Moon's Graden

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are going away on a short (4 days) vacation and have not
been able to find someone to look after our teddybear angora hamster,
Sunshine.  How long can one safely leave a hamster without a "babysitter"?
I plan to give her clean bedding and extra food and water before we leave;
are there any other precautions I should take?

Thanks in advance,

Andrew

Corinne Schmehl

->Hi everyone,
->
->My wife and I are going away on a short (4 days) vacation and have not
->been able to find someone to look after our teddybear angora hamster,
->Sunshine.  How long can one safely leave a hamster without a
->"babysitter"? I plan to give her clean bedding and extra food and water
->before we leave; are there any other precautions I should take?

Hello:

        There is no certain answer to your first question and I've been
called fanatical on the subject, but I would say that 4 days at the outside
should be fine. More than that and I'd want to have periodic checks done
at least.

        The problem is that, in general, hamsters don't like changes in
routine much. I've known of hamsters that went into a kind
of meltdown when their routine was upset. Hamsters have been known
to become so stressed from environmental changes or loss of regular
interaction that their digestion fails. So I'm a bit overcautious perhaps.

        However, you know your hamster. If it's the laid-back type, and
especially if your own interaction with it is casual, there should be no
problem at all. As for other precautions. I've had one passed on to me
from someone whose hamster was saved by it:

        Give your hamster two water bottles and high ground for a flood
emergency.

        You get the picture -- one bottle leaks (occasionally a bored
hamster will go looking for new things to bite), bedding becomes flooded
and cold, water everywhere but nothing to drink.

        I hope this helps. Best of luck, DGI

PS: If you live in the NY/NJ/CT tri-state area, I will baby-sit your
hamster.

********************************

         David G. Imber
   Maniform Creative Services
     http://www.maniform.com

********************************

A good precaution is to fix 2 water bottles to the cage just in case
one leaks and the hamster is left without water.

Lorraine
The Complete Hamster Site
http://www.hamsters.co.uk

Speaking from experience, make sure you leave a bowl of food and one
of water outside the cage in case they get loose. Believe me if they
are going to get loose this is when they are going to do it. They will
be fine for 4 days. I left mine for 9 days and had someone check on
them halfway through. They seem to eat more food when they are alone
so leave plenty. Better a fat hamster than a sick one. Also, buy an
extra water bottle as things do go wrong. While I was away one of my
hamsters bit a hole in theirs. Luckily they are ok. But a backup is a
good idea.

Dawn

It looks like you've taken all the pecotions there is!  I've left my hamster
 along for 3 days and she was fine. Make sure there wheel works and they have
 enough to chew on and to eat and drink!
                         Good luck!

Thanks to everyone who gave such good advice about leaving my hamster
alone!  I'm happy to say that Sunshine was perfectly healthy and chipper
when we got back. (I especially wish I had seen the post about leaving
food and water outside the cage in case she escaped, but I had left by
then.  Fortunately, it was not needed.)  She was, however, extremely happy
to go into her ball and run around the apartment for a while when we got
back, as she hadn't been out of her cage in a few days.

Thanks again to everyone,

Andrew