Hamster on vacation?

[la79al]

DD has a Chinese Dwarf hamster and I am starting to think about our upcoming vacations. I really can't think of a single person whom has no pets and I trust with the beloved little guy that we could leave him with. One choice is to take him with us. It will be a 4 hour trip each way but once there I don't anticipate any problems. The other option would be to leave him here. I know he would be fine as far as having food and water for the week. We could set the a.c. to keep it not too hot. My only concern would be how he would do with a week of no contact with people (DD kisses him good morning and goodnight every day). So which would be more stressful for him-4 hours in a minivan with 2 kids or staying home alone for a week?

 

[sonnyjane]

DD has a Chinese Dwarf hamster and I am starting to think about our upcoming vacations. I really can't think of a single person whom has no pets and I trust with the beloved little guy that we could leave him with. One choice is to take him with us. It will be a 4 hour trip each way but once there I don't anticipate any problems. The other option would be to leave him here. I know he would be fine as far as having food and water for the week. We could set the a.c. to keep it not too hot. My only concern would be how he would do with a week of no contact with people (DD kisses him good morning and goodnight every day). So which would be more stressful for him-4 hours in a minivan with 2 kids or staying home alone for a week?

I would REALLLLY try to find someone to watch him at home. Growing up I went through at least 4 different hamsters. One was lost on the way to show and tell somewhere in my mom's van. The others all escaped in the night only to turn up months or years later somewhere around the house (in a less lively form). You'll feel awful if the hamster gets loose in the car or in the hotel room while you're supposed to be enjoying your vacation. Every time you move that cage is a chance for something to go wrong. Even if he doesn't escape, if your DD is playing with him in the hotel and you lose him somehow then you're in a tough spot.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

What about a pet sitter? Or a reliable teen from the neighborhood?

Car rides have always stressed our hamsters out.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Staying home in the environment he's used to is definitely the less stressful option for him. A hamster will be absolutely fine without human interaction for a week. They're solitary, nocturnal animals after all. That said, I would try to find someone who can stop by and check on him a few times while you're gone. You never know when the water bottle is going to decide to leak and leave him without water, the A/C will break and the house gets too hot, etc. Always better to be safe than sorry.

 

[njmom47]

I agree...you should try and find someone to stop in and check on him/her at least a couple times while you are gone. We always did (although we have other pets that needed to be fed etc).

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Leave him home. If you take him with you that means you have to find a pet-friendly hotel. And you have the risk of housekeeping letting him out or some other accident while you aren't in the room.

 

[scrapquitler]

It's probably best to find a pet sitter to visit him (or take him to their house) while you are on vacation. If you do decide to bring him with you, you need to be VERY sure that the hotel you are staying at won't have a problem with it.

 

[HM]

In the past we took our gerbils on vacation with us a couple times. The drive was five hours. They didn't like it I'm sure, but seemed to recover pretty quickly once we were there (and then again when we got back home).

Our preference would be to take them to someone else's house to be cared for while we are on vacation, and we did this most of the time. We would never have left them by themselves for a week.

 

[KNJWDW]

We just got back from a road trip to Florida (we live in the midwest.) Our two guinea pigs traveled with us. We have a small travel cage for each and it worked out great. They didn't have any problems at all. We didn't stay in any hotel however, we stayed with family. We gave them food and water frequently and the kids took them out of their cages while we were at rest stops.

 

[aprilchem]

We have mice and we never take them on vacation - we have a bin feeder that provides enough food for 3-4 weeks (although we never leave for that long) and use two water bottles. We have left for up to 14 days without any issue, although we do have our housekeeper (who usually comes once while we are gone) check to ensure they're ok.

 

[EMode]

We just got back from Gatlinburg and we took our guinea pig with us. I have asked family in the past to take him but I didn't want to burden anyone with him this time. He was pretty indifferent to the whole thing, I'm not even sure he knew he traveled so far