sand as substrate?

[Rickythehammy]

I have been searching everywhere, and couldn't find an answer...
Can somebody please tell me if it would be okay to have sand as your usual
substrate of your syrian hamsters cage? I'm not planning on doing it anytime
soon, and haven't before, but i'd love to know for the future! Thanks!

[Merle]

Hey!
I would definitely not suggest using sand as substrate, since hamsters are natural burrowers and sand does not give the stability to hold their burrows at all!
Of course it could be possible to use sand in a part of the cage, which can then be a big sandbath for them, but there always needs to be some kind of substrate for your hamster to burrow in!
I hope I could help you a little!

[cypher]

As Merle said you can't use sand as a substrate, many hams enjoy a sand bath but the sand does need to be contained, you can make it as big or small an area as you ham enjoys (they're all different) but it needs to be on a shelf or supported in some other way.

[Drago]

Hello and welcome to HC!


As mentioned above, sand is a great addition to the cage, but definitely not as a main substrate. Syrians will need a good amount of deep substrate rather than sand, and don't tend to be too crazy over sand baths. However, they're always fun to offer

[flowerfairy]

Two of my syrians love a good old roll around in their sand baths. I give them corner litter trays designed fror rabbits as sand trays.

I also have two cages with a large area of sand fenced off from the fitch (a paper based bedding). All my hamsters take sand into their nests.

Sand is great but as others have said a nice deep substrate to dig in is what they really love.