster a variety of human foods, as long as you stick to healthy human foods and limit the treats to no more than about 10 percent of the diet. Skip the the junk food and stick to healthy things like whole grains and fresh vegetables and fruits (in moderation, or diarrhea may result). Store-bought treats such as yogurt drops and honey/seed sticks are generally sugary, and I recommend avoiding them.
Note: since dwarf hamsters are somewhat prone to diabetes, it is prudent to avoid much sugar in their diet, so avoid fruits as treats for dwarf hamsters.
Some suggested fruits and vegetables:
apples (no seeds!)
bananas
blueberries
broccoli
carrots
cauliflower
cucumber
Hamsters usually love peanut butter, but it must be fed carefully (as with any other sticky food) because it can get stuck in their cheek pouches and cause severe problems. A very thin layer on a piece of wood is okay as an occasional treat, but peanut butter must be given with caution.
Hamsters are mammals that belong to the rodent family having large incisor teeth that are continually growing necessitating gnawing to prevent the teeth from overgrowing. The word 'rodent' is derived from the latin word 'rodere' which means 'to gnaw'.
Hamsters form the Family Cricetidae which is broken down into different Genera (including Cricetulus, Phodopus and Calomyscus). Within each Genera are various species of hamster. There are many different species of hamsters throughout the world and most hamsters inhabit semi-desert areas where they live in burrows.
These burrows consist of many tunnels and separate chambers including chambers where the hamster will store food and sleep. Hamsters are nocturnal, sleeping during the hot days and waking in the cooler evenings. They have very poor eyesight but a keen sense of smell and excellent hearing.
Most species of hamsters have expandable cheek pouches in which they can carry food and bedding back to their burrow where they will store food. The word 'hamster' comes from the German word 'hamstern' which means 'to hoard'.
Only a few hamster species are widely kept as pets but the hamster is the most popular of the smaller rodents kept as a pet in many countries today.
