Homemade cage furnishings ideas ?

[carefresh]

I was wondering if anybody had any ideas for homemade furnishings for your hamsters cage, like toys or other things that go in the cage ? (Does anybody have any ideas on how to make a home made house for a hamster to sleep in ?)

[babyboos]

I made a house for my Roborovski Dwarf Hamsters out of a Coconut shell. My partner cut a hole about 1.5" diameter in one end and drilled three holes into the other end where there were already natural indentations. We then put it in the oven and dried out the coconut flesh inside - it was then easily chipped off - some eaten by us, some by the hamsters, some by the wild birds outside - and then when clean inside and out, using a brush and clean water (no suds), and left to air dry, it was simply placed in their enclosure for them to explore. They love it and wont sleep in the house that came with the Duna tank anymore - I use this for their sand bath/potty now. All I do is give them a few shredded lengths of unscented, unbleached toilet tissue (suitable for use with septic tanks), seperated into single ply sheets and they make their own bed up.

[carefresh]

Thats really neat ! Very tropical ! \:D/ Is it cut in half or is it still a sphere ?

[Emma]

You could use any small cardboard box, like a tissue box, for a house too - although they will eventually get soiled and chewed and need to be replaced. Or you could cut doors and windows into any small plastic tub, like a tupperware box or an empty margarine tub, although beware of leaving sharp edges. I like the sound of babyboo's coconut house though.



Toilet rolls and egg boxes can be fun for hamsters to play with too :). Sometimes I hang toilet rolls low from the ceiling of the cage with string, the hamsters jump up and run through them, they swing and move.



When I was in the DIY store the other day, I picked up a few bits of plastic plumbing tubing for the hamsters too. It's much cheaper than the special hamster tubing sold in petshops, and comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and curves. It doesn't have ribbed sides so can only be used horizontally, but is fine for something for the hamsters to run through and hide in. Just remember to remove the chewable rubber seals before the hamsters get it though!

[carefresh]

Yah, I'm going to build my own house, but I would like to make one that can't be totaly chewed up, and will last a long time.

[babyboos]

It is still whole! He made another one for one group of my Winter Whites Russian Dwarf Hamsters but they were happier using it as a hidey-hole than a sleeping area. I also use empty men-size tissue boxes and the cardboard inner tubes from kitchen and toilet rolls. They all love empty egg boxes and the Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters usually end up sleeping in there... It is so cute to open the box and see them peer up at you from their egg-cup! You can fashion boxes from all sorts of empty outer packets in your kitchen cupboard - just make sure they are clean and non-plastic coated. Don't use sellotape, staples or glue if you can, but practice oragami and paper-folding techniques to join edges :lol:



Whilst trying to make a coconut house for a present it unfortunately broke so my partner, Jules (I should introduce him at some point as he does help with the hamsters a lot - he is my chief tamer!) cut it around the middle using a small saw into a half shell, and drilled four holes around its edge. We then hung this with string from the roof of the enclosure (a bit like a hanging basket). This is in another of my Winter White Russian Dwarf Hamster enclosures and they climb up into it and swing from side to side, a bit like in a hot air ballon! I will have to get a photograph for you all :oops:



If making something like this just be sure your roof will support it AND the weight of your hamster, plus any treats or bedding it takes up there, and be careful they don't chew through the string so it falls and hurts them.

[carefresh]

I have an idea :wink: You could take a coconut house like the house babyboos described, the sphere one, then you suspend it just about 1" above the ground. Then you have a suspended coconut house ! :D

[babyboos]

Good idea - would you have the entrance hole horizontal or vertical? In this case you really would need to make sure that it was securly fastened to a strong point on the roof or the poor guys could find their bed going "bump" in the night :lol: Hope they don't get seasick :twisted:

[SnuggleHam]

I have those plastic igloos for all my rodents. The Robos cage is different, they are such strange little things, they no longer sleep together in the same place, yet they run around together and jump on the wheel together at night. One robos has that huge igloo all to them selves so I bought a small wooden house and the other moved in there lol.



My Syrian Gerald has an igloo that he loves to sleep in, I give both hamsters tissue paper to shred up and it seems to work just fine. I like that its plastic and easy to clean if need be.



For my gerbils I have an igloo in their cage but they dig all the bedding out and don’t sleep in it anyway, I use it like a kind of pedestal to keep their food dish on so it doesn’t get filled with bedding. So what I do for them if give them a cut up priority mail cardboard box that they sleep in and also chew to shreds :P I also put their sand bath on that so it doesn’t fill with bedding



You could probably do the same for a ham.

[carefresh]

The hole would be on the side, so i think that would be horizontal... not sure

[babyboos]

I think that would be right :lol:



I remember doing maths at school (graphs - x and y axes :twisted: ) I used to get the two words mixed up so I was told: Vertical = up and down like a ladder, Horizontal = left and right - looking at the edge between the sky and the land in front of you is the horizon...