How much free roaming is recommended daily?

[sztrapkovicsbetti]

Hi I've read lots of threads from this site, but this is the first time I actually post something, so here it goes

I have two really tame and cute Syrians (kept separately of course). One of them (female) is pretty lazy, the other one (male) is more active. Earlier, we only handled and played with them on our double bed, but lately we have set up a little room that they can free roam in (never at the same time of course). One of them can never get enough of it and gets really hyper, the other one calmly wanders about and eventually finds a comfy spot to groom. My question is: how much daily free roaming is recommended? I could only find posts where people debate whether to free roam or not, but we are way past that point - it's safe and our hammies love it. But whichever official hamster guide I look up, it only talks about minimum cage size, what to feed and how much, how to tame a new ham, etc. - but never how much time should be given to them to just free roam. Is there an official recommendation, or does it completely depend on the hammy and/or the owner? And if there is an official recommendation, does it only talk about minimum free roaming time, or can it ever be too much? (You could also send me a few links, I would love to have more info on this topic )

Thanks

[LunaTheHamster1]

The discussions I have been involved in re this in the past proves to me it depends on the hamster.

My Luna (syrian hamster) would free roam for hours when she was younger, she would have water and food available. I sometimes put her back in her cage for a bit to see if she wanted to rest in there, but nope she was normally happy to come back out again. As she got older, the hours reduced.

One of my current hamsters Twinkle comes out for about 30mins-1.5 hours to freeroam, normally every night.

My other hamster Star who is a very old girl, comes out 5 mins at a time, otherwise she would just keep going till she collapsed. So somenights it is just 5 mins, other nights it can be 3 x 5 mins with say 45mins to an hour in her cage resting in between.

I know I have come across info in the past that says at least 15 mins out of the cage every night. No idea where I read that though.

Some hamsters don't like to come out though and happy in their cages. So, yes I would go by the individual hamster.

[Ria P]

I agree with Luna, it depends on the hamster.

Our Syrian hamster lets us know when he wants to come out which happens only a few times per month and he lets me know when he wants to go back to his cage by sitting in a corner.

One of our dwarfs likes to freeroam and i sit on the floor with her. She comes to me and climbs on my legs when she wants back or lets me scoop her up or she runs off when i put my hands on the floor to scoop her up when she's not ready yet to go back to her cage.

I've never timed either of them.

Our Robo does not want to come out of his habitat at all and squeaks at me angrily when i don't put him back rightaway after a health check.

Our fourth hamster hasn't tried freeroaming yet because he's very shy and it's still early days.

[Presley524]

I agree it depends on the hamster. My Syrian likes to let me know when she wants out by throwing her toys against the side of her cage until I grab her lol. She loves to be out for hours sometimes she wanders a bit, but most of the time she curls up next to my neck on my shoulder and just cuddles with me (usually she doesn't even want to go back when I put her back). My dwarf likes to come out less often. She does let me know by standing on her hind legs and she loves to zoom around exploring and climbing all over me, but after about 20ish minutes she starts getting nippy when she's ready to go home. I think once your hammys are out more often, you'll be able to see their signs for wanting to go back in more easily.

[sztrapkovicsbetti]

Thank you guys so much for the tips Well, for now neither of them ever really shows clear signs of wanting to go back, so what we're doing is alternating when to have one of them out, depending on which one is awake thanks again