#hamster bath

[dearhyeongjunn]

rubrubrubrub

[thelifeofkaiblog]

•*•*• 10th October 2017 •*•*• Sometimes, she sits in her toilet hut and gets it on her fur, so she occasionally needs a warm water (no soap!) "bath" where I gently pour a little water on her back (not straight from the tap!) and use a cotton bud to dab her face. She also stands in a *very* shallow tub of warm water (only for a couple of seconds) to clean her belly, but she gets treats for it and wrapped in a warm flannel to dry off afterwards. I only do it when she's smelly and I make sure to keep her in/on the flannel until she's mostly dry, so she doesn't get cold. Even though "baths" are fairly new to her and it started when she was elderly, she's never bitten me during one or shown signs of stress, except not wanting to be in the tub of water, which is why she's only in it for 2 seconds maximum. I think it's helped her live as long as she has, but it would only be a contributing factor.

[smol-pets-smol-pats]

Bob finally got a sand bath. Found this adorable bunny bowl at walgreens

[hammyadventures-blog]

Bath Sand for Hamsters

Overview

The first thing you need to know is that you should never, ever bathe your hamster with water unless your veterinarian gives you the okay. Hamsters have natural oils in their fur that helps to keep them at a safe temperature and to protect their skin. Using water to remove those oils can strip them of those oils and leave them vulnerable to dangerously low body temperatures and disease. Certain skin conditions or other exceptional circumstances can lead to the need for a bath, but it should only be done when absolutely medically necessary (for example, if your hamster escapes and gets into some gasoline or some such and could ingest it while cleaning itself). Sand baths are the only appropriate “bath” a hamster should have otherwise. :] [smiley]

Sand baths are great for helping your hamster maintain their fur; it keeps it clean and helps remove any excess oils. It’s also great if your hamster happens to get a little dirty from running around and needs a “bath!” Also, hamsters love this! They get a real kick out of digging around and playing in it, and it’s a real joy to watch them roll around in the stuff. :] [smiley]

You should know that there’s a difference between sand baths and dust baths. Many of you may have seen or be aware of chinchillas taking dust baths. The material used for dust baths is a powdery form of pumice, an igneous type of volcanic rock, that’s been ground into a fine dust, and its small size is very hazardous for your hamster’s respiratory health. As such, using anything that promotes itself as “dust” or “low dust” should be avoided. The only thing that is safe for your hamster’s respiratory system is dust-free sand.

There are different types of sand you can use for your hamsters. I use the chinchilla bathing sand from Supreme Science, as it’s the only chinchilla sand I’ve found so far that is actually dust-free, along with being bacteria-free. You can find it at this link directly to the company here, or on amazon here in the USA, or on amazon here in the UK.

I would suggest avoiding any chinchilla “sand” produced by the company called Kaytee, which is a popular brand of pet supplies. They advertise their sand as being “dust free” on the backs of their cartons, but in actuality, when you open the product, you won’t find sand at all, but dust. This product IS UNSAFE for your hamster. Please avoid using it.

Many people have suggested to me and others that using children’s play sand is a good alternative to purchasing chinchilla sand. However, my initial research about eight months ago yielded my belief that it was not the safest material to provide my hamster with, and I refrained from it. It was recently suggested to me by a few rather persistent believers online, though, and I researched it even further. (If you would like to read the process of my research in greater detail, I’m including it below this overview.)

What I found only confirmed my initial opinion. Many sands, play sand and sands for other uses such as gardening and landscaping, sold in home improvement stores contain crystalline silica (such as Quikrete), which is definitely carcinogenic, and others that do not contain it are often human made (such as Sandtastik) and thus more jagged around the edges than the smooth roundness of natural sand; this is because human made sand is not often tumbled to smooth out the edges. Another thing about these human made sands with jagged edges is that they often produce a sizable amount of dust when dry (which it must be for your hamster to use) and can also infiltrate your and your hamster’s respiratory systems, causing all sorts of internal damage. The worrisome thing is that these sands are marketed as “safe for children.” If these materials aren’t even truly safe for children, they’re certainly not safe for my tiny hamster. I understand that this material is appealing because it is much cheaper and is available in substantial bulk, but given companies’ notorious nature for deception about the contents of their products, I absolutely would not feel safe using human-intended play sand for my hamster.

If you feel differently and choose to use children’s play sand, though, despite the multiple risks, you’ll need to be aware that you must take steps to prevent any bacteria in the sand from getting to your hamster. The danger zone for bacteria is between 40F-120F (4C-49C), meaning that bacteria are alive and well in these temperatures. Most bacteria cannot reproduce past 102F (39C), but that doesn’t kill any already living ones present. So if you are baking your play human sand to help kill any bacteria that may be present, be sure to use a thermometer to test the temperature of your sand after baking. It should be at 125F (52C) degrees at minimum or higher to ensure that you kill most bacteria that could be present in the sand. You’ll also need to be sure that your sand is 100% dry before giving to your hamster. Also, keep an eye out for nasty buggies! Mites and other microscopic insects dangerous to your hammy have been known to hitch a ride in your play sand.

So I hope this post was helpful to y’all! Here are a couple of examples of safe sands to use for your happy hammy’s sand bath!

Hamster-friendly sands:

Sepiolite chinchilla sand

Aragonite aquarium sand

Calcium carbonate hermit crab sand

Natural Habitat Soil Information

Campbell’s dwarf hamsters are from Mongolia, northern China, Tuva, Kazakhstan, and Russia, where the environment is semi-arid and the sand is frequently made of calcium carbonate materials. Chinese dwarf hamsters are from Mongolia and northern China where the environment is semi-arid and the sand is frequently made of calcium carbonate materials. Djungarian hamsters, also called Russian winter whites or Siberian hamsters, are from a larger range of environments that include Mongolia, northern China, Kazakhstan, and Russia– going all the way up to Siberia. The environments in these areas where hamsters are found include semi-arid, arid, and temperate grasslands. This means that sands safe for the other hamsters listed above should be natural for them, as well. Hybrids are an unnatural species not found in the wild. They are a result of mating between Campbell’s dwarf hamsters and Djungarian hamsters; therefore, sands found in those two natural environments are likely safe. However, when forcing a hybrid species to exist in this way, unknown consequences can occur, causing things that were fine or natural for one species to be a problem for the hybrid. Very little reliable information is available on these hamsters, so it’s important to watch your hamster very carefully for any issues or reactions when introducing it to new material. Roborovskis are from Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, and Russia, where the environment is semi-arid and the sand is frequently made of calcium carbonate materials. Syrian Hamsters, or Golden Hamsters, are from northern Syria and southern Turkey, where the environment is arid. There are many calcium carbonate and silica sands there.

For more on the research process and additional information on this subject, please read below.

Research Process

Supreme Science Bathing Sand is made from sepiolite, according to a representative named Nick from the company, whom I spoke with on the phone on July 15, 2015, at 11:02 AM Eastern Time. (Here’s the contact information for the company if you’re interested.)

Sepiolite is a complex magnesium silicate, and its chemical formula is Mg4Si6O15(OH) 6H2O. It is a clay mineral.

According to some information shared in hamster forums I’ve found online such as Hamster Hideout, sands with silica content are harmful, and the people there were encouraging others to use play sand. There was another that suggested that those with calcium/calcium carbonate are good. However, I’ve also seen people share that sands with calcium/calcium carbonate content are harmful. Upon reading this, I decided to do a bit of research on the soil conditions of the Roborovskis’ natural habitat (Northern China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, etc.) to see what types of sand are present.

According to this source on the soil conditions of southern and northeastern Mongolia, there is sandy soil that contains an extremely high amount of calcium in it. However, I did a bit more digging around, and I found that according to Animal Diversity Web, “Based on mitochondrial DNA haplotypes, domestic Roborovski’s desert hamsters are traced back to descendants in the Zaisan basin of Kazakhstan.” So I looked into the soil composition of the Zaisan region and learned that one type of soil found in this area that seems most likely to be the soil Robos are found in, given their coloring and the fact that Robos are found in semi-arid conditions, is light chestnut soil. Furthermore, according to this source, “Zhaysang Köli has a semi-arid (0.2 - 0.5 p/pet) climate. The land area is not cultivated, most of the natural vegetation is still intact. The location is coastal or near a large water body. The climate is classified as a humid continental (humid with severe winter, no dry season with a cool temperate desert scrub biozone . The soil in the area is high in calcisols, cambisols, luvisols (cl), soils dominated by calcium carbonate as powdery lime or concretions.” This leads me to the conclusion that sands high calcium carbonate are indeed the most natural sands to use with Roborovski hamsters.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that sepiolite-based sand is a poor choice. Given that most of the concerns I saw in forums were regarding silica-based sands being carcinogenic, I did some research on sepiolite, and I found that there is currently no way to determine whether or not it is a carcinogen for humans. (Search “sepiolite” in that second link for a faster search.) I generally go by the rule that if something is bad for me, it’s bad for my hamster (such as tobacco, bug spray, etc.), so since there is insufficient evidence today regarding the potential carcinogenic nature of sepiolite, I feel safe proceeding to use sands made from sepiolite for my Roborovski.

I will say, though, that on that same page, I looked up “silica” and was presented with some worrying information regarding “silica dust” which is also known as “crystalline silica.” According to the website, “silica dust, crystalline, in the form of quartz or cristobalite” is listed as a Group 1 hazard, meaning that it is carcinogenic to humans. Therefore, I caution you to avoid materials made of this. The same page mentioned that silica alone is also a Group 3, the same as sepiolite, and is “not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans.”  To give you a comparison, caffeine is also listed as a Group 3 to humans.

According to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) website on crystalline silica, “occupational exposure to crystalline silica often occurs as part of common workplace operations involving cutting, sawing, drilling, and crushing of concrete, brick, block, rock, and stone products (such as in construction work). Operations using sand products (such as glass manufacturing, foundries, and sand blasting) can result in worker inhalation of small (respirable) crystalline silica particles from the air. These types of exposures can lead to the development of disabling and sometimes fatal lung diseases, including silicosis and lung cancer. Processes historically associated with high rates of silicosis include sandblasting, sand-casting foundry operations, mining, tunneling, cement cutting and demolition, masonry work, and granite cutting.”

Given this information, I would personally avoid purchasing or obtaining sand made from quartz just in case there is a presence of crystalline silica dust. I know others online have suggested using reptile sand (specifically I’ve seen Reptisand recommended), but I wouldn’t chance it with my hamster given its quartz-based nature.

So it seems that the information shared on these hamster forums regarding the carcinogenic properties of silica-based sands was only partially informed. I hope that this research has helped you a bit in making your decision on what type of sand is best for your hammy baby! :D [big smiley]

Regardless of what type of sand you choose to provide your hamster, you should always be sure that your sand is bacteria-free to the best of your ability, and that it contains no bugs such as mites or other nasty insects that can harm your hammy. You’ll also want to avoid any commercially added dyes or chemicals, so be sure to look for labels that state “no added dyes or chemicals” instead of relying on anything that says “all natural” since “all natural” is often referred to the original state of the product and not necessarily about the product’s final selling state. :] [smiley]