Dwarf/Chinese hamsters don't need any less space than Syrians!

[kittokitty]

It annoys me so much when people say that they need less space! From my experience, dwarves are much more active, and my friend's Chinese hamster is also really active. They need just the same amount of space so that they can run around!

Anyway, rant over.

Get your dwarves an 80x50 (or more) cage if you don't have one already.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Er... I have multiple hams in less than 80cm by 50cm cages right now. Edwardo is perfectly content in his duna fun, as is Apple - Apple is currently slowly working to get on a more varied diet despite a food allergy and putting her in a bigger cage would make it easier for her to hide symptoms of her allergy if it starts to show itself again (luckily we think its unlikely with the next food we'll be adding to her diet since as long as theres only one allergy at work we've narrowed it down to just six possibilities). Those two are both dwarf hams and would be perfectly content in those cages permanently, they won't stay in them permanently but they'd definetly be happy in them permanently.
We also have a roborovski and a syrian in IKEA SAMLA bin cages - that're less than 80cm by 50cm at the height the boys have their substrate. The roborovski will never be getting anything bigger as he's really, really happy where he is and bigger would risk moving him to a less suitable cage for no benefit - his breeder (someone I respect a heck of a lot) knows exactly what cage he's in and how he's doing and is fine with our decision to keep him where he is. Nelly (the syrian) has to stay in his SAMLA for now - he's clumsy but determined to climb so we're very limited in his cage choices, if he got a wider footprint he'd have to have lower toys at the moment and its in his best interests to live where he does.

I'm not saying dwarf hams don't use space as much as syrians, some of ours happily use 100cm by 50cm cages to the full (although I am skeptical that a dwarf'd use Muddles hutch as much/well as he does), but I don't think 80cm by 50cm is required for any species (syrian or dwarf) to be happy to be honest.

[velma]

I have to say I agree with Kryll. While bigger is generally better it doesn't always apply. My robo Hector is in a mini duna which I know that you consider to be a terrible cage Kittokitty I did my homework before I got him as my hamster knowledge had become rusty & outdated & the best thing seemed to be to get him a smaller cage to start with to make taming easier. The plan was to then upgrade him to something bigger & keep the mini duna as his holiday cage. Sadly Hector disagreed with this plan He was a p@h rescue who had been beaten up by his cage mates. I don't know how long he'd been separated & recuperating from his injuries & I don't know how long he was waiting to be chosen after that but all that time in small enclosures seem to have made him slightly agoraphobic, for want of a better word. He didn't settle when he got upgraded & all his bolshiness got replaced with extra skittishness. When he got downgraded he went right back to friendly Hector (when I say friendly, I mean gung-ho in his efforts to get sunflower seeds from my fingers but y'know I'll take what I can get )

[souffle]

I personally am a great believer in the right cage for each individual. There is no hard and fast rule for each hamster and the owner must decide when they have a happy, settled and content hamster who is healthy and living a happy hamstery life.

The forum has no opinions on cage sizes. This argument comes up over and over. All opinions are strictly those of the individual poster remember.

[Thin Lizzy]

There's no law saying the cage has to be 80 by 50.
I agree with Kryll also. It really depends on the hamster. Some can find large spaces stressful. It can also depend on the hamsters background.
Velma's rescue found it stressful going to a larger cage and is back to his normal self now he's back in the slightly smaller cage.