What do you do with your Hamster over Pesach?

amother

Teal ↓

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 10:50 am

We are going to be away the whole Pesach and the day before and after. What should I do with my hamster? I would leave him in my house and "sell" him with the chometz, but I am not sure I can leave him enough food for 10 days - what if he eats it all before the end? Also, his cage will be gross after 10 days!
What do you do?

Chayalle ↓

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 10:54 am

You need to find a neighbor who is willing to hamster-sit for you. When we go away just for a longer weekend, I get a neighbor's teen to come in and make sure out guinea pig's water supply is full, and hay tray and feed dish is sufficient....I usually by her a little gift card to the local ice cream store when I get back.....

Seas ↓

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 11:05 am

A hamster can survive for a week on only kosher lepesach food, like hay, vegetables, and so on.

Giving it to a neighbor isn't a solution if it still belongs to you, as you'd be benefiting from chametz.

amother

↑ Teal ↓

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 11:06 am

The problem is
1)I am not friendly with any of the non-Jews in my area, and those with whom I am acquainted, I would not give them my key to access my house when I am out for a week+.
2) If my house is "sold", I don't know that I can give someone else permission to come in.

amother

↑ Teal

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 11:07 am

Seas wrote:

Vegetables - If I leave a week's worth, wouldn't it rot?
Hay - I never fed him this. Do I just ask for it in the pet store and assume its kosher Lpesach?

↑ Seas

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 11:15 am

You can't really give enough veggies for a week and a half, but you can give the hamster to a Jewish family to look after, and they should feed it veggies.

Hay is just dried grass, and AFAIK doesn't require a hechsher.

ra_mom ↓

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 11:33 am

We made our own filling mix of seeds, nuts, legumes (kitniyus) for our hampsters the years we had them over pesach. But we stayed home with them and refilled their bowls daily.

If you need to be away, consider getting someone to watch your pet.

Otherwise, look into getting a vacation feeder that allows the hamster to get enough food throughout without gorging on a too full bowl. Also get multiple water bottle feeders. If you do this (we did this once, but only for a weekend) make sure there's air conditioning/heat/fresh air and light for your caged pet.

↑ Chayalle ↓

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 11:30 am

ra_mom wrote:

What types of seeds, nuts, and legumes did you put in your mixture?

My DD is starting to worry about what her newest family addition, Muddy the hamster, will eat over pesach.

oakandfig19

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 11:44 am

Please do not leave your hamster alone for 10 days. You can give the cage to a neighbor, they don’t need to come into your house.

Frenchfry

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 3:36 pm

We plan on switching our gerbils to alfalfa feed, which doesn't contain any grains. We're going to do this a few weeks before Pesach to get them used to it.

Then you can give them to a Jewish friend.

Alternatively, we took our gerbils with us when we went away for two weeks in the summer. They traveled okay for about 7 hours in the car.

↑ ra_mom ↓

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 4:08 pm

Chayalle wrote:

What types of seeds, nuts, and legumes did you put in your mixture?

My DD is starting to worry about what her newest family addition, Muddy the hamster, will eat over pesach.

We bought arrow mills puffed rice, raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and we dehydrated corn, peas and soybeans in the oven. Don't rely solely on the seeds because if they're not balanced with other nutrients the high fat is too much for the hamster.
Treats were little cubes of apple or carrot.

↑ Chayalle

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 4:14 pm

Thanks! Will look into these....sounds like I should prepare this before I clean my kitchen for Pesach totally....because of the stuff in the oven....

↑ ra_mom ↓

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 4:17 pm

Btw not sure if we did the soybeans at the end because we had to buy them frozen and then dehydrate, and the corn and peas we just bought fresh and dehydrated as is. I think we may have end up leaving the soybeans out of the mix even though it had good nutrition. We did the mix for a few years (when we had our hamsters).

↑ ra_mom

Mon, Mar 11 2019, 11:38 pm

I just saw that ohnuts has freeze dried corn and peas on their site. Wow, that would have made things easier for me - no cooking!

anon for this

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 4:01 am

When we had hamsters we fed them millet and hay during Pesach. Millet is sold in pet stores in the bird food section. You can also ask an employee there for advice.

DrMom

Tue, Mar 12 2019, 5:49 am

ra_mom wrote:

Even if you get a vacation feeder, don't you need someone to change the straw at the bottom of his cage? 10 days seems like a long time...

I vote for finding someone to hamster-sit and leaving them with some KLP food.