Me and my baby Syrian hamster need help!

[Syrianham04]

so, I was surprised with a trip to the pet store yesterday and was gifted a Syrian hamster. I have only ever had dwarf hamsters, and made the mistake of buying a 10 gallon tank to keep my hamster in. I'm nervous because every where I look says they aren't enough room but now I'm kind of stuck with this tank and so far my hamster only has a somewhat small hide away, food bowl, water bowl, and two little toilet paper roll tunnels I made for him. Does anyone have any tips to help keep my hamster happy? Or any advice, i feel terrible because someone else could be giving him a better home.

[BorisPasha]

I'm not really sure what the dimensions of a 10 gallon tank are but it does sound like it would be quite small. If he's still a baby then it might be ok for now but I think you may need to look into getting something bigger. Maybe if you let us know where you're from people may be able to suggest an alternative for you. I think bin cages tend to be quite popular in the US as there isn't as much choice in cages. Does he have a wheel in his tank?

[Ruth Edwards]

If or when your Hammy needs a bigger cage your tank will still be useful as he will need somewhere to go when you're cleaning his cage.

[Pebbles82]

Yes a 10 gallon tank is very small, but probably no smaller than the tank in the pet shop, so maybe see it as a starter tank, let him settle in for 2 or 3 weeks and then upgrade him. You asked if there was anything you could do to help him be happy. Does that mean you think he isn't happy? Is he clawing at the glass or looking stressed or something?

At the moment, give him plenty of substrate to dig and bury hoards in (at least 4 to 6" but more is good as well). Don't do any clean outs - that will add to his stress. Usually it's recommended to wait two weeks before doing a clean out to give them chance to settle and scent mark in their home. Even then you can mainly just spot clean (ie take out a handful or two of wet substrate and replace it with a handful of new and mix it in). You can also cut down on the need to clean by putting a sand potty in - a dish with chinchilla bathing sand. They will use a potty to pee in if you put it in the corner they've chosen as a toilet. Don't worry about poops - they're not dirty or smelly - sometimes they eat them for extra vitamins - they're just like little hard black seeds.

So give him plenty of substrate - if you need to add some, push it underneath what's in there so the bit on top still smells familiar.

A hidey place to nest in or under, a wheel that's at least 8" diameter (for now) and a couple of cardboard tubes for toys. A tissue box makes a good house/hidey place. And lots and lots of torn up strips of plain white toilet paper for nesting.

And some kind of chew stick as well as food and water and a bit of fresh veg every other day. They do love a little bit of fresh veg. Just a tiny broccoli floret or similar sized piece of carrot or cucumber eg. There's a list of safe veg on the forum somewhere.

After a few days you could try lifting him out into a safe area (eg dry bathtub or playpen) to have some out of cage time in the evenings, so it becomes a routine and that will help with the cage being small too. I find a hamster ball quite good for transporting them from a cage to a safe place to let them out, before they're tame. I used to let the hamster walk into a tube then lift the tube out with hands over either end, then put one end of the tube into a hamster ball and they walk in. Pop the lid on and carefully carry him to the safe place, gently put it down and lift the lid off. I usually leave the ball in the pen area - our last hammy used to hop back into it when he'd had enough and wanted to go back to the cage.

A 40 gallon breeder tank is a popular size for a Syrian in the US. It's about 3 feet by 20". It's hard to find a bin that size to make a bin cage, but an 80cm by 50cm bin isn't a bad size.

If you've only just bought the tank, you might be able to ask to return it for a refund? Say it's too small for your hamster. But it could be useful to keep as Ruth says.

Petco do dollar a gallon sales regularly and you can get a 40 gallon tank for $40 then. There are a couple of good sized cages available but they're expensive (about $120 to $150). But less big and bulky than a 40 gallon tank.

If a cage is too expensive you could try and find a bin to make a bin cage too. The Iris Christmas tree bin is good but tends to only be available in the winter time.

[AmityvilleHams]

Even during the dollar per gallon sale that's not counting a lid,stand,etc.It's definitely not the just $40 that a lot of people make it out to be,and even then it's still extremely common to find signs of hamsters being unhappy in that size tank.

A bin cage is one of the best cheap solutions while being easily modified if a hamster displays any negative behavior(such as pacing,corner digging or corner chewing,leaping,etc)whereas no cage or tank can be modified without a serious risk of losing that enclosure and having a very difficult process on your hands(modified bins however are only different from standard bins in that instead of removing a section only on top the sides get parts removed and get zip tied directly to one another).While a 40 gallon would obviously be a better size than the 10 gallon,I'd still advise otherwise

A square meter or larger bin setup can be made with minimal DIY skill and knowledge for under $50 if one does not include tool cost and the cost of certain things that will last far more than just this one project(in other words a wood burning knife,zip ties,mesh,and wire cutters which all tend to be fairly inexpensive anyways).A bin around 60 x 40 in cm and two bins roughly 80 x 50 in cm is all that's needed to get a bin that hits the German standard square meter mark,and these bins would be available at Walmart(all costing around $31).