The NFC B-Day Chat Thread

[ShrekDawg]

My gerbils sleep and are awake throughout the day. They don't mind being woken up. They are more aware of their surroundings.

My hamsters are robos, they wake up after dark, run all night basically on the wheel for hours and hours, than go to bed. Most days I don't see them, except for a few minutes. They don't seem to notice me unless I put my hand in the tank, where the gerbils will look at me.

If I had to choose I would gerbils just because I do see them, and they seem to acknowledge me. The hamsters just want to run.

Another difference is gerbils chew on stuff, and my hamsters don't too often. My hamsters don't dig either. They are like watching one channel.

The gerbils are always doing stuff. My white male tries to escape the aquarium every evening around 7. He jumps in the corner for a while before giving up. When I feed my dogs treats from the drawer under their aquarium they get excited to get a dog biscuit. My hamsters don't care, and run in terror where the gerbils are always trying to sniff my hand.

So big differences between the two species.

Yeah, I think I'll go for gerbils. Especially after what you said here

Wow, i had different experiences than you guys. I really like hamsters. I bought a teddy bear hamster that was really scared to death of me. He was all white with red eyes. He would screech when you tried to pick him up. But i just moved slow and eventually i won him over. All of mine were tame and friendly. I had a whole bunch of colors too. I think I brought the first black hamster to NS in my pocket on a plane in the 70s. I had never seen one that color there before but someone may have had them. I had gerbils too but they were always digging, hyper like. Had one bite through my fingernail once. And one got out and chewed through an electric cord.

I think it depends on the hamster. The bigger ones are more chill.

I have only had the robo hamsters, so maybe the Syrian are different. I hope to try one down the road. I picked robos because they are supposed to be able to be kept in pairs, but mine ended up with the big one beating on his tiny brother so they are both kept separately now.

Yeah, hamsters do not play well with others. Those robo hamsters always seemed nasty to me but they seem better now. I guess it took a while to domesticate them.

Most of the dwarf hamsters like Campbell and winter whites, as well as the robo are recommended to be kept in same sex pairs. I guess it often doesn't work out as well as recommended. Mine are cute little buggers.

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Yeah, robos are kind of crazy haha the ones in the stores are always running around.

And most hamsters don't do well together. I think they lived alone in the wild

You can get dwarf hamsters?! Cute!

I need toothpicks for my eyes today. Hubby went back to work last night to catch up on paper work etc so our daughter was up late. Real late - she was still wide awake when he got home at 10.45pm! She's only 10 years old but she's always needed less sleep than the average child and is a night owl (seriously at 9 and a half months she dropped down to one sleep a day and from 14 months on, no more day time naps). Me on the other hand am a lark, so I like to go to bed early and get up early, though not quite as early as I woke up this morning (after staying up late waiting for DD to go to sleep) - 3am! I've had 4 hours sleep if I'm really lucky. I just couldn't get back to sleep. This heat doesn't help either. I feel a bit like a zombie. I don't like coffee but I was seriously considering making a cup!

Glad you had a good shopping trip @Teila - it always feels good to be able to cross another name off your Christmas list. What a find!

I had very helpful cockatiels today - they all want to be on me at the moment, but a few decided to get in the big bag of shavings to play. I was trying to clean them out but didn't get very far! It's hard to use arms and hands that are covered in birds and even harder to get new shavings out of a bag that has 3-6 cockatiels playing in it!!!
View attachment 1211661

Beautiful birds!

They are gorgeous. I love their coloration. What is that called?

They are all reverse pieds, four with pearling (the lacey pattern on the wings). They have more grey on them than they should (to be breeder/show quality) which is why the breeder is getting me to hand rear them. The little girl on the far right he would've kept to breed from if one of her parents hadn't squashed her.

I tried her and our others we are keeping in a proper cage (they are in an indoor rabbit/guinea pig cage at the moment) but it doesn't have enough horizontal bars to help her climb up if she ends up down the bottom, so I've had to move them back and will get her some ladders. If you didn't know she was a bit special needs you wouldn't guess, but that showed me I really need to think about how she'll move around the cage easily.

We are also keeping one of the babies in that photo. Here are some better pictures of it. We don't know if it's a boy or girl but it's just gorgeous, looks wise and personality wise:
View attachment 1211690

View attachment 1211696
If it's a boy it may lose the majority of it's pearling, though the breeder said the Whitefaces often keep it so fingers crossed, either for a girl or for a boy that keeps the pretty pattern.

Awww

Super pretty birds @Teila


Sorry it is hard to find there. When I take my box of empty cans to the market to get the deposit back, it is 99% Dr. Pepper cans (and the occasional bottle). Every now and then there is a Ginger Ale can or Reed's Ginger Beer bottle in there.

@KDOGG331 Re: gerbils
Good reasons, and accurate. My sister in law had a couple of gerbils. They were a hoot when they were out in the kitchen running around. Ever had a rodent run up the sleeve of your pajamas and come out somewhere else? But yes they DO need to have space to run around. I guess that is why people buy/build large tunnel systems if they can't let them run (supervised!) in the house often.

Thanks! And OMG that is hysterical! Most breeders say you only need 10 gallon tank for a pair but I'm going with a 20 gallon long but realistically they probably need even more room. If there is another $1/gallon sale I might buy a 40 gal breeder or something

Or I might just make a separate dig chamber and connect them or something

But I'm also going to provide tons pf cardboard

 

[ShrekDawg]

And for hamster cages I've seen this thing recommended or those clear plastic square storage bins from IKEA, the big ones. This seems expensive for just one hamster but the plastic bins are more affordable. But lots of people get these and then make a really cool environment for it. I would if I had the money. Or I might eventually use the idea for gerbils haha

https://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/10119206/

And this is the awesome natural set up I was talking about. Apparently I had it bookmarked and found it looking up the other thing haha this one uses a different cabinet but similar idea.

http://www.hamstercentral.com/community/housing/13087-finished-ikea-expedit-cage.html

If I ever get a hamster, that's what I want to do for it. Or maybe put the gerbils in there eventually.

I don't know if they still sell it but you could probably make one cheap.

Here's another thread detailing the building and stuff

http://www.hamstercentral.com/community/housing/12586-homemade-cage-plans.html

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yeah, I think I'll go for gerbils. Especially after what you said here



I think it depends on the hamster. The bigger ones are more chill.







Yeah, robos are kind of crazy haha the ones in the stores are always running around.

And most hamsters don't do well together. I think they lived alone in the wild



Beautiful birds!





Awww



Thanks! And OMG that is hysterical! Most breeders say you only need 10 gallon tank for a pair but I'm going with a 20 gallon long but realistically they probably need even more room. If there is another $1/gallon sale I might buy a 40 gal breeder or something

Or I might just make a separate dig chamber and connect them or something

But I'm also going to provide tons pf cardboard

10 gallon is way too small, I don't know why it's recommended. 20L or larger. Mine seem fine in theirs. I initially tried a 20 gallon but it was too small in my opinion.

Go with a glass aquarium for gerbils. They are big chewers. I gave mine some PVC pipes for tunnels and they chewed them right up in a few months. They would eat their way out of any plastic habitat.

Also get a cover, they like to try to jump out.

 

[DigMyChicks]

Most of the dwarf hamsters like Campbell and winter whites, as well as the robo are recommended to be kept in same sex pairs. I guess it often doesn't work out as well as recommended. Mine are cute little buggers.

View attachment 1211617

Very cute!

You can get dwarf hamsters?! Cute!

I need toothpicks for my eyes today. Hubby went back to work last night to catch up on paper work etc so our daughter was up late. Real late - she was still wide awake when he got home at 10.45pm! She's only 10 years old but she's always needed less sleep than the average child and is a night owl (seriously at 9 and a half months she dropped down to one sleep a day and from 14 months on, no more day time naps). Me on the other hand am a lark, so I like to go to bed early and get up early, though not quite as early as I woke up this morning (after staying up late waiting for DD to go to sleep) - 3am! I've had 4 hours sleep if I'm really lucky. I just couldn't get back to sleep. This heat doesn't help either. I feel a bit like a zombie. I don't like coffee but I was seriously considering making a cup!

Glad you had a good shopping trip @Teila - it always feels good to be able to cross another name off your Christmas list. What a find!

I had very helpful cockatiels today - they all want to be on me at the moment, but a few decided to get in the big bag of shavings to play. I was trying to clean them out but didn't get very far! It's hard to use arms and hands that are covered in birds and even harder to get new shavings out of a bag that has 3-6 cockatiels playing in it!!!
View attachment 1211661

Beautiful birds. Does your daughter function ok on that little sleep? I’ve been awake since 3:30 and my butt is dragging.

 

[ShrekDawg]

10 gallon is way too small, I don't know why it's recommended. 20L or larger. Mine seem fine in theirs. I initially tried a 20 gallon but it was too small in my opinion.

Go with a glass aquarium for gerbils. They are big chewers. I gave mine some PVC pipes for tunnels and they chewed them right up in a few months. They would eat their way out of any plastic habitat.

Also get a cover, they like to try to jump out.

Yeah, that's what I thought too! Maybe it saves space if you're breeding? Only thing I could think of but I personally prefer they have enough room.

Yeah, I also already bought the tank ha they had a $1/gallon sale so I had to. And wow so I guess PVC tunnels are out?

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that honestly so I'm glad you mentioned it

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yeah, that's what I thought too! Maybe it saves space if you're breeding? Only thing I could think of but I personally prefer they have enough room.

Yeah, I also already bought the tank ha they had a $1/gallon sale so I had to. And wow so I guess PVC tunnels are out?

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that honestly so I'm glad you mentioned it

You can give them PVC, just don't be surprised when they chew away at it. Mine left theirs alone for a few months, than one day they started chewing. I removed them when they were half destroyed. I tried tree branches but mine didn't touch them. They like those chewable logs and log houses.

Definitely get a cover. My hamsters don't need one but the gerbils are determined one day to finally escape. With 5 dogs it wouldn't be as joyful as they think it would be.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Dog watching gerbil tv.

 

[JaeG]

Very cute!

Beautiful birds. Does your daughter function ok on that little sleep? I’ve been awake since 3:30 and my butt is dragging.

She gets by on about 7-8 hours a night! Does my head in! I get up early just so I can have a break from children because I sure don't get one at night - she'll still be wide awake when I go to bed at 9.30pm!

Dog watching gerbil tv.

View attachment 1211856

Too cute!!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

You can give them PVC, just don't be surprised when they chew away at it. Mine left theirs alone for a few months, than one day they started chewing. I removed them when they were half destroyed. I tried tree branches but mine didn't touch them. They like those chewable logs and log houses.

Definitely get a cover. My hamsters don't need one but the gerbils are determined one day to finally escape. With 5 dogs it wouldn't be as joyful as they think it would be.

Thanks! I think I got some plastic houses and this real cute peanut shaped thing but maybe I should get some wood ones.

And I'll definitely have to get a cover!

Dog watching gerbil tv.

View attachment 1211856

Awww

 

[ShrekDawg]

8 hours os pretty good though! That's like the recommended amount, although kids and teenagers they say need more