To let my hamster be a house hamster?

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I rescued a hamster about 4 months ago who had had a pretty shit life up until then (she was about 8 months old when I got her).

She had never really been handled, but is now super tame and friendly. Her (very large) cage is on the floor of the living room, and since she’s become tamer I’ve been just opening the door of the cage and letting her free roam around the living room every evening, usually for 3-4 hours, sometimes longer. When she’s tired she gets back in her cage and puts herself back to bed.

Last night I was —three sheets to the wind— tired, and fell asleep while she was having her run around. This morning, when I went downstairs, she wasn’t in her house. No sign of her all day, but this evening she woke up and has been running around as normal, popping back into her cage every now and again for food and drinks or a quick run on her wheel.

I closed her cage door at about 10.30, and her little face broke my heart! She just sat at the door of her cage looking very sad indeed. She’s now out running around again. So I’m thinking, people have house rabbits, how about a house hamster? I’d keep her confined to the living room and she’d have the option of being in her cage if she wanted to be there (and I’d obviously put all her food in there).

Is this a bonkers idea? She has a sand bath, soil, deep substrate, and more toys and treats than you can shake a stick at in her cage, but she’d far rather not be in there. We don’t have any other pets that could munch her, and the dc are well trained at keeping the doors closed.

I would just let her free range when you’re with her. During the day when you’re out she’ll be mostly sleeping anyway, being nocturnal.

I disagree that they pee and pop everywhere. Mine did all his in his little potty and in his bed (!) - never a poop out of place.

We had ours in a very large glass aquarium \tank. However, she had a lot of wild running but always came back at night to feed and go back to bed. She chewed through lots of stuff so it was a relief eventually to be hamster free. We completely loved her though. Hamsters are brilliant pets but they long to be free range and I am a totally softie so she spent a lot of time exploring.

She used to massage the cat.

She died of old age btw .

Yabu if you have carpets, cables or furniture in your house. They will all be chewed to fuck.
Hamsters can't be litter trained either so your house will stink! Lovely idea but cats or sometimes rabbits are better as free roam pets.

Shockers that is adorable!

If she's out of her cage for 3-4 hours a day, she's got a much better life than the vast majority of hamsters who spend the vast majority of their lives in cramped cages.
I used to let mine out of his cage to roam around my bedroom, but he pissed in my school shoes, escaped under the door and set up camp behind my parents' built in wardrobes.

Yanu but wow she’s the cutest hamster I’ve ever seen!

She is adorable. Keep her safe in her cage when you can't be there to supervise.

Those white paws are adorable 🐹

Can we have a Peanut thread that isn't full of posters who haven't RTFT and are still trying to convince you not to let him roam free? I would like Peanut pics without 20+ Don't Do It comments a day, please and thank you!

Peanut needs his own instagram. Adorable.

I keep popping on to see if there are any new peanut pics 😍😍😍 we need more please !

I used to have a hamster set upon a spare room with my computer. It was totally safe for her to roam around in while I was in it (computer leads aside) so she got a few hours out every night but then returned to cage. Seemed like a good compromise!

Aww, she is too cute. My Aunt in law adopted a hamster when my gmil went to live with her .
Both were called Doris .
Hamster Doris had a mahoosive cage and lots of human interaction.

@Shockers aaaaaw what a chilled out cat 😻

My mum had a hamster like this. She lived mainly in the living room of their bungalow and would just put herself back in her cage to pee and eat! I personally don’t see the harm. But then I used to have house ferrets

due to popular demand I may well start a Peanut thread! I will have to be more proactive in taking photos. Here’s one more for now . This is when I first got her home when I adopted her. She looks like an actual teddy bear 🧸

She’s so cute! I used to love having hamsters as a kid, but have cats now so don’t fancy having to keep them separate.

I’d love to use those plastic tube things to build a crazy hamster trail all the way round my house. You could be watching tv or eating dinner and a hamster would scuttle past your head. It’d be fun!

Our first hamster did a great escape once - presumably someone had left her cage door open by accident. We lived in a townhouse and were having post bath stories on my bed when we saw Bibbles run past the door and on her way up the next flight of stairs. The kids were vey taken with the fact that she had climbed the equivalent of a mountain.

I personally wouldn't let them roam free unsupervised. They can take up residence in furniture, nibble cables and escape under doors and down radiator pipe holes.

Peanut should have an Instagram page. The adventures of Peanut.

Haven’t read the full thread, OP but how about a collapsible play pen like ones you get for puppies? They’re really easy to store and will keep her safe

Peanut is super cute!
You can train a hamster to wee in one place - a jamjar is good but be careful not to smash it.

Pretty little chocolate tortoiseshell 😍

By all means extend her cage or build her a little run (though she’ll probably escape from that), but letting her roam free is a bad idea, aside from the chewing and soiling, eventually she’ll get herself somewhere where she can’t get back to her cage.

She looks terribly cross about something in that 2nd pic at 10:52

As a child I had a hamster who escaped. We found where she had been hiding when the electric failed and cost a fortune to repair