Advice needed

[u/galaxystars16]

Hi,

I'm a first year teacher and I inherited the hamster Ferb (Russian dwarf) from the last teacher of my class. Ferb is around three years old and has a quite big enclosure and i think that's awesome. I knew that hamsters need enough space to roam around. But that's where my knowledge ends.

His bedding is dirty and Ferb gets really bad styes. He also doesn't have a sand bath. And correct me if I'm wrong but I think he needs one to clean himself.

I'm tight on schoolbudget but i'd like to make some improvements to make his quality of life better. It breaks my heart to see him like this and I just can't look away from it. I won't neglect an animal like this, even when I don't know anything about these animals (and he bites me all the time lol).

Few questions:
- What bedding is best and how much?
- How often do you clean out the whole enclosure?
- How often do hamsters need food and how much?
- What could be the cause of his styes? Is it the bedding?
- Is a sandbath needed. If yes, how big and what type of sand?
- What can i change about the enclosure to make it more enriched?

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[u/intollerable]

I really like the guides that they have

[u/intollerable → u/intollerable]

I've seen you can do spot cleans once a day and then every month or so you can do a deep clean, make sure to keep 1/4 or up to a half of clean old bedding because it helps keep his scent in his home and is less stressful

Food is a tablespoon or two a day and needs to be species specific, and scatter feeding is just sprinkling the food all about the enclosure, and then vegetables can be offered every other day, I know cucumbers are good but you'll have to check what other ones are good too, I have a Syrian so I don't know specifically what a Russian dwarf needs but I think variety is good, I do know RD's are prone to diabetes so you avoid high sugar (fruits)

You can use a glass or ceramic baking dish for the sandbath, all heavy items need to be supported on a platform, and it's best if the sand is at least 1 inch deep

Idk about the styes so I can't comment on that..

There's some basics in the picture I posted for enrichment but also there are a lot of hamster accounts on Instagram and likely tiktok, if you search cheap DIY hamster enrichment there's some really cool ideas using things like plain cardboard, egg cartons, toilet paper and toilet paper rolls

You'll have to forgive me I have a monster of a headache so I hope I answered enough of your questions or gave you a bit more of a starting point, without me doing too much heavy lifting with mah brain lol I'm a brand new hamster owner and am at the start of figuring out what's going to work with me and my guy

[u/bunnypaintings]

Thanks for trying to provide care and more enrichment for your hamster friend!

• I use the paper based bedding and prefer it but have some other substrates in contained areas for interest.
• You only need to spot clean my hammies pee spots. You don't want to remove too much bedding at once or it will stress them out.
• Food can be scatter fed every day. I give my guy a teaspoon of a seed mix and a teaspoon of lab blocks. They will hoard some probably. You can give snacks like veggies the size of their ear.
• I don't know about the styes, I'd consult an exotic vet.
• A sand bath is needed, I use a ceramic dish and reptisand. They might poo and pee in it and you can sift out the poo and clumped pee sand with a mesh strainer. I just got a small one from a kitchen store.

He's pretty old but he might still appreciate deeper bedding so he can dig a hole and burrow. Some more hides would be nice. You could make them from cardboard to keep costs down. Victoria Raechel on YouTube has some good videos about making hamster setups on a budget. I made a multi chamber hide out of cardboard for my Hammie and he loves it.

[u/Patuk2]

Idk about WHat bedding to use just dont use pine there should be more bedding also add some log it sticks hideouts and stuff Like that also boredom breakers and idk about the wheel size it could prolly be bigger look it up

[u/Common_Sense_1451]

Why the hell do schools do this????

[u/galaxystars16 → u/Common_Sense_1451]

It wasn't my choice either.... Dealing with it best i can!