I was looking at the German hamster forum at the various cage set ups and came across the post linked below (copy and paste the messages into google translate to read it!). According to this 80 x 50 x 40 is too small for a hamster cage! And their minimim size is 100 x 50 x 40. It goes onto say that the recommended size for a dwarf hamster is 100 x 100 and ideally 200 x 200 to get natural behaviour and avoid behaviour problems.
Wow! Can you imagine a 200 x 200 hamster habitat?!! (A whole room maybe?!). I think the minimum 100 x 50 size is good though. I don't find my 80cm cage quite big enough for a large syrian with rat sized stuff in it!
Wie viele kg/l Einstreu und ein paar weitere Anfängerfragen =D - Gehegebau- und Planung - www.das-hamsterforum.de