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RenK777 · 09-21-2019, 08:10 PM

I'm so glad you wrote this! We have our first 2 hammies though throughout my life I've owned and rehabbed a lot of animals. When I was younger, I always bought the largest cage I could find anywhere so there was a time when some of my 'furniture' was really just large cages for tiny animals haha But now I'm married and that means there is a husband--with an opinion--in the mix. He happens to be of the frugal/budget sort so blowing money on a gargantuan cage we dont have room for is out of the question. Let alone 2 cages of epic proportions. At least until the kids move out and then I'll have 3 bedroom dressers screaming to be outfitted with 4 or 5 ft tanks

For now, we have one hammie in a 29 gallon and my boy has the same footprint but it's a breeder so less height. Both tanks are 30" X 12". Our hammies have a sand bath, bend-a-bridge, wood/rope bridges, a wooden hut, a hammock, a wheel, lava rock chews and other chews. I did my best with what we had as the cage our Buttercup came in was miniscule and Buttercup seems much more content in her tank. She is an active little bug and is always up and nosy and checking out what we're doing. We're trying to ignore her during the day a bit so that she's able to sleep longer stretches as they do in the wild. It's not working so well but I'm hoping with the kids in school, that the quiet will fascilitate more sleep! My Yeti is lazy. All he does is sleep. In fact, it's almost 11 PM here and he's still sleeping. He does get up occasionally here and there to eat in the late afternoon/evening but not for very long and only briefly before going back to sleep. He is active during the night. We only got him at 5? months and he wasn't really handled much before having come from a PetSmart but he's a mellow boy and is coming around fast. I have 3 kids so when the hamsters are up, they do get taken out often. We are planning on building them a playbin but I'm thinking we should probably make 2 so that one doesn't get stressed by smelling the other in the space. So I'm going to check out the video posted by another member for some ideas. I would like something a little bit shallow so that it can slide under bed and so that hammies can still see us when we're lying next to bin guarding them. Maybe I'll rig three sides with a barrier that can fold down but keep one side low. I'd love for the play bins to be about 4 or 5 feet long so that they can really run. For now, we just throw an old blanket on the bed and let whichever hammie is out crawl all over the bed on his/her blanket. Also, on warm days, we take one out at a time into our yard. The kids and I form a loose circle around an area filled with sorrel which is sort of like clover. The hammies love running through it and nibbling on it. When they get too close to a border, we just turn them around to run in the opposite direction. Love that they're able to get a little late afternoon sun and contact with the Earth which is beneficial to all living organisms. But winter is approaching so not sure how long we'll be able to offer that area to run. So when I read the info above about the square footage--for a moment-- felt like the worst hamster mom ever. We just don't have the space for 5 ft tanks right now. But since our hammies do seem to enjoy being out and being handled, maybe a large playbin will suffice for now. I'd upload pics of my hammies but I'm new here and I don't see the option to do so...unless it's to a URL and all my photos are on my phone.

09-21-2019, 08:10 PM
RenK777 Hamster Pup Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: East Coast, NJ Posts: 51	Re: Help... I’m new to this:)! I'm so glad you wrote this! We have our first 2 hammies though throughout my life I've owned and rehabbed a lot of animals. When I was younger, I always bought the largest cage I could find anywhere so there was a time when some of my 'furniture' was really just large cages for tiny animals haha But now I'm married and that means there is a husband--with an opinion--in the mix. He happens to be of the frugal/budget sort so blowing money on a gargantuan cage we dont have room for is out of the question. Let alone 2 cages of epic proportions. At least until the kids move out and then I'll have 3 bedroom dressers screaming to be outfitted with 4 or 5 ft tanks For now, we have one hammie in a 29 gallon and my boy has the same footprint but it's a breeder so less height. Both tanks are 30" X 12". Our hammies have a sand bath, bend-a-bridge, wood/rope bridges, a wooden hut, a hammock, a wheel, lava rock chews and other chews. I did my best with what we had as the cage our Buttercup came in was miniscule and Buttercup seems much more content in her tank. She is an active little bug and is always up and nosy and checking out what we're doing. We're trying to ignore her during the day a bit so that she's able to sleep longer stretches as they do in the wild. It's not working so well but I'm hoping with the kids in school, that the quiet will fascilitate more sleep! My Yeti is lazy. All he does is sleep. In fact, it's almost 11 PM here and he's still sleeping. He does get up occasionally here and there to eat in the late afternoon/evening but not for very long and only briefly before going back to sleep. He is active during the night. We only got him at 5? months and he wasn't really handled much before having come from a PetSmart but he's a mellow boy and is coming around fast. I have 3 kids so when the hamsters are up, they do get taken out often. We are planning on building them a playbin but I'm thinking we should probably make 2 so that one doesn't get stressed by smelling the other in the space. So I'm going to check out the video posted by another member for some ideas. I would like something a little bit shallow so that it can slide under bed and so that hammies can still see us when we're lying next to bin guarding them. Maybe I'll rig three sides with a barrier that can fold down but keep one side low. I'd love for the play bins to be about 4 or 5 feet long so that they can really run. For now, we just throw an old blanket on the bed and let whichever hammie is out crawl all over the bed on his/her blanket. Also, on warm days, we take one out at a time into our yard. The kids and I form a loose circle around an area filled with sorrel which is sort of like clover. The hammies love running through it and nibbling on it. When they get too close to a border, we just turn them around to run in the opposite direction. Love that they're able to get a little late afternoon sun and contact with the Earth which is beneficial to all living organisms. But winter is approaching so not sure how long we'll be able to offer that area to run. So when I read the info above about the square footage--for a moment-- felt like the worst hamster mom ever. We just don't have the space for 5 ft tanks right now. But since our hammies do seem to enjoy being out and being handled, maybe a large playbin will suffice for now. I'd upload pics of my hammies but I'm new here and I don't see the option to do so...unless it's to a URL and all my photos are on my phone. Last edited by souffle; 09-22-2019 at 12:41 AM.