conuly

Dogs can have chocolate. If they eat like a pound of it then they'll get sick & throw up & get the runs & stuff, but it won't kill them unless they eat a lot of it.

Many people say rodents shouldn't have chocolate, but it won't kill them, either.

In fact, mice that invade your house LOVE chocolate, and will get into your chocolate chips whenever possible. They love them.

As far as rats go, giving them semi-sweet chocolate daily is actually GOOD for them because it functions as a natural bronchiodilator, and opens their lungs when they are having difficulty breathing.

Naturally, there are other TREATS a person could give a hamster which are healthier, like millet sprays, and carrots, grapes, broccoli, etc., so they don't NEED chocolate, but if yours should happen to get into some, if it's not a huge amount, you won't need to panic and worry that it will die.

From:

I highly recommend joining a forum called Hamster House. When we had our dwarf devils, I had a membership there & learned a great deal.

The chinchilla sand for occasional sand bathing is a good idea. It will help keep the coat from becoming oily. Just give them a little dish of it once a week, then remove the dish when they are finished so they aren't using the dish as a toilet.

We never used a salt lick for ours. I think too many people put too much emphasis on salt licks for rodents simply because rabbits and guinea pigs use them. We never used them for our hamsters and have never needed them for rats. They know when to drink water, and they get minerals from the healthy foods you provide.

They don't really need hay. You can provide it if you WANT to, but they don't NEED it. For bedding in the cage, as long as you stay away from pine & cedar, you're good. Carefresh is a really great bedding, but the hamsters will move it from place to place. Cell-Sorb is also great. It's compressed newspaper pellets & works wonderfully with hamsters. Aspen is my bedding of choice, and use it almost exclusively for the rats, but had good results with it with the hamsters, too.

For chew sticks you'll want to stay away from pine. You can give them fruit flavored Nylabones as a safe alternative. Rat people swear by them, and so I bought some. Naturally, the rats love them, and it was fun to watch the hamsters maneuver them & chomp on them, as well.

From:

scottrossi.livejournal.com

free cage things: i usually used used toilet paper or paper towel tubes for my many hamsters to explore and chew. i also gave them little balls of paper and old towels my mom had discarded, for them to use with their beds.

treats: seeds, peanuts and sunflower seeds (small doses, unless you want a FAT hamster!) cereal.

toys: wheel, hamster ball, steppy thing, hidey hole nook thing (unless you use the paper towel/tp tube)

love: unconditional

bad: if hamster is bad, hold them by the scruff of their neck to train them. i never had a problem with biting, i always made sure they knew i wanted to hold them, let them get used to me.

From:

rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com

I've never given my hammie a salt lick or a sand bath. Come to think of it, I've never given him anything to bathe in, but he's not smelly. I give him the hammie treat sticks that have nuts and seeds and fruit in them about once or twice a month, along with his regular hammie food. And hamsters must have things to chew, or they will start chewing on the bars of the cage for lack of anything else to chew, and drive you nuts.

From:

Guinea pigs and rabbits DO NOT need salt licks. Over consumption of salt can lead to various things, including bladder problems and dehydration. It is a myth that rabbits and GPs need salt licks. Mineral licks as well are bad. They get more than enough salt from pellets. Pet stores are full of crap and will tell you anything to get you to buy from them. (Not attacking you, correcting you. Dont want anyone seeing that and rushing out to get their pets salt licks)

Ahem.

I dont know anything about hamsters. Just had to get that cleared up... I might venture a guess that hamsters dont need salt licks either, but I dont know for sure.

From:

Interestingly, though, chocolate is a great bronchilator (sp?) with mice and rats. Whenever my girls are a bit congested they get a chip each and they're breathing well in less than an hour.

From:

Oops, should've read

toastedtuna's post more carefully.

*cough* Bronchiodilator, I knew that...

From:

There was no need to try and "correct" me at all. What I said was--there is a USE of salt licks with those animals. I never once said rabbits et al NEEDED them. Never ONCE. The reason I didn't say they NEEDED them was because I don't think they do need them.

So, please, next time you'd like to "correct" someone, pay attention to the wording of the post.

Not attacking you, just correcting you.

From:

You might also want to look into making your own hamster food.

Commercially available foods are terrible.

When I belonged to Hamster House there were a few people who made their own hammie food.

I make my own rat food, rather than buy stuff. It's made from barley pearls, soft wheat berries, rolled oats, rolled rye, rolled spelt, Total flakes, puffed rice, puffed wheat, millet, puffed corn, dried pasta, banana chips & some other stuff. It's all available in bulk at the health food store.

Our hamsters ate this, as well. They liked it. If you can't find a recipe from the people at Hamster House, you can adapt Suebee's rat food mix to better suit your hamster:

http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

From:

I see this kind of thing all the time. I wanted to be sure no one got their guinea pig a salt lick because of your comment that they "Use them". It is unlikely someone would do so. Very unlikely. But still possible. I believe I even mentioned this in my comment, that I just wanted to get it cleared up. Seeing as you didnt sound like you knew all about guinea pigs and rabbits, I thought you might want to learn something new or at least make a mental note of what I said, taking it with a grain of salt (No pun intended).

I never said you said guinea pigs and rabbits needed salt licks. I did say I was correcting you, my error, which could be seen as implying you were wrong. By the same token, you could be seen as implying that because guinea pigs and rabbits need salt licks, it is assumed other rodents need them as well. True, you didnt say they needed them, but you said they used them, and that could be taken as "need" or "enjoy" or "crave" or "like" or "want" or any number of words.

I'm sorry you take "correcting" so personally. You implied something that was untrue, even if it was completly unintentional and opposite of what you wanted to say, I was informing you that that was not true. I know I like my errors to be pointed out, as they are often unintentional and misleading. If it is something I never knew before, all the better.

I was not intentionally rude in my first post. I didnt take that route in this one.

To submit or not to submit... Eh screw it. I'll take the arrogant route.

From:

spitefairy.livejournal.com

Do not feed them chocolate. They will die.

From:

ladyshrew.livejournal.com

ham-ster - One who hams. Not to be confused with a ham-stirrer.

From:

conuly

Yes, I know that. The same thing applies to cats and dogs and small children (well, they'll die if they take MY chocolate, so....)

From:

Dogs can have chocolate. If they eat like a pound of it then they'll get sick & throw up & get the runs & stuff, but it won't kill them unless they eat a lot of it.

Many people say rodents shouldn't have chocolate, but it won't kill them, either.

In fact, mice that invade your house LOVE chocolate, and will get into your chocolate chips whenever possible. They love them.

As far as rats go, giving them semi-sweet chocolate daily is actually GOOD for them because it functions as a natural bronchiodilator, and opens their lungs when they are having difficulty breathing.

Naturally, there are other TREATS a person could give a hamster which are healthier, like millet sprays, and carrots, grapes, broccoli, etc., so they don't NEED chocolate, but if yours should happen to get into some, if it's not a huge amount, you won't need to panic and worry that it will die.

From:

I highly recommend joining a forum called Hamster House. When we had our dwarf devils, I had a membership there & learned a great deal.

The chinchilla sand for occasional sand bathing is a good idea. It will help keep the coat from becoming oily. Just give them a little dish of it once a week, then remove the dish when they are finished so they aren't using the dish as a toilet.

We never used a salt lick for ours. I think too many people put too much emphasis on salt licks for rodents simply because rabbits and guinea pigs use them. We never used them for our hamsters and have never needed them for rats. They know when to drink water, and they get minerals from the healthy foods you provide.

They don't really need hay. You can provide it if you WANT to, but they don't NEED it. For bedding in the cage, as long as you stay away from pine & cedar, you're good. Carefresh is a really great bedding, but the hamsters will move it from place to place. Cell-Sorb is also great. It's compressed newspaper pellets & works wonderfully with hamsters. Aspen is my bedding of choice, and use it almost exclusively for the rats, but had good results with it with the hamsters, too.

For chew sticks you'll want to stay away from pine. You can give them fruit flavored Nylabones as a safe alternative. Rat people swear by them, and so I bought some. Naturally, the rats love them, and it was fun to watch the hamsters maneuver them & chomp on them, as well.

From:

scottrossi.livejournal.com

free cage things: i usually used used toilet paper or paper towel tubes for my many hamsters to explore and chew. i also gave them little balls of paper and old towels my mom had discarded, for them to use with their beds.

treats: seeds, peanuts and sunflower seeds (small doses, unless you want a FAT hamster!) cereal.

toys: wheel, hamster ball, steppy thing, hidey hole nook thing (unless you use the paper towel/tp tube)

love: unconditional

bad: if hamster is bad, hold them by the scruff of their neck to train them. i never had a problem with biting, i always made sure they knew i wanted to hold them, let them get used to me.

From:

rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com

I've never given my hammie a salt lick or a sand bath. Come to think of it, I've never given him anything to bathe in, but he's not smelly. I give him the hammie treat sticks that have nuts and seeds and fruit in them about once or twice a month, along with his regular hammie food. And hamsters must have things to chew, or they will start chewing on the bars of the cage for lack of anything else to chew, and drive you nuts.

From:

Guinea pigs and rabbits DO NOT need salt licks. Over consumption of salt can lead to various things, including bladder problems and dehydration. It is a myth that rabbits and GPs need salt licks. Mineral licks as well are bad. They get more than enough salt from pellets. Pet stores are full of crap and will tell you anything to get you to buy from them. (Not attacking you, correcting you. Dont want anyone seeing that and rushing out to get their pets salt licks)

Ahem.

I dont know anything about hamsters. Just had to get that cleared up... I might venture a guess that hamsters dont need salt licks either, but I dont know for sure.

From:

Interestingly, though, chocolate is a great bronchilator (sp?) with mice and rats. Whenever my girls are a bit congested they get a chip each and they're breathing well in less than an hour.

From:

Oops, should've read

toastedtuna's post more carefully.

*cough* Bronchiodilator, I knew that...

From:

There was no need to try and "correct" me at all. What I said was--there is a USE of salt licks with those animals. I never once said rabbits et al NEEDED them. Never ONCE. The reason I didn't say they NEEDED them was because I don't think they do need them.

So, please, next time you'd like to "correct" someone, pay attention to the wording of the post.

Not attacking you, just correcting you.

From:

You might also want to look into making your own hamster food.

Commercially available foods are terrible.

When I belonged to Hamster House there were a few people who made their own hammie food.

I make my own rat food, rather than buy stuff. It's made from barley pearls, soft wheat berries, rolled oats, rolled rye, rolled spelt, Total flakes, puffed rice, puffed wheat, millet, puffed corn, dried pasta, banana chips & some other stuff. It's all available in bulk at the health food store.

Our hamsters ate this, as well. They liked it. If you can't find a recipe from the people at Hamster House, you can adapt Suebee's rat food mix to better suit your hamster:

http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

From: