Travelling with or without Your Hamster
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Preparing to Have Someone Take Care of Your Hamster While You Are Away
Whether or not you plan to go away anytime soon, it’s a good idea to start planning for how someone could take care of your hamster should something happen to you. Cosmic Hamsters developed a hamster care sheet that she keeps by her hamster’s cages in case someone needs to step in for her, you can learn more about it here. These care sheets are perfect for an emergency or if you have a planned trip and have asked a ham-sitter to take over for you.
I would also suggest investing in a Wyze camera & a wifi enabled thermometer. Your hamster-babysitter may not know the things to look out for with hamsters, like for instance, that they are very sensitive to temperature, or if their behavior is unusual. Being able to check in on your hamster via your Wyze camera app & Govee temperature app will give you great peace of mind and allow you to ensure that your hamster is getting the care they need.
Both devices are quite inexpensive, the Wyze camera does include a small, monthly fee to be able to see the video on the cloud (but to me, it’s 100% worth every penny!).
Travelling With Your Hamster
While travelling is generally not recommended for hamsters, sometimes it has to happen! Here are some good reasons to begin preparing for travelling with your hamster:
Emergency situation like wildfire, housefire, medical emergency etc.
You are moving and need to find a safe way to bring your hamster with you
You have trip planned and your hamster sitter fell through.
Things to consider while travelling in a car:
Temperature
No matter what you decide to do, I highly suggest you purchase a bluetooth thermometer like this one from Govee. One of the biggest risks of travelling with your hamster is making sure they remain within about 65 - 75 degrees F. This can be tricky in a car in the summer or winter months with windows and so on. This little bluetooth thermometer will alert you if your hamster’s cage goes outside of the 65-75 degree range. It’s inexpensive and easy to use!
*Please note - I recommend a wifi thermometer when you are travelling and leaving your hamster at home, but a bluetooth thermometer when you’ll be travelling via car - unless your car has wifi, the bluetooth enabled thermometer is what you’ll need for car travel!
Shown above is the Govee Bluetooth thermometer - I use these around the house to make sure there’s not a spot that gets too much draft in the winter or sun in the summer.
Remove Heavy Items While You Drive
Keep your loved ones save in the car! Remove any heavy items from the cage while driving (like sand baths, ceramic or wooden hides, etc). Be careful about coming to quick stops.
Hamsters can injure themselves drinking from a water bottle while in motion, so it’s recommended that you provide cucumber for hydration instead. I also found myself offering my hamsters water from a hamster water bottle when we took bathroom breaks.
Where to Stay:
Thanks to COVID, I now have first hand experience road-tripping with my hamsters so that I could see my family! I found that travel with hamsters is totally doable, but you DO need to be prepared and know where to stay.
If you are road-tripping over several nights, La Quinta Inns are all pet-friendly for no additional fee! You do need to specify that you have a pet since they have designated pet-rooms, but otherwise I found La Quinta to be a great choice and they were widely available in the places I went.
When a La Quinta Inn wasn’t available I found the Hilton’s Home 2 Suites to be a great choice for travelling with pets. They aren’t as widely available as the La Quinta Inn, but when you can find a Home2Suite, I highly suggest booking with them! the Home 2 Suites are larger, “studio-style” rooms with mini-kitchens. This made feeding my hamsters fresh foods & dealing with refrigerated medications much easier to handle. I was also able to set up pop up, nylon playpens for my hamsters to enjoy!
For nights when neither of these options were available, I used an app called Hotel Tonight and simply read the descriptions of available hotels to find which ones offered pet friendly rooms.
All of this being said, I highly suggest coming up with a driving plan and making reservations in advance. I drove around Christmas time, a very popular road-tripping time (particularly during COVID times) and found that many hotels were sold out! For one night I did have to stay in a hotel that did not allow pets and had to be extremely careful about not letting my hamsters be seen nor leaving behind a single piece of paper bedding! It was stressful but I had no other choice (and my hamsters stayed in their bins anyway, so I figured, it shouldn’t have any actual affect on the room). I was very thankful that I had packed my hand-held vacuum cleaner to make sure I didn’t leave a single remnant of hamster material behind!
Barred Cage Options
Dwarf Hamsters
I decided to go with a barred cage option for my dwarf & robo hamster travel cages. There are a few advantages to cages including:
ability to keep to keep the accessories attached to the walls of the cage so nothing falls on your hamster while travelling
great ventilation so that you can ensure that they do not get overheated from sun coming in the car or a back seat of the car not getting as much AC.
Travel bin cages might also be a great option for you, particularly for winter months when you want to keep the cold out of your hamster’s cage. I’ll provide ideas and more info on both of these below.
Smaller Kaytee Crittertrail Option:
For my hybrid dwarf & robo hamster travel cages I decided to use Kaytee Crittertrail Quick Clean Cage (click here to purchase from PetCo) but I upgraded the wheel to an 8” Prevue Quiet Wheel. Unfortunately, 8” is the largest size you can fit in the single story Kaytee cages (this size wheel is too small for Syrian hamsters).
*Tip- you might also find used Kaytee Crittertrails at a discount on eBay or Facebook Marketplace.
Since this cage is so small, I only use these cages while in the car and driving. When I have had to travel with my hamsters I also stacked their 200 qt bins in my car and moved my hamsters to their bins once we arrived at our overnight destination. I chose not to leave my hamsters in their 200 qt bins while I drove since they have heavy items like sand baths, platforms & wooden hides that could fall on them during travel.
Larger Cage Option:
If you have only one or two hamsters/ a larger car, you could consider getting a cage that’s slightly larger and more comfortable for your hamster. If you go with a larger cage, your hamster may be able to stay in this cage overnight (whereas I move my hamsters from their small cages to their big bins at night time). I recommend removing all heavy items from their cage prior to driving (like sand baths, wooden hides, unsecured items). You can place these items back in their cage once you arrive at your destination.
MidWest Brisby Cage / Favola Hamster Cage: This cage is only about 300 sq inches (not suitable for long term living) but would provide a bit more space for your hamster while you are in the car. To use these cages please discard the 2nd level and install a larger, more comfortable wheel for your hamster. These cages are only 11” high, but will fit the 9” silent runner and should fit a ten inch wheel depending on where you install it.
The biggest fault with these cages is that they have TINY doors at the top. The only way to get larger items in and out of this cage is if you take the whole top off. For this reason, I would recommend placing this inside a nylon pop up playpen prior to un-hinging it in a hotel or your new location. If you have a very active or nervous hamster they may escape while you try to give them their sand bath back.
*please note the water bottle on this cage is not very functional and you will need to replace it
Kaytee CritterTrail SUPER habitat: This is probably the best option you could provide your dwarf hamster while travelling- while it’s not considered a great long term cage (it’s just over the bare minimum of 450 sq inches) it would be plenty of space in case of an emergency or for a roadtrip.
Although this cage is 16” high, due to the domed shape, I don’t believe a 12” wheel will fit in it. A 10” Silent Spinner or 9” Silen Runner will fit in it without issue.
Syrian Hamsters
If you just have one Syrian hamster and space in your car, I would suggest investing in a Prevue 528. This cage is much more suitable for a Syrian hamster and will provide them with adequate living space for the duration of your travels. It is also tall enough to attach a 12” wheel inside without issue!
Another option for Syrian hamsters would be to take the Multi-level Kaytee Crittertrail (link to PetCo), remove the levels and tubes (as your hamster can get stuck in these, you’ll have to buy ends to block those tube entries (link to PetCo)) and install a larger wheel. This cage is 16” tall, so should be plenty tall enough for a 12” wheel.
Of course, you’ll need to provide a full size cage for your Syrian once you get to your overnight destination, so if you go with the smaller, Kaytee Crittertrail, don’t forget to bring a large, 200 qt bin cage for the hotel!
Travel Bin Cages:
If you’re up for some DIY, creating a travel bin cage might be both more affordable and more comfortable for your hamster. Please use caution with travel bin cages, as they could become overheated quickly in your car. Keep your bin cage close to your seat in the car so you can ensure that their surroundings are temperature controlled and not too hot or cold.
Including a video from Hammy Time where she shows how she created travel bin cages for her hamsters.
Keep it Stocked and Ready to Go!
It’s a good idea to keep this emergency travel cage stocked with bedding, food and chew toys in a place that’s easy to access. This way, when you need to run, you can just grab it and go!