Newbie wanting a bit of advice (Tut Tut Tut not again LOL)

[Bjorkmiestah]

Hi all

My name is Dominic and I am a bit wet behind the ears when it comes to hamsters, but obviously I am hear so number one I am trying to learn and number two I think this shows I care about him, Just to not have a saga written on this subject, I have just got a new dwarf hamster a couple of weeks ago and I am just wondering if my cage set up is ok or if I need anything else or you could sugeest anything

This first image is what I call the living area...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TOX...ew?usp=sharing

The second image is what i call the play area or exercise yard LOL...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12c6...ew?usp=sharing

The third image is the whole setup...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A3j...ew?usp=sharing

I have tried to give Osk (my hamster) a bit of extra space and believe it is slightly more than the minimum size for a hamster to live, anyhow to cut this long story short, the best thing to do is check out my photos and advise, tell me off for what I have done or need to do or if I am on the right track

Thank you for your time and patience and also a big thank you to Erin Rachel from Erin' Animals Youtube channel for helping me with her advice and for helping me find this forum

Cheers

Dominic

[Quicksilver]

Hi Dominic and Osk -welcome to Hamster Central
I can tell you've put a lot of thought into set up design of cages and toys. I've been a hamster mum to only one Syrian hamster so far so my knowledge is still new and I'm constantly learning. I have no knowledge of dwarf hamsters. My concern is the tubes from one cage to another (possibly Osk getting stuck?) and possibly more substrate for burrowing. One of the key things is making sure the cage set up is safe and escape proof! More experienced folks on the forum will be able to give more knowledgeable advice. It's great the cage size is above the minimum as gives you more opportunity for creating more enrichment as hamsters in the wild run for miles.
Great that you discovered ErinsAnimals -that's how I found out about Hamster Central too!

Look forward to hearing more about Osk, great name btw.

[cypher]

Hi welcome to HC.

It does look as though you've put a lot of thought into giving your new ham a good home, although having two cages joined like that isn't ideal there is a reasonable amount of space overall.
It would be preferable to have one larger cage. With this set up do keep a very close eye on the place where the tubes are fixed to the cage, those can work loose & make an escape possible.
Hamster like to dig & burrow so your substrate needs to be a lot deeper, in a cage that size you do need to completely fill the base of the cage with substrate.
The house on the shelf is too small for much use, they do need a larger house to nest in, I would say a minimum of around 15cm but a larger one is better, the house should have no base & be on a deep layer of substrate also with lots of shredded plain white tissue available in the cage to make a nest. You could use a cardboard box with no base & a small hole cut out for a door to make a house.
An upright wheel is much better for them & also takes up less room in the cage, saucers are ok for occasional use say in a playpen but the main wheel should be upright, 8cm diameter is about right for most dwarf hams.
That might allow more space for toys, they love things like cardboard tubes, an eggbox with a hole cut out of each end can be a lot of fun for them to forage in if you put a little substrate in then hide some of the food or treats in their, coconuts make good little hideouts & you can get some that bolt onto the bars making even better use of space.