Section 1 What is a hamster?

According to what Du Niang said, hamster is the general name for animals in the subfamily Hamsteridae. Generally, there are cheek pouches on both cheeks... And these are the types of hamsters. There are many, right? I can’t tell them apart.

In fact, there are many varieties that are rare, and you don’t need to recognize them all. In fact, if you don't care about coat color, the most common types are bear type, first-line type, third-line type, and in-law type.

Strength Type - Bear

Here is a brief introduction to the characteristics of these varieties. The first is the bear type, which is powerful and has a lifespan of about 3 years. Compared with the other species, it is smarter and has the largest body size, so it is also the strongest.

Although bears have brutal teeth, they are still loved by many people because of their plump feel.

Agility type - in-law type

The smallest in size, people in the world call it "flying on the hands". It has the longest lifespan (3 to 4 years) and is also the most afraid of humans. It will be more difficult to get close to it.

However, after getting familiar with it, it’s easy to be moved by its dull expression 0_0

First-tier and third-tier categories

First-tier and third-tier categories, here Let’s put it together. The UP owner is not particularly familiar with the first-tier hamsters. The information Du Niang obtained is that "hamsters have the most violent temperament, and their feeding is not much different from the third-tier hamsters." So let's focus on the third-tier hamsters here. There were strength and agility types just now, is the intelligence type the third line?

On the contrary, third-tier students are those with lower IQs →_→. If I had to say what type of third-tier movies it is, it would probably be "dumb and cute". The third-tier personality is generally docile and more suitable for novices. Since the next step is to introduce the breeding method, I will not explain the coat color one by one. So after understanding a little bit, if you plan to raise a rat, start preparing the basic supplies.

Section 2 What do I need to prepare?

Required supplies: hamster cage, den, food bowl, kettle, running wheel, bedding, bathroom and bath sand (except for long-haired bears), teething tools and special rat food. You think it’s a lot, right? In fact, it’s not that troublesome. Some specialized hamster cages or packages will come with their own nests, food bowls, water bottles, and running wheels. Other things are also easy to buy separately. Let’s start introducing them one by one.

A qualified cage

As a qualified cage, first of all, the space must be sufficient. Many people think that the bigger the cage, the better. However, for general purposes, an ordinary size is enough. enough. The standard here is that you can put down the basic supplies mentioned above.

In addition to the space, the chassis of the cage must be higher. Rats have the habit of sowing sawdust, which can easily be sown everywhere outside. In addition, if you don’t want to use an ordinary cage, you can try DIY organizing boxes~

Here we will focus on the cages that cannot be used. The first is the turtle box. There is only such a small amount of space, so I can't move around, and I can't put any supplies in it. Another thing that cannot be used is a cage with a bottom net. This kind of hollow cage is easy for rats and mice to injure their feet when moving on it.

A comfortable nest

If you buy a special cage for hamsters, there will be a small nest inside, usually made of plastic. Generally, this nest is enough. If you don’t think it looks good, you can buy another one you like.

But of course, that’s just what you like. For hamsters, the so-called nest is just a place to sleep and hide food. Even if it is made of pure gold, it will not make any difference.

In addition, if you are afraid of rats being cold in winter, you can buy or make a cotton nest filled with cotton to ensure warmth ~ so the nest is a fortress that gives rats a sense of security!

Small food bowl, great use

A regular hamster cage will come with a food bowl, but the size is not guaranteed. In fact, the rats don't mind whether there is a food bowl or not, and they will eat it even if they are placed directly in the cage.

But for the owner, the food bowl can be a good way to observe the eating situation of rats. Observing the eating situation allows the owner to quickly detect abnormalities in rats and take corresponding treatment in a timely manner.

Kettle selection

The kettle is a special existence. Some vendors will tell you when selling rats, "Hamsters can't drink water, just feed them some steamed buns and vegetable leaves." Of course, this is wrong. Rats can drink water, but they cannot drink tap water. Rats need to be given purified water.

As for kettles, they are generally divided into two types, ball type and vacuum type. The difference between the two is that the ball type is noisier, but the vacuum type is more likely to leak water. It depends on personal choice.

A running wheel is indispensable

A running wheel is a rat’s gym and must exist ~ Of course, a regular hamster cage will also come with a running wheel. But it may be smaller. It is best to add a larger one when Shushu grows up.

What I need to tell you is that the running wheel is also a very noisy thing. If you want to keep rats in the student dormitory, you need to discuss it with other roommates~

Padding ( Sawdust, cotton, summer sand)

Everyone may be more or less familiar with bedding materials. The most common ones are high-quality and low-priced sawdust. If the floor is thicker, rats, which naturally love to dig holes, will be happy burrowing around in it.

In addition to sawdust, here are some other types. One is summer sand, which is cool and refreshing. The other is absorbent cotton used in winter to keep warm.

Bathroom and bath sand are inseparable

These two are mentioned together because they are used together and cannot be separated. The first thing that needs to be explained is that please do not bathe rats with water, whether it is cold or hot water in winter or summer. Because that would easily make the rat catch a cold, get sick, or even go to heaven. The correct way is to let the rat take a bath with bath sand.

When it comes to bathing in sand, you must first have a bathroom. Bathrooms are everywhere, and the size of the bathroom needs to be determined based on the breed and size of the rat. Generally, the third line and the in-laws use the small size, and the bear uses the large size. You can use a taller small box instead.

How to wash it depends on how cute your mice are... Usually when mice find bath sand, they will go in, dig up the sand, and roll around. In addition, woolly bears do not need sand baths because they can take saliva baths by themselves.

Tooth grinding objects

Hamsters are rodents. Since they are born, their teeth will continue to grow and they need to chew on hard objects to grind their teeth. Generally, you can provide it with teething stones, apple branches, wooden skewers, etc.

Rats may bite the cage. The cage can be used to grind teeth, but chewing on the wire for a long time is not good for the teeth. It is best to use special tools~

Rat food

Rat food is generally divided into branded food and self-prepared food. In fact, as long as the quality is acceptable, you can eat any type. Using branded and self-prepared foods is actually the difference between being raised richly and being raised poor. Of course, being raised poor does not mean being raised cheaply. The method of feeding cabbage and steamed buns is not acceptable.

Many people believe that branded food must be better than self-made food. Rich people from all walks of life follow the principle of "the more expensive, the better" and buy various high-priced grains. Let me explain a little here, in fact, self-made products are not necessarily worse than brand products. My personal suggestion is that if it is an ordinary feeding method, then mainly feed grains, and you can try out brands to change the taste.

The above are all the basic supplies needed to raise rats. Is it troublesome? In fact, it is not troublesome at all. After you have prepared all the items and put the rat in the cage, all you have to do is basically clean the cage once a week. Adding some food and changing some water every now and then doesn't actually take long.

Hamsters are unique ornamental pets. As long as they have food, drink, and territory, they will be the same with or without you. And please remember a very important point, never close the cage!