When caring for a short-haired hamster, it’s important to pay close attention to your hamster’s behavior. Any changes in your hamster’s habits, mood or personality traits could be a sign that your hamster is suffering from a health condition. To provide your short-haired hamster with the best possible care, it’s important that you are familiar with all of the general short-haired hamster pet care procedures.
WHY SHOULD YOU CHOOSE A SHORT HAIRED HAMSTER?
In general, it really comes down to a matter of preference. There are no significant behavioral differences between short-haired and long-haired hamsters, even though some hamster owners might think otherwise. Though long-haired hamsters do require a bit of extra care, this does mean that keeping a short-haired hamster involves less responsibility. No matter what type of hamster you choose, you are making a commitment to provide the best possible care for your hamster’s needs.
COAT CARE
Short-haired hamsters usually do not require regular grooming, though it can still be beneficial for your short-haired hamster to be groomed at least once per week. This can help to remove dead hair, excess skin and other materials from your hamster’s coat. You may give your hamster a bath, though most hamsters prefer a sand bath to a water bath. You can use the same sand that chinchillas use for bathing, which can be purchased at most pet supply stores.
BEDDING
For short-haired hamsters, your choices of bedding are fairly versatile. However, it’s still highly recommended that you choose a non-toxic bedding that does not contain any potentially harmful substances. In addition to this, you may want to choose a bedding material that is highly absorbent, or that helps to control odor. A short-haired hamster’s cage should be cleaned at least once per week, and may begin to develop a pungent odor over time if you use a low-quality bedding.
NUTRITION
For short-haired hamsters, a varied diet is essential for good health. In addition to your hamster’s dietary mix, be sure to include fresh fruits and vegetables. This will help ensure that your hamster is receiving proper nutrition. If you choose to feed your hamster commercial treats, be sure that they are free from high-sugar ingredients. Sugar can be dangerous to a hamster’s health, especially if it is highly processed. Other foods to avoid feeding your hamster include onions, chocolate, garlic and foods that are high in saturated fats.
52 Responses to “Short-Haired Hamster Care”
hamsters are solitary animals and those breeds shouldn’t be caged with other hamsters especially males! to begin with i would move them all to separate cages then stroke the females back if she tenses up and stays still she’s ready to mate and you can introduce the male in a different cage that belongs to neither of them so that they are not defensive of their territory. afterwards put them back into their own cages and let them get on with things. you cannot have a pregnant hamster in cages with other hamsters as they will either have their babies eaten by the other hamsters or eat their babies as an attempt to protect them from a horrific death.
i bought a female short haired hamster two nights ago and it sleeps ALOT!!!! and when i try to pick it up or play with it it just growls and tries to bite me can someone please tell me what to do???
Well pet her and give her treats but not to many I let mine have freedom and room just let her know ur there and uf she gets scared put her back in the cage
My science teacher taught this to me. She uses a little container (a flat dish of some sort); I used one of those hummus containers. Fill it with kitty litter (any kind), and she will go there to pee all the time. Don’t know how, but it worked with my hamster. Try it! Those hamster litter and potty things never work from the store.
I just got a short hair hamster 2 hours ago and when ever I try to pick it up it tries to jump out of my hands. What do I do?
well, first off, i just got two short haired hamsters, and they dont fight at all. They love eachother so much, they were in the wheel at the same time. they sleep together, exercise together, and play with eachother. my questions are, how much do you feed two hamsters???? my other one is more of a problem. I have a cat and I am very scared for my hamsters because the cage doesn’t lock very well. i could just keeep my cat out, but his food, water, and litter box are all in my room also. we have another set of food, water, and another litter box downstairs, but we have another cat that eat different food. (i am not worried about my other cat. just my kitten getting the hamsters.)
Hi, I Was wondering how big do the hamsters get? Please write back ASAP Even google won’t answer my question.
I used to have a hamster in an aqraiuum and I didn’t have to poke holes or anything like that. The aquarium already had a lot of openings at the top so the hamsters did fine in them. Just make sure you clean the aquarium before putting hamsters in them, but I’m sure you probably knew that already.
Hi i am getting two short haired baby hamsters that lived with each other ever since they were born would i be safe to put them in the same cage??? please write back ASAP
THANKS
i am looking into getting a short haired hamster is there any way to tell at the pet store if the hamster will be friendly as a pet or not. also about how mutch dose it coust aproximetly to start of your hamster to feed and house and get every thing it willneed in the begining
I wanted a teddy bear hamster but i cant find one at a petstore. They do have short haired hamsters is there any big difference?
i have a short haired hamster (a boy) and i want another one is it okay to put two short haired hamsters in the same cage?? ps. please get back fast
No they are territorial and will fight to the death
Maybe your hamsters would kill eachother to death, but mine love eachother sooooooooo much. I think it just depends on thier personalities.
i want to get a short haired hampster but i want to no if they bite!!
Well, First off there’s no P In hamster. Second yes, every hamster bites but they dont bite every time you pick them up, And also you can always tame your hamster not to. I’m sure if you go to PetsMart or Petco they can tell you.
I have had my short haired teddy bear hamster for about 1 and a half years and i noticed a little change in his behavior, he isn’t so energetic as he used to be and he moves pretty slowly. Could this mean anything??
Its just because your hamster is getting old but if your worried you can have a vet check up on him.
Hi, I just got a male short hair hamster yesterday, and he’s not eating, drinking, or playing in his wheel or tube. Is this normal or should I be concerned? Please respond asap!
Gabi, i am having the exact problem. i was just wondering how that turned out. should i worry? i already love him so much.
yes you should worry that happened to me and it turned out that he was sick so i returned him to the pet store. sorry =)
hi there, i was just wondering when and how to breed you hamster?….i have a short-haired hamster,thats orange and white,she’s female,..so how exactly do i breed her? do i just get another short-haired hamster to breed with her? i also heard short-haired hamsters don’t like to breed when they’re adults..is that true?
-thank you!!!
Hi i have two short haired hamsters and one ove them bit me really hard and I was olmost gushing blood. and i just got him yestarday on April 17 2011. and i just wanted to know do short haired hamsters bite bacause he bit me and my dad. he bit my dad when he was putting him in the cage but he did not pick him up and hi bit me when i was letting him smell me to get the smell of me so he want bite me but insted he bit me really hard. so, is it normall for a short haired hamster to bite a litte girl like me and my dad?
PS: get back as fast as you can i need to know if it is norrmal or not. please do you know?
its not really normal. I have a Hamster and he is short haired and he is so sweet! when i first got him he loved everyone he was held by. Hope this helped
also, the more aggressive one that we had was albino which means shes all white with red eyes which told us she couldnt see as well as our other. she was mean at first too but with time, patience and love, she learned our smell with very few incidents of biting but when she did it was painful. she passed away yesterday of old age but we have 2 more. 1 male and female. the male is currently being trained to be handled as he’s young and new.
If you just got them the day before it is good to leave them in the cage for 1-3 days. Then you might want to put in in a ball or something like that in the living room so it gets used to you picking it up in the ball but not touching it.
I have a short haired hamster you just touched him/her to early
my hamster done the same and its normal and i have got a long haired female and a shorted haired female. and candy bit me a few times where i started bleedin and it was normal
last week i got two female hamsters one of them was starting to act really strange so i got worried i took them both to the pet store there they told me one is male other is female can anybody tell me what to do pls this is urgent
I just purchased two female short haired hamsters and one of them I have to keep forcing it (not using brute force, just tapping the cage) to stop from chewing of the bars on the cage. I was told this breaks their teeth and in some cases can cause brain damage. I really need to know a method, other than constant watching her, I can do to stop her from chewing on the bars. I put out multiple shape, color, and (according to the label) flavor chewing blocks for them both, but she chews on them for a little while then goes and starts chewing on the metal bars. Any suggestions?
buy her some stuff to nible on ex hamsteroids mine used to chew on cage but now they dont =)
get a cage without bars on it. they have like a round top on them and they won’t be able to chew on it
I am replying to the message you posted on march 20 2011 at 7:31 all you have to do is stick a toilit paper roll between the bars of te cage then it should chew on that instad p.s i found this tip online yesterday
just buy some sort of chew stick mine did that to and i got her a wood little colred sticks and she loves them she doesnt chew on the bars anymore
I have a hamster two months ago and realized he was getting much downtime, even despondent. As here in Brazil the climate is usually warm, I opted to trim a few of the hairs and he showed more animation with the passing days.
For me it really worked. Thanks for the tips.
I’ve only had my hamster a few weeks but the other day she escaped and ever since she hasn’t been the same. before she escaped i was able to put my hand in the cage and she would crawl onto my hand now she wont even come near me. shes always sleeping and doesnt rarely eat. when we bought her the woman said there was a possiblity she was pregnant and i dont know how to tell or what to do for her. when i do handle her she seems to enjoy it but when she gets scared she pee’s a opake yellow colour substance that smells a lot :/ she isnt very active and im starting to get very worried about her.. i dont know how old she is or whether there is something wrong… please help?
I have a female hamster, i had her for over a year now. I first picked her up when she arrived to her cage. I then started playing with her, we were already BHFFs (Best Hamster Friends Forever) after the first day. But now shes an old granny and she just got wet tail…She is as close as dying. I wake up in the morning(i think about her), i go to schooll, i come back, i pick her up and start crying. Antybiotics don’t help… If you want the hamster to be happy, then buy it and give all u can to make him happy. If YOU want to be happy, then let some other kid buy it. 1st u can’t make them happy by keeping them in a cage.
2nd when they get old and start dying,or get an illness and start dying, u just can’t live , thinking it was ur fault.You just cry all the time, until you decide to suiside…(I’m being serious, get a dog, hamsters are too wonderful to die from ur hand) (SERIOUSLY)
I have one simple question whats the difference between a dwarf hamster and a short hair hamster?
I was looking into buying a short hair hamster till i came across a dwarf hamster, now i’m very confused on which one i should purchase.
I have had a Dwarf and it was meann we had to take him back and now i have a short haired and he is so frendly!
A dwarf hamster is a little bit smaller. I have had a dwarf hamster and then we got a short hair and we had to buy a bigger ball and bugger igloo. Short hairs are the most common. Some people say they are friendlier. My first dwarf was soooo sweet. We just got the short hair yesterday so we haven’t picked her up but she was really nice at the pet store. I think it just depends on the personality of the hamster and how often you handle it.
dwarf hamsters live for a shorter amount of time
i have 2 short haired hamsters, 1 boy and 1 girl. they fight really badly and i just noticed some bloody bite marks on the boy so i immediatley separated them. is it normal for short haired hamsters to be so violent? what else can i do about it and why are they fight so violently?
Yes, it is extremely normal. My daughter wanted two hamsters and when i went out to buy them, the lady that was helping me asked if i wanted one or the other and I said both. She told me that it would be better I only had one, for they fight a lot and will become more aggressive as they mature.
Usually hamsters are aggressive either because it is just their personality or one hamster is trying to protect its territory. Hamsters are very territorial and will fight anything that intrudes it. So it is best to either have only one hamster or keep the hamsters separated unless they get along well.
seperate them for a while let them calm down and see if they fight there is a reason they fight like for foof and space buy a bigger igloo
They are very violent they shouldn’t be together for long periods of time
I suspect they’re syrians, which means they can NOT be housed together. Syrians are aggressive by nature, and they will fight to the death over territory. There is no way to stop it, you will just have to seperate them.
I just got a hamster a few days ago, and was picking her up right from the minute I got home. She seems to be fine, so I would go ahead and just start handling him as much as possible-my thought process is that the more I hold her and let other people hold her, the more she will be people friendly and less likely to bite and stuff.
Well, I usually kept my hamster in for thirty-forty five minutes. I always made sure to give him a treat first, and see if he used the bathroom because if they stay in there too long they’ll use the bathroom and leave trails all over the floor. Also make sure your hamster is careful when he bumps into things. Since the ball is made of plastic it can crack and over time it can crack open and your hamster can escape. So, make sure to check for cracks and clean it after every use.
I had a very Important question. I just got my hamster last night on the 12. And I was wondering when I can put him Into my hamsterball. I’m going by a video the first day you leave him alone, today I let him hear my voice to get used to it, tomorrow I feed him treats by hand, Then try picking him up on the fourth day for a couple secounds.
Another thing… Could you make the food more clear. Like what exact foods they like most and what they can not eat.
Thanks allot!
Sarah
p.s. You can email if you like.
well i have two female short haired hamsters and i read that they should NOT have citrus. the hamsters cant have the really acidic stuff. suger iz off limits. I usually feed them a mixture of seeds and little grains and stuff. once every week i feed them bread, lettuce, sppinich and stuff like that
do you feed yours fruits like dried bananas. or vegetables like split peas,carrots