You might wonder if your hamster is attracting pests, like roaches or mice or even snakes. The thing is, pests don’t come out of nowhere, they have a reason for coming to your home. So is it the hamster ?
We’ll delve into this today, and how to rid your home of said pests. Keep in mind that sometimes you might have to ask a professional for help.
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So do hamsters attract pests ?
No, hamsters do not attract pests. Hamsters do not attract mice, rats, bugs, snakes, or any other creature that might make your guts squirm.
You might think that the hamster’s scent might attract other rodents like mice or rats. This is not true. They are very different species, and will generally avoid each other.
The same goes for snakes and bugs. They will not come to you because you’ve touched your pet hamster.
Pests do show up when the hamster’s cage becomes dirty, especially with dirty old rotten food. If there are bits of old food on the floor too, then that’s more incentive.
But it is not the hamster’s fault. At all.
Why pests might show up in the first place
To understand why pests might show up in a certain area, we have to know how pests work.
You see, the vast majority of creatures regarded as pests – rodents and insects most commonly – are opportunistic feeders. They eat what they can, when they can, if they can get it.
As such, a nice crop of corn, for example, can be decimated by a brood of mice, a murder of crows, or a whole locus infestation.
But what if you’ve got no such crop ? Well, some food bags in your garage might suffice. If you live in a house and you’ve got foodstuffs stored in your garage or other places in your home, those might attract mice or roaches of not stored properly.
This doesn’t mean a stray bag of cereal will make a horde of mice come running. But a bulk of 30 boxes, left in a part of the house that has access to ares that aren’t usually well traveled – like a storage unit or garage or closet or basement – can attract them.
If they can pick up the scent of the food, and the food is unguarded, and left in an area that people don’t go through often, then pests can come.
Another possibility, if you live in an apartment building: your drawer of snacks can be very inviting. This is more difficult though, since pests don’t come barging because you’ve left an energy bar open in that drawer.
But if the building or neighborhood itself has a problem – like possibly your neighbors 2 floors down having a roach infestation – they you might too. They will choose your home over other homes because it has the most unguarded food.
Again, this has nothing to do with your hamster friend.
But, if you do not regularly clean the hamster’s cage and bits of food and droppings often end up on the floor, pests can show up. They sense where the home is most unkempt, and they go there, knowing no one will be in their way.
For example our neighbors have a pair of parakeets. They often leave them in their cage outside in the summer, to enjoy the sun and fresh air.
In that cage there’s food, and the birds outside know that. We’ve chased away sparrows trying to steal the parakeet feed more than once.
The same scenario could happen with your hamster too, if you keep him in a room where people don’t go much.
Sometimes, it could be about something else, and not food. Pests, especially mice and rats, are incredibly curious. and hardy. They will poke and prod and push and try every little corner of the plumbing and outside until they will get inside your home.
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Keeping your hamster pest-free
Alright, now we know why pests show up. Now we can figure out how to keep the home, and the hamster’s cage pest-free. Here’s a few ideas:
- Regularly clean the hamster’s cage, once per week. Make sure there is no stray food or poop outside his cage.
- Do not keep the hamster in a side room. So rooms like basement, closet, garage, storage unit, attic are not okay to keep your living, breathing hamster in.
- Regularly check the areas where the plumbing comes out of the walls. Like under sinks, bathtubs, drains, etc.
- Make sure no food has fallen behind a counter, which might attract bugs or mice
- Keep up to date with your building or neighborhood’s pests infestation, see if your area is clear
- Make sure your trash can and bags are stored properly, not left outside overnight.
For the most part, pests will show up in areas of the home where you don’t really go. So any hidden, dark corner, especially if it connects to a series of tunnels like plumbing for example.
For very old houses pests can be a serious problem, since they can infest the walls themselves, and weaken the structure of the house itself.
Consider calling a professional to deal with a large infestation
If you’ve already got an infestation, you’ll want to get rid of the creatures. While one stray mouse or bug can be dealt with easily, and entire colony is hard to get rid of.
There are certain treatments for insects, or poisons for rats, there are even humane traps. But they need to be used effectively.
If you’ve got a large infestation, you’ll want to call some professionals. This is mostly because of convenience. By this I mean you can always find the correct dosage for poisons online, or how to set up certain traps as well.
But the hassle and time spent on ridding your home of pests is best left to people who are meant to do just that.
And you can mind your day-to-day life as usual, until things have settled. Aside from knowing that you’ve got a warranty, in case anything goes wrong.
Now I have no recommendation for you, but I’m sure you will be able to look up a team of experts in your area. Do tell them that you’ve got pets, and ask if they’ve got any pet-safe treatments.
A word from Teddy
I hope you found out what you were looking for here. Us hammies may be rodents but we don’t attract pests, and we’re good guys on our own. We do love to chew though.
If you want to know more about us hamsters you can check out the related articles below, to know how to care for us and keep us happy.
