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W0lf · 02-03-2021, 10:38 AM

So in the future, I have a lot of plans to really step up my hamster care and try to mimic their natural habitat as much as possible. One concept which I thought of was making the enclosure bioactive.

If you don't know what this means, it's essentially adding invertebrates to the substrate such as springtails and isopods/woodlice, which then consume decaying matter such as mould and faeces. I've seen this done with both rats and hedgehogs, but I've only heard a couple people discussing it online for hamsters. I really feel like this could be very beneficial as it would mean I would never have to clean the enclosure, apart from areas such as the sand bath. This could definitely make a hamster a lot less stressed.

To do this, I would use a soil substrate mixed with aspen for odour control, as well as maybe hay, sphagnum moss, etc. to make it easier for burrowing. I do not intend on planting any plants directly into the substrate as this would cause moisture problems, though I might add some safe potted ones depending on how the hamster reacts.

I was curious to see if anyone could find any problems with this as I might not have considered certain things. I couldn't really think of any apart from the fact I might need to create small humid spots in parts of the enclosure for the inverts to thrive.

02-03-2021, 10:38 AM
W0lf Newborn Pup Join Date: Dec 2018 Posts: 10	Bioactive hamster cage? So in the future, I have a lot of plans to really step up my hamster care and try to mimic their natural habitat as much as possible. One concept which I thought of was making the enclosure bioactive. If you don't know what this means, it's essentially adding invertebrates to the substrate such as springtails and isopods/woodlice, which then consume decaying matter such as mould and faeces. I've seen this done with both rats and hedgehogs, but I've only heard a couple people discussing it online for hamsters. I really feel like this could be very beneficial as it would mean I would never have to clean the enclosure, apart from areas such as the sand bath. This could definitely make a hamster a lot less stressed. To do this, I would use a soil substrate mixed with aspen for odour control, as well as maybe hay, sphagnum moss, etc. to make it easier for burrowing. I do not intend on planting any plants directly into the substrate as this would cause moisture problems, though I might add some safe potted ones depending on how the hamster reacts. I was curious to see if anyone could find any problems with this as I might not have considered certain things. I couldn't really think of any apart from the fact I might need to create small humid spots in parts of the enclosure for the inverts to thrive.