help; European Train Stuff

Probably not. Depends on how long the travel is and how well the cage is being handled.

Hamsters are very easily stressed and can even die from it. So the best thing would be to take the hamster with you in a small travel-box or something like that. By day they usually sleep, so that would be the best time to travel. All they need for a short journey is water, a little food and a lot of "stuff" to burrow in. Hay, paper or hamster bedding.

Hamsters are also catch colds very easily and they're often fatal to them. So no draft or cold. Also, no direct sunlight.

And yeah, I've had 3 hamsters.

Ice

I had about six through the years when I was younger - none were as well travelled as yours though Mongoose.

Can I ask how the hamster ended up in Germany in the first place?

as far as i know ryanair and easyjet will allow you to take small animals with you, even to the uk

I wouldn't trust Ryanair, I was in a check-in queue once where this woman had a cat with her (in a proper carrier thingy) and she had a printed letter from a Ryanair service person to say it can be taken on board, but they wouldn't let her through the check in, and therefore both the woman and the cat had to stay behind. It was ridiculous!

Definitely don't check a hamster in the plane, you can't compare a hamster to a bottle of vodka! I've seen some dogs at an airport suffering quite badly from dehydration and heat/cold after having been in the proper animal holding in the plane (not in the passenger area), and hamsters have such weak tolerance to stress there's no way they'd make it.

Train's your best option, you can get an interrail ticket for a decent-ish price, where you just choose the relevant countries where you travel in. Go to www.interrail.com, and choose One Country Pass. You can travel through Germany and France, and that way you only need to have two zones. I think it also gets you 50% off of rail travel in Britain. But make sure to check the right trains in France - some trains will only accept a certain number of interrailers. Just checked, that would cost you about £410 plus rail in Britain. Might still work out cheaper than individual trains, and would give you more flexibility as you can travel on any three days within a month in each country.

It may be that because Britain isn't in Schengen that animals aren't allowed to cross the border - or they need a passport and a microchip, vet's certificates etc. before they can cross. Best check this first, too.

I think it's very admirable that you're going to all that trouble to rescue a hamster You sure you can't find anyone in Germany who can give him a good home?

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Edit: Just thought now, you might want to look into coaches too? That's probably a lot cheaper, and I know that there are coaches eg from Belgium into Britain. Will take quite a long time, though.

Thanks Laura, I'll check that out


The Hamster belongs to my girlfriend who is posted to Germany, she bought it there to keep her company, but sadly now some chump wants to send her on a paid vacation to a hot sandy place if you catch my drift, and she doesn't trust anyone there :{ poor little Marshmellow

Why not take a Ferry - you can get to Paris, I'm sure, after a connection maybe from most places in Germany. Then just take the train / bus in the UK to Sheffield.

It will take you probably 2 days but why not. Does the Hamster have a passport (Return of Spinal Tap: reference)?