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Schwartzie · 09-08-2019, 11:57 AM

Hi Phoebe, this journey is so exciting right?

I saw above that there was a mention of using 2 inches of bedding or more. This is according to German and American standards but I want to just give you some back round on the logistics of using so much bedding. Hamsters use burrowing in the wild to create a place to sleep, pee and stash their food. With the standards mentioned in Germany they also talk about massive cage sizes which imitates the wild as much as possible. Not all of us have the space, funds or most of the skills to build cages like this. I had a rabbit cage of 100cm x 50cm which I placed mesh over and then filled the base over 3 inches deep by blocking the sides. I did this before realizing that I had to tame my hamster first. What a I mean is that before looking into increasing the depth of bedding make sure that your hamster comes out for treats or is actively bonding with you before you do this. 2 inches and more is stated in research but make sure that you put practical things in place first. Serendipity7000 gave me amazing advice on how to keep bedding depth but make it easier to keep your cage clean and hygienic. It gets difficult if the majority of your cage is 2 inches deep because you cant pinpoint where food is being stashed etc for spot cleaning. The German sized cages are so big that you only have to clean them twice a year. It doesn’t matter about spot cleaning where cages that are smaller become tricky to maintain.

Ragna also hardly came up and I eventually found him deep in the bedding. This is what hamsters do but as pets we want to be able to check them etc and bond. I have a camera installed and made a personal...my own choice to build a huge area for him and allow him 50cm bedding knowing I would probably only see him on camera. That’s my choice and I just wanted to tell you what you can do before using that depth of bedding to ensure that you can still interact with your hamster.

09-08-2019, 11:57 AM
Schwartzie Adult Hamster Join Date: Jun 2019 Posts: 385	Re: Help... I’m new to this:)! Hi Phoebe, this journey is so exciting right? I saw above that there was a mention of using 2 inches of bedding or more. This is according to German and American standards but I want to just give you some back round on the logistics of using so much bedding. Hamsters use burrowing in the wild to create a place to sleep, pee and stash their food. With the standards mentioned in Germany they also talk about massive cage sizes which imitates the wild as much as possible. Not all of us have the space, funds or most of the skills to build cages like this. I had a rabbit cage of 100cm x 50cm which I placed mesh over and then filled the base over 3 inches deep by blocking the sides. I did this before realizing that I had to tame my hamster first. What a I mean is that before looking into increasing the depth of bedding make sure that your hamster comes out for treats or is actively bonding with you before you do this. 2 inches and more is stated in research but make sure that you put practical things in place first. Serendipity7000 gave me amazing advice on how to keep bedding depth but make it easier to keep your cage clean and hygienic. It gets difficult if the majority of your cage is 2 inches deep because you cant pinpoint where food is being stashed etc for spot cleaning. The German sized cages are so big that you only have to clean them twice a year. It doesn’t matter about spot cleaning where cages that are smaller become tricky to maintain. Ragna also hardly came up and I eventually found him deep in the bedding. This is what hamsters do but as pets we want to be able to check them etc and bond. I have a camera installed and made a personal...my own choice to build a huge area for him and allow him 50cm bedding knowing I would probably only see him on camera. That’s my choice and I just wanted to tell you what you can do before using that depth of bedding to ensure that you can still interact with your hamster.