[Lilafernim]

I just saw on another thread you actually posted the same YouTube link! I understand what you’re trying to do, and with reptiles the aim of their enclosure is to emulate a natural environment. With our hamsters, they’re normally nothing like a natural environment, there’s never a Forrest with paper bedding floors!

I just think in what you want, it will be really hard to monitor things like hygiene and mould, if weeds come up some contain chemicals that destroy neighbouring plants and you’ll have to stop the hamster from eating them. Also if it’s deep substrate I think you’ll find they’ll tunnel a lot and you won’t really see your hamster much for handling and health checks. It’s one of the reasons hamsters were so hard to find in the first place.

What they’ve done I hope they don’t do forever because eventually a clean would have to take place to reduce humidity and control bug and plant concentrations, and it would be so traumatic for the hamster to have it’s actual tunnel destroyed, also expensive for you. I just don’t understand if there’s doubt why take the risk?