Travelling with a hamster?

Question

I'm on vacation, and I want to buy a pet hamster here because there are many more pet stores than there are where I live. But when I go back home by car (I'm travelling for about 16 hours) will it be too rough on the hamster? Any suggestions for how to safely take a new hamster back home? I was thinking to put it in a cage and tape the cage on the car floor, but I'm not sure if that will work. Please help.

Answer 1

4 hours in the car is the max. The stress of leaving it's home, being bumped around, and being placed in a new home will be way to hard on it. Try the newspaper classifieds or kijiji.com to see local classified for hamsters in your area. Usually on kijiji they have- hamster with cage and supplies- free to a good home. Those ads are the best... And all you have to do is pick it up from the current owners.

Answer 2

It won't be too rough. Just make sure you cover the cage with a sheet or blanket(leaving a place for air to come through). Make sure the cage is secure(buckled, tied down, etc) and put in grapes to keep him/her hydrated. Stop every few hours(i'm assuming you would anyway) and put the water bottle on while you're off the road, and then back off when you leave again.

Answer 3

get a small cage that you can cover the sides of so its dark (but make sure they get air). put shredded news paper or some kind of hamster bedding in there so they can burrow and feel safe. They are usually shipped with a piece of potato so they can keep hydrated but i have heard that either the skin or inside is bad for them..cant remember. You can use a water bottle but it may leak. And scatter a bit of food on the bottom.

If this is a long hot drive, don't bother. It's too hard on the hamster. But if you can keep him at a comfortable temperature you should be ok.

BUT considering the journey he has already been on getting to the pet store, unless they have local breeders, I would just get one closer to home. Buy accessories and stuff to take back with you. It's better to have everything before you bring a pet home anyway.

Answer 4

Traveling with hamsters is one of the worst ideas an owner could do. However, if you must, try to buy two cages, one for traveling, one for at home.

The traveling cage should be an aquarium, or mostly plastic(no wire bars) cage. If kept in for more than three days, hamsters will get sick in these cages. However, they are great for traveling because the plastic or glass blocks out noise that may scare them. All you need in this cage is a hamster wheel(no wire! hamsters can get their feet cut off while running on wire hamster wheels. always use plastic!), a food bowl, a small water bottle that can be attached to the side of the cage, and a small wooden hamster house.

The everyday cage(for when your hamster gets home) should have wire bars on the side, but not on the bottom or top. Good brands are Crittur Trail(not Crittur trail 3)! This cage should have the same items as the traveling one, along with a few chew stick and a toy tunnel to play in.

Traveling can be stressful to hamsters. Make sure to sit him in the back of the car, in the front, things are just to noisy. Try to keep the air in the car off, and windows closed, because this will make your hamster sick. Put him in his everyday cage as soon as you get home. Do not touch, talk to, or hold your hamster for 24 hours after he gets to his new home.

But(there's always a but), your hamster may get very stressed out on the ride home and get very ill and die. No matter what, it's best to wait until you get home to get a hamster. :)

♥Guinea Pig Lover♥