Pet hamster owning

[Fransons]

I never knew anything about hamsters when I first started with a hamster. I was gifted a cage. I hate it because it's small. I am on a mission to upgrade the home. From searching online, apparently the bare minimum in sizing is at least 100cm in length for a hamster enclosure.

I only have a limited space and I found the biggest enclosure that I could get for the size room I have and that is 85 cm in length. With 45cm in width and 45 in height.

I was feeling fairly chuffed but then I wrote it on a group and it's absolutely frowned upon. Apparantly the size I got is too small. I have a dwarf hamster by the way.

Does anyone here know anything about hamsters? Should I be cancelling my new hamster hutch in search for a new one. All for 15cm more.

I am going to struggle with 100cm enclosure and putting it in my room. There's no other space.

My pet hamster is not boring. She's actually very funny. She knows my voice and she comes to greet me every day and she's very sociable.

Get a cage you can add the tunnels to, don’t take up lots of space and gives the hamster lots of places to run around

Get a decent sized fish tank for it.

I have one of these cages already but I want to get rid of it. One of the connections broke off and I found my hamster in the kitchen after work. Alive, looking up at me. No way do I want all those plastic connections ever again.

Can you not add to the cage different floor levels and all the different toys tubes etc? I suspect providing an environment that keeps your hamster busy is more important than an extra 15cm.

I looked into a skyline enclosure but iont be able to buy one on zooplus or a fishtank one because of glass. I don't want glass because of living in an old house and cold air and glass shattering.

Aww, some groups are really militant about cages, don’t let them make you feel bad.

I have an Ikea detolf for my syrian hamster, and he doesn’t even use half the space 🥲 It feels really big for him, but he is a shy boy.

Aslong as you give her plenty of really deep bedding so she can burrow she should be fine. She will make her own tunnels with the deep bedding.

Add lots of stuff like a sandbath, huge wheel, lots of chews etc and she will be fine.

The cage that I ordered should be fantantic. The cabinet itself, I am good with a drill and screws and I think I may be able to do some DIY and provide an extra floor of space within the habitat.

I was very happy with what I ordered. It's a big step up from what I currently have and I had the measure tape out and I measured it and it should be big. I think I might be able to DIY the enclosure too with stuff.

Get the biggest one you can.
Make sure there’s enough bedding for them to be able to dig in. If it’s a wired cage you can often buy Perspex to clip onto the outside so you can get the bedding really deep without it spilling out (there are a few sellers on Etsy who sell this).
Also do they have a really big wheel? I can remember the size needed but it’s bigger than the one’s usually sold in high street pet shops. Even for a dwarf hamster.

Thank you for your kind reply.

Yes I am brainstorming and reselling thinking of what I can do. I would be able to provide deep bedding paper and stuff. I am thinking about changing a small aspect on what I have ordered in order to make it better and deeper for her.

The one I have has vent holes to the side and I am thinking about covering them and DIY the lid with chicken wire so the vent hole are in the lid instead of the sides and that will provide more deepness and height.

No, it's not a wired cage. I don't like the wired cage. It's a wooden one. I am anxious about chewing on the wood so I might be buying those plastic sheets anyways to cover the cage. Likely

What cage have you actually bought? It doesn't sound well suited to a hamster/ gerbil Wood absorbs urine and will get gnawed through eventually although it certainly sounds better than what you have.

You are right to go bigger though, the ones with tubes are no good. Hamsters/gerbils need a large and deep base where you can put a substantial amount of substrate at last 15 cm ( not just enough to cover the floor) so they can dig and build their own tunnels

You want something like this style although it's only 71 cm, they used to do a 1 m long one but I can't find it and the extra space is important as they get zoomies and you can fit more enrichment in. You can put lots of substrate into these. We had to add another wire mesh grill onto the opening as the gaps between the bars were wide enough for our gerbils to get out of.

It's so hard to get something appropriate.

I did see something like that. It was a huge plastic container but it was nearly 300 pounds on some site. If I found something like that but bigger I would have got it.

Why do they make hutches and cages out of wood of it's not suitable?

I ordered this one. This is the biggest that my space and even budget will allow.

I saw enclosures with glass but that option was out due to a risk of glass shattering with temp changes.

I did see something on temu that was acrylic but I will likely have to wait til January for a delivery for that.

This is what I got.

I could browse on Amazon tonight and plan to waterproof the base of this. I am looking at plastic liners or sheets of perspex.

I have a rodent chicken wire in my Amazon basket. My plan for that will be for the lid of this.

I think I will likely block the current side vents on this so slow down chewing on the cage. Maybe with the plastic perspex.

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We have a Russian dwarf. He lives in a massive heavy duty plastic storage box from B&Q that was about 40 quid. It means he can have really deep shredded paper so he can build tunnels and bury underground which is what they really like doing. He seems v happy in there. I put sandpaper on the bottom in places to keep his claws down and lots of wood things to chew. No evidence of stress behaviours.

You just get the biggest one that's feasible.
I had a hamster as a kid, it had one of those plastic sectional cage things that you could add to. Most evenings it was in a ball running round the house. But they don't really enjoy human company at all. They're cute, but very nocturnal shy, prey animals so being touched is traumatic for them sadly.

Just to add- the box is feasible as we don’t have any other pets so he’s not gonna get eaten by a dog or cat being in an open enclosure.

That's a fantastic idea. Is your plastic box long as well? Or is it just very deep? It's a good idea for an enclosure.

I buy my bedding from Amazon. Big massive bags of it. I usually have her current cage filled about 3 quarters would of papers and hides and ladders and just stuff.

I would be able to fill a new encloser with loads of bedding.

It’s 80x60 and then 40 cm deep so can have a good 20 cm of bedding. He creates a whole tunnel network for himself with exit holes by his food bowl and wheel!

We've got a big fish tank I got off Facebook marketplace for £50 - it's 120 x 40 x 50. It needs to be unbroken space so connecting tubes or levels don't count fyi 😊

That's what I would recommend, along with a wheel big enough that when they run their back isn't arched. Then bedding bedding bedding (like 8+ inches) and clutter, sprays etc.

We had this issue recently, was the Syrian Hamster Facebook group? I'm too scared to post what we've got on there 😂to PPs - they're not supposed to have tunnels or anything, they should have 11 inch wheels and 8-12 inches of bedding apparently.

I've currently got a 70cm by 40cm cage because we were supposed to get a dwarf but ended up with a Syrian instead!

It was a different group but yes I know what you mean. I am utterly petrified to post there again in case animal abuse and neglect is called.

I was exploring all week at options that would fit my space and budget and I pushed the boat out many times to extend what I need and this is what I have. 85cm L x 45 × 44.

There are people and children homeless where I am on a big scale and I am scolded for denying a hamster and extra 15cm of length.

I just feel so bad. It doesn't matter what I do it's never good enough. I would have e loved to have got something bigger but I just can't.

If this is so important why are these people not out campaigning for better animal control on hamsters and it should all start with the shops. They shouldn't be allowed to sell anything under size.

I have a drawf hamster and she's so intelligent and cute and she recognises my voice and she's sociable to me.

Apparantly for dwarf hamsters 100cm in length is needed for a cage. Don't worry I won't be squealing on you.

A fish tank is a great idea. I was unable to get anything with glass due to the risk of glass shattering.

That one looks like a good enclosure for a dwarf.