'natural habitat'

operationotohamstry · 02-09-2011, 09:08 PM

Alright...I've been toying with this idea for a long time and it will probably be a long time till I actually do it because it will be very expensive...but! I really would like to have a hamster that lives in a natural habitat aka a wild setup.

I would use probably either a 10 or 15 gallon tank to start with. Though the substrate I'm a little unsure about. I cant decide if I want the hamster to be able to create its own burrows, or have burrows already in place using critter-trail tubes or paper towel tubes. Either way, the substrate would probably be a mix of repti-bark and forest floor (all bought in the reptile section of the store I work at). Or what I could do is use ground walnut shells. Something that the hamster can dig through. Make it a few inches deep. If the tank is about 1 - 2 feet high, a quarter of that will be terra. I'll have hiding rocks, rocks built up, maybe even some moss or natural grasses in one corner. I can either have the food in a rock dish or have it spread around. Still gonna use a water bottle. Maybe put a fake branch over it to make it look natural haha!

Anyway...this will be quite costly heh. But its always something I've wanted to do. Probably just have 1 Campbells in there, though two would be fun to watch. I may even splurge and get another 20 gallon for this. Not sure! Again still toying with these ideas.

What you guys think? Or anyone else try something like this??

Nappo · 02-10-2011, 04:11 AM

Hey,
I tried to make a natural habitat too, but I would prefer normal bedding more than this repti,bark, because digging is easier in it. The bedding from the reptile section you can use for a little area. I love to use cork and moss and other roots.

Here is a site, that may be interesting for you,very nice cages:
Naturnahe Hamstergehege

Greets XD

operationotohamstry · 02-10-2011, 04:01 PM

That. Is. Beautiful!
Thats exactly something that I want to do! I was doing some price shopping and figured that I would be spending 80-90$ on something like this. So I honestly think I'll be waiting till I get a bigger place cause I wanna really be able to deck it out.

How do you clean it out? Thats been another thing I was wondering about.

Nappo · 02-10-2011, 04:06 PM

Yeah,
i'ts quite expensive,phew, worked hard for it XD
We do only Spot-Cleaning in germany, heres an article about that: Cleaning & Hygiene - hammiess Jimdo-Page!

Smysha · 02-10-2011, 04:40 PM

Oh Nappo - I never tire of your beautiful, beautiful pictures.

Operationotohamstry (what a name!) I thought you might have meant something a little wilder than what Nappo's done.

operationotohamstry · 02-10-2011, 07:38 PM

Awe you can just use Op or Ren hehe whatever you like. And I do still wanna do the whole burrows thing but I love that Nappo has the logs and the wood pieces and the construction of it looks fantstic.

I will probably add more rock structures. Right now the only piece I actually have is an old rock/food dish piece that I bought a long time ago hehe. I've introduced it to the squiggles before and they loved it. Climbed all over the thing and hid in it.

After walking through the store too, I was thinking of doing a fountain instead of a water bottle. There is this thing at my job, its a cascading waterfall thing (very low flow, dont wanna drown the poor things hehe) that goes back into itself without pooling, so the hamsters wont wanna 'bury' the puddle. Its an extra 40$ but yeah...thats why this'll take time haha. I know that hamsters are very smart, and mine tend to pick up new things really quick, but I'll probably have another water bottle in there just to make sure.

Man...now I'm getting all excited and I cant do anything yet!

Nappo · 02-11-2011, 01:15 AM

Oh wow,that sounds awesome xD My chinese cage was a bit wilder, but only a little xD Rock structures, great, I'm so looking forward to this natural habitat <3