Caring for a Winter White Dwarf Hamster
This is a guide to everything about how to take care of a winter white hamster. They are adorable and are relatively easy to care for and inexpensive. They're most known to have 3 stripes on their back, but they can also have one stripe in the middle. If they do not have the stripes then they are not winter white hamsters, and are most likely Russian Campbell hamsters. Sometimes pet stores might mix the two up. It is most advised to visit your local pet rescue to adopt a hamster, but if its not available then pet stores or breeders is the place to purchase these hamsters. Be sure to check what sex they are, and find signs of sickness. Male hamsters are easy to identify as they have a bigger behind because of their testicles. Personality wise males tend to be more placid then females, and females do have heat which some people can smell. Check for their eyes and fur of anything funny. Be sure its dry, not have any patches or odd stains.Winter white hamsters are kind of like dogs. They are territorial and depending on their personality they may or may not get along with another hamster. If you want at least one, be sure they're from the same litter and of the same sex. Unlike guinea pigs and gerbils, they are fine with living alone. More often then not do I hear owners having to separate their hamsters due to fighting. Even if you give one of everything to each hamster in their cage. So please prepare a backup cage if this ever happens especially if one ends up bleeding. You don't want to risk one of them dying! The only way to really prevent fighting is giving them a cage the size of a walk-in closet which no one really wants. Also, it is recommended to not buy a boy and a girl for the sake of breeding. If you are not a specialist in breeding hamsters, please do not attempt it for the sake of having babies. When you take your new fellow home, be sure to leave them alone for at least a day because the move will stress them out. Stress is a huge killer of hamsters so let them be or they will bite.
Cage size is important. Most of the commercial hamster cages are way too small and expensive. Do not think that because the product is in a store means its humanely safe. Many avid hamster owners recommend at least a 20 gallon long tank or a 110 quart bin cage. Plastic storage bins are the cheapest cage, but it may take a bit of DIY (do it yourself) to prevent hamsters from escaping. Unlike the expensive commercial cages, you can really customize the look of the cage. You can find these big bins at Walmart, Target, and Home Depot and they usually cost about $15. If you get those small cages they will be a problem for one your hamster would start chewing on the bars due to bored. It will ruin their teeth when they do that so getting a tank or bin cage eliminates bar chewing. Second, wheels on bar cages are nosy at least for me they were and it was hard to sleep through that. Having the wheel on a stand makes the wheel so much more quieter. Third, smaller cages tend to stink faster since it means a more concentrated level of urine rather than a spread out one. Fourth, they are hard to clean and reassemble! And fifth, they gates are too small to take your hamster in out easily and the hamster could find a way to escape. Hamster lovers are very into converting the Ikea Detolf glass display case into a cage since it looks great and have ample room for hamsters.
Be sure to use aspen bedding or unscented paper bedding and fill the cage up with about 3 inches of it. Any other bedding are known to cause problems for hamsters. Having that much bedding will encouraging the hamster's natural behavior to make burrows. Many of those commercial cages don't even allow that much bedding because of the bars. Hamsters love to burrow, hide, and sleep in bedding! Do not use those cottonball looking bedding since it could risk the hamster into eating it and cause problems.
A very important item hamster should have is a running wheel. For winter whites a 6" wheel is most appropriate. Do not get any smaller (not good for their backs) or get any wire wheels or wheels with any gaps or holes. Hamsters feet are very small and it could get caught and injure the hamster. The silent spinner or a wodent wheel is highly recommend.
Another important item is a hideout home. Being a natural prey animal, they get scared and need a place to hide as well as for privacy. You can practically use any hamster safe material for them to hide in. There's wooden houses, plastic igloos, ceramic homes, hay huts, and you can even use a cardboard box. They prefer ones that are not clear since obvious you can see them, and its not dark. They are nocturnal after all!
Now for food and treats! Unfortunately winter whites are prone to diabetes. It is highly advisable to not feed them anythings sweet like fruits, basically all the treats you find at pet stores, and any other food that has high sugar such as corn, carrot, and peas. If you check on many of the food you see at pet stores they mostly have corn and peas included. Now many of the food are designed for a broad group of animals instead of just one which is highly unfortunate. So now that we have restrictions it helps narrow down to a few choices. Oxbow Hamster and Gerbil Healthy Handfuls is one of the healthiest food for hamsters there is with no sugar. Its mostly made up of timothy hay, barley, flax seeds, oat groats, and added vitamins. Now, hamsters can eat timothy hay, but mine aren't exactly keen on it so sadly they hardly ever touch the Oxbow cheerio shaped food. Hazel Hamster is a seed mix that is usually recommend but it is not the greatest since it has quite a bit of corn and pea flakes. It has no sugar and has quite a variety of food. A great balance of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and peanuts! There are two kinds of dark pellet food from alfalfa meals which my hamster is not very keen on eating. There's lots of picking out when I use this food. I like to save the seeds as treats! The Vita Prima Dwarf Hamster Formula is not a bad seed mix as I barely have to pick anything out and my hamster eats almost all of it. There is some corn, peas, carrots, and other vegetables but they're a lot lower on the list so its not a huge concern to me. Since hamsters can tend to get bored with the same food its a good idea to have a couple different food to feed them. You can also give them some fresh vegetables like broccoli and even cheese but in small amounts. Dwarfs need a sufficient amount of protein which these dry food mix don't usually meet so its be a plus to supplement with meal worms (live or dried though they are fattening) or dried crickets. My hamster didn't even touch the dried worms, but after a couple months they loves them! As for treats, you can give them something sugary, but be sure to rarely give it them. Sunflower seeds are they most favorite treats! Don't buy the salted ones you see at stores! Usually the food I mentioned earlier have plenty of seeds so use those. Seeds are important part of hamsters' diet so if you like you can buy packs of hamster safe seeds. The Ecrotrition Grains & Greens for birds is a seed mix that I like to treat to my hamster. Also spray millets, another bird treat, is another good treat for hamsters. As for water, a typical water bottle is fine. Fie nding water bottles for bin cages and tanks can be a challenge since its not easy to find one to stick on the glass wall or bin wall. I made a diy bottle holder but cutting out a good enough hole on the bottom of a plastic cup. I also cut another hole on the side of the cup for where the spout will go through. I tape along the inside of the cup, and place it down on hefty cardboard. Cut the cardboard to whatever size you like. I placed some decorative stones inside the cup to keep it weighed down and then place the water bottle in. I have to use a piece of cardboard to keep the bottle in place in the hole to prevent leaking. So far its held up for well over a year. Thankfully my hamster is not much of a chewer! Also you can use a water bowl which would be an easier option.
Then the fun part, toys! Now there's lots of chew toys in the stores, but from my experience my hamster hardly touches them unless there's a treat inside. There are chew toys that act like they have a treat inside but they don't! There are diy chew toys where you put treats inside that you can do and don't require anything special but toilet paper rolls, cardboard boxes, or printer paper. The cheese chew seem to be a popular chew for hamsters but they are edible and its mostly gluten so its rather questionable if its a good thing. The hamster love it though. Hamsters like exploring and running around so having a good space for them to run around is the best. Things like bendable wooden bridges, or just any bridges is good, tubes for them to run or climb in are great. I like getting add ons for crittertrail and ovo and use them with the puzzle playground. My hamster likes to hang out there when he's awake! Its good to get creative with these add ons and fun to see how your hamster responds to them. These's add ons can be pricey but they are plastic so you can wash them and reuse them for awhile unlike the wooden ones. My hamsters like running through tubes, climbing up and down tubes and wooden houses like the petco 2-story one, and jumping off from one thing to another.
It be a good idea to see if your hamster would like a sand bath. Do not bath your hamster with water! It will make them unhappy and sick. Usually they clean and groom themselves often, but a sand bath wouldn't hurt. Make sure you don't get chinchilla dust as it be too fine and could cause issues with the hamster's respiratory system. Though usually any sand for bath is a risk to their respiratory system, but use your best judgement on whether its worth it or not. Use a suitable container to pour the sand in. Your hamster will know what to do in the bath so don't worry if you don't see them roll around like a chinchilla. Hamsters like to be clean!
Winter White hamsters are known to be biters or at least nibblers which can put people off. You must know that it depends on the hamster's personality and how you handle them. If they bite you then they do not want you to bother them or you're handling them poorly. For the first week or so you will have to slowly let them get use to you. Hand feed them food or treats and gradually you can pet them when they get to know you and your scent. If you're afraid of getting bit then use gloves or use cups to pick them up. They are nocturnal so don't bother then during the day if possible. Learn their sleep schedule to find the best time to interact with them. Be sure to give them time to play outside the cage. Now most people use those balls for them to run around the house, but I find them to be quite stressful and dangerous (feet can get caught in holes) so I don't ever buy them. If you don't have a good safe area for them to run around in the bath tub is a common area to let them run. My hamster is not a fan of outside the cage time since all he does is sit in the corner and clean himself the whole time so I do not do this. Taking a winter white hamster to the vet for check ups is not required and don't get sick. But if something strange is going on with your hamster it is serious especially if it has wet tail or have breathing issues. Dwarf hamsters are also known for getting tumors and cancer and treating them can be very costly. Please look up the nearest vet that specialize in exotic pets, and especially those who how to treat guinea pigs since essentially they are similar.
Hope this was helpful and may they many happy moments between you and your hamsters! Good luck!
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