Housing Your "Escape Artist" Hammy!

This page is linked to The Hamster Tunnel, a site devoted to promoting and encouraging the humane and ethical way of raising and caring for healthy and happy captive hamsters!

The mental and physical well being of a hamster is highly effected by its happiness in its environment.

Cage Selection
Hamsters can be housed within enclosures made of wire, stainless steel, durable plastic or glass. The last 3 materials are preferred b/c they resist corrosion. Wood and things like wood SHOULD NOT be used b/c they are difficult to clean and cannot withstand the gnawing of a hamster! Most petstores will carry suitable homes for your hammy. I once read that it is best to allow about 20 square inches of floor area per hamster and a cage height of at least 6 inches.

If you have a cat or dog, you will not want a wire cage where paws can come through to torment, hurt, or kill your helpless hamster. (EVEN A CUTE, HARMLESS LOOKING PUPPY, CAN BE A TERRIFYING SITE, AND THREAT TO A HELPLESS LITTLE HAMSTER!) Many brands offer at least some type of cage without wiring as a selection.
Three common brands are: Sammy (sold at Petsmart and Tomlinson's), Hartz (sold at Wal-Mart, and Habitrail (sold at Tomlinson's and other select, smaller petstores).
It has also been proven that hamsters with solid bottum cages (although not AS easy to clean), relatively deep bedding, and abundant nesting material (you can actually use toilet paper for this, as long as it is not perfumed or dyed), seem to do the best. Just be sure that the cage is properly ventilated (you do want them to breathe!), and that it is relatively easy to clean.

Work-out Equipment!
To read about excerise balls go to the Exercising your hammy link below!

Buying tubes and tunnels to link with your set-up is an excellent and highly recommended idea, b/c it promotes excercise, and the tunnel crawling, is similar to what their natural environment would be, were they not captive. Also, it can be very entertaining to watch them explore their home. Getting a wheel for your hammy's home, or buying a home that has one attatched is also a great idea, and hammy's "usally" figure out what they are for within 48 hours of arriving home. Hamster's are for the most part nocturnal. The more complex you can make the tunnels, the more fun your hamster will have. The seem to espescially enjoy having multiple openings to crawl through. This is a fun part of having a hammy, b/c you can be very very creative!

An additional suggestion on tunnels, is....Why not try putting them all "inside" the cage? We recently tried this with Fievel, and he has never been happier, PLUS, the cat has lost interest b/c the prey no longer appears accessible!

Setting up the Cage
When setting up the cage, be sure to clean or rinse it first, with hot water, then check for sharp edges, possible escape routes (hamsters are proficient "escape artists" [ask anyone who had a hammy at one point, and they will tell you about theirs!], or other potential hazards. Please note that if your hammy escapes, you are likely to find a mess of chewed up electrical wires! Next, be sure and include some sort of bedding which is clean, nontoxic, absorbent, relatively dust-free, and easy to replace: shredded paper, processed corn cob, or wood shavings, preferably made with pine work rather well. Cotton or shredded toilet paper (as noted earlier), as great nesting materials, or you can purchase it as most petstores.

How many to a cage?
Hamsters are usually housed singly. Sexually mature females must not be housed together due to agressiveness factors. Also, breeding females are larger than males and tend to be aggresive toward them. For this reason males MUST be removed from the cage after mating has been completed.

Links

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Information on Attention and Exercise for Your Hammy

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