Housing

Conditions

You don't have to be exact, but there should be certain conditions for your hamster to ensure safety. First, do not have yyour cage in direct sunlight. This means not putting your cage right by a window. The temperature should be between 65-75 degrees Farenheit. Above that may cause your hamster to have heatstroke and below can cause a hamster to go into torpor, a state they will go into if they are too cold. It is similar to hibernation but is not normal and should not happen for a domesticated hamster.

Housing Size

In America an ethical cage size is considered 450 square inches of continuious space or above that, though more is always better, and many hamster care advocates say hamsters should get more space. Germany, a country with with great hamster care standards, says a hamster cage should be 700 square inches or bigger.

Cage Types

Wire cages are well known but are actually not the best for hamsters. First of all, hamsters can climb on the bars or chew on them and injure themselves. Most importantly, there are almost no wire cages with enough room and a big enough bedding tray. Because of this, bin, aquarium, and DIY cages are best. The most affordable of these options is the bin cage, though it requires some crafting, like a home-made cage.

Bin Cages

A bin cage is where you take a plastic clear bin and transform it into a cage. It should be big enough to have enough floorspace for your hamster and tall enough to satisfy bedding needs. There is not much to do with the actual bin - just clean it thoroughly and make sure it is safe/does not have any cracks or damage. You will need to alter the detachable lid. You need to make sure your hamster will get enough air. One way to do this is to cut out the middle of the lid and cover the whole with a material like wire mesh. The cut plastic should be covered with something like heavy dudty tape so no one can be cut by it. Same with the edges of the mesh or materials you use. Hamsters are not good climbers and should not be climbing in your cage, but in case they are, you want to make sure they will not be cut. Learn more about why hamsters climb and what to do if yours does in the Behavior tab for hamsters.

Aquarium Cages

Another popular cage type for hamsters are aquarium and reptile tanks. They are often big and deep enough for hamsters. As long as you clean yours and make sure it is safe, there is again not much to do for the actual cage, like with the bin cage. This is a good option ofr hamster cages because it is easier to find a tank that is big enough and there is not much crafting for you to do. However, tanks that are big enough to be a hamster cage are often quite expensive and if your tank is ethical and big enough for your hamster it will very likely cost over a hundred dollars. If this is too much for you when a DIY or bin cage could be cheaper, an aquarium cage may not be best for you. However, if you are not willing to purchase any large cage, you should not get a hamster, because while there are ways to make its care more affordable, it is not fair to a hamster if you cannot afford proper care for it.

In terms of a lid for an aquarium cage, there are mesh lids for reptile tanks that you can purchase, or you can DIY your lid and make a border fitting the cage and cover it with mesh. Something as simple as cardboard should suffice as long as it is strong enough. You may want to use wood instead if you are worried about the strenght of cardboard.

* I, the author of this page, had an aquarium tank for a hamster and had a cardboard lid covered in wire mesh. It worked well but eventually the mesh loosened and there was risk of my hamster escpaing the cage. Again, cardboard can work, but you may want to re-do the lid every so often.

DIY Cages

DIY cages are good because you are completely in control of the measurements of your cage. Good materials for a DIY cage are wood and plexiglass, along with whatever you use for your lid. You will need to be a good builder for a cage liiek this, or find someone who is. To make a safe and ethical DIY cage, measurements need to be accurate and there needs to be nailing/drilling involved to put everything together. Make sure you are safe if you do this, and if you are a child, make sure an adult helps you!

Other Types of Cages

The above are some popular cage types, but there are many others! People are creative and have find other ways to give their hamster a proper home, and you can find some of these examples online. One example of another type of cage is people using an IKEA shelf on its side. It was safe, and was big enough for their hamster! It is okay to think outside of the box for your hamster's cage, just make sure that the cage is completely safe and big enough!

Bedding

Hamsters should have at least 7 inches of bedding, though more is always better. Some people think that hamsters will get lost, suffocate, or fall in larger amounts of bedding, but this is false. Hamsters need a lot of bedding for room to dig. Some areas of your cage can have less bedding, but there should be a good amount of the cage with deep bedding. For example, you can have an area with 5 inches of bedding to put a platform on so your wheel and any food or water containers can be stable, and have the other side of the cage have more bedding. Maybe a second section has 7 inches and a final section has 10.

There are different types of bedding you can get. Some are not safe for your hamster. One of these is cotton bedding, which can wrap around hamsters' limbs or, should they ingest any, their intestines, and harm them. Certain bedding from wood is also not safe because it is dusty which can irritate hamsters' lungs. UNSCENTED paper bedding is a good option as it is safe and easy to burrow in. Aspen shavings is safe while pine and cedar shavings are not.

Spot clean the bedding where your hamster soils it and every month to few months replace out a section, and another section the next time, etc - if you replace all of the bedding at once, your hamster will be stressed out because their scent is gone from the bedding and it will feel like an unfamilar place.

Sand Bath

Hamsters can only swim if they have to (surviving in the wild) and should never be put in water. They are clean animals that groom themselves but need some help. They need a sand bath to roll around in and clean themselves off. A sand bath will clean them in many ways, including removing excess oils from their fur. You should oput a tray at least twice the size of your hamster's body in their cage. You must be careful about the type of sand you put in the tray. An affordable option is kids' play sand, as long as you cook it in an oven first to remove germs. Chinchilla dust/powder and scented sand are not safe. Reptile sand without calcium IS a safe option.

Cage Decoration

Empty, open space stresses hamsters out, and hamsters need to be entertained in their cage, so for those two reasons there must be a lot in the cage.

Food and Water Containers

You can put your hamster's regular food in a small bowl, but you should scatter a good portion of it around the cage to encourage natural foraging behaviors, which will provide enrichment for your hamster. The bowl should be short and small. A good material for a bowl is ceramic.

For water, you may use a standard watter bottle. Many bottles can latch onto the bars of a wire cage if you choose to use one. Otherwise, you can use velcro tape to attach the bottle to the side of your cage and remove it when it is time to refill. If you use a bottle, you have to make sure it is working properly. It may drip, or the water may have problems coming out. You should regularly check the bottle, especially for the latterm problem, as your hamster needs a constant water supply.

Another option for water is a cup on a flat surface (with no chance of spilling). Your hamster will know not to go in the water and will be able to drink from it. If your hamster does not know how to at first, put peanut butter on the inside rim of the cup and wipe it off. The smell will remain and your hamster will try to lick, and will find the water and lap it up. You can do this with the bottle to to make sure your hamster knows how it works. Your water cup should be small and, obviously, be able to hold water. It should be farely shallow and small, smaller than the food bowl. 2x1in should work, and there is an example in the Hamster Supplies page.

Wheel

Hamsters need a wheel to exert energy. Often, they are give n ones that are too small and hurt your back. There is no such thing as too big of a wheel, but for a dwarf hamster, your wheel should be at least __ and for a Syrian hamster the wheel should be at least __. If you are often in the room your hamster's cage is in, you may want to check reviews for whatever wheel you buy to see if it will be silent - if you, for example, sleep in the room your hamster's cage is in, you do nto want to be bothered by a squeaking wheel all night.

*I had a hamster cage in my room and never heard the wheel - silent ones are possible, you just need to look! Alsom if your wheel is noisy, maybe it just needs to be tightened, adjusted, or oiled!

Hide Houses

As animals of prey, hamsters need lots of spaces to hide when they feel scared (aside from their burrow). You should have at least 3 or 4 hide houses in your hamster's cage. You can make one out of cardboard if you need to, but make sure everything you use is safe for your hamster (for example, Scotch tape can easily be bitten off and is not safe for your hamster to ingest). A great option for a hide house is one with rooms, like a burrow, to get your hamster started on burrowing. Plus, a hide house like this is likely to have a smooth and stable surface so you can put a wheel and other things on top of it. You can also get wood hide houses, wooden tubes that your hamster can hide in and walk on, and plastic hide houses.

Sprays and Hay

Formore enrichment, you can add certain sprays and hay to your hamster's cage. Hay can be collected and used to support a burrow and seeds can be picked off of sprays and eaten. Having to pick off the seeds is extra enrichment for your hamster. Safe hay includes softer hay like Oxbow's Botanical Hay, and a link to it can be found in our Hamster Supplies tab.

Chew Toys

As rodents, a hamster's teeth are always growing. Wooden chew toys are easy to be found in many pet stores. Puzzle chew toys are good to get because they provide some enrichment for your hamster. Your should have at least a few chew toys in your hamster's cage so they do not get bored from a lack of variety. You can also enrich your hamster with a variety of flavors, like having some toys made of apple wood. You can also get chew toys made from minerals for more diversity in toys, but those should not be given out often as it is not healthy for a hamster to have too much.

Other Enrichment Objects

To add more enrichment for your hamster and to fill up the empty space in your cage, there are some other things you can get. For example, you can get safe logs of different textures, and branches. Additionally, you should have some hard surfaces like a cleaned, safe, smooth rock so your hamster's nails will get shaved down as it walks upon these things. This will prevent having to cut it's nails. If it's nails get too long, they cannot be shaved down and you will need to cut them. Shavig nails down through harder surfaces is preventative, not a solution after they get long. You can also have some toilet paper roles as tubes around the cage. This is easy and affordable as you are very likely to have empty toilet paper rolls or can get them easily. You can shred toilet paper and put it around the cage for your rats to take to their nest. You can use an empty tissue box as a DIY hide house.

My current hamster cage (before I got the hamster; I have added more hides and enrichment since this photo). Between 900 and 1000 sq in. I have a female Syrian.