Is this an adequate cage for my Winter White Hamster?

[MellyJelly]

So I got my little hamster about a month ago. When I got her I purchased a critter trail cage because according to the employee at the pet store it would be the best for a hamster. As I continue to research I've read that those cages are too small for hamsters and a poor choice, so I've connected a second cage for her with some tubes.

note: She never gnaws at the bars, she is very active, and I take her out at least once a day to let her rome around my house. (with supervision of course.) I also completely rearrange her house after thoroughly cleaning it. (Every 4 to 5 days.)

If anyone has any critiques or useful advice please hit me up. I want to give her the best possible life I can provide.

[Pebbles82]

It's annoying when pet shops sell you a cage that's too small! They do need a lot of space and a larger cage with a continuous floor area of 70cm by 40cm minimum used to be recommended by the RSPCA - many people go larger. You can have cages like yours as an add-on to a main cage, but two smaller connected cages doesn't give the same kind of normal behaviours as one larger cage.

Having said that, you have them nicely set up with lots of things to do.

Those type of cages are limited in how deep the substrate can go and they do like digging in substrate so as deep as you can go with it.

Moving things around and cleaning that often could cause quite a bit of stress though. Especially for a hamster who is just settling in. Again it is one of the downsides of that kind of cage that you need to clean it like that. With something larger and good access and deep substrate you can just spot clean mainly and only need to do a main clean about every two months. With the deeper substrate, the bottom half tends to stay dry.

Hamsters like to scent mark to find their way around as they don't see well, so if you clean everything every few days it's removing their natural scent every time and making it feel less like home and a bit strange!

I'd suggest maybe making a bin cage to add on to the current set up - or add one of the units to the bin cage. If you don't mind a bit of diy. It means cutting a hole in the front and top of a large plastic bin (eg the 78cm Ikea Samla bin is a good size) and then meshing them.

This kind of thing

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ik...MlA-8Q_AUIBigB

They have plenty of space to move around quickly, dig and do other hamstery things in a cage like that. One of your units added on would add a fun element and somewhere else to go.

Are you in the Uk or US? If in the Uk, Zooplus sells good cages that aren't too expensive. If you're in the US a lot of people use glass tanks to give the floor area and buy a lid for them. A 30 or 40 gallon tank usually.

Another option with just a little bit of diy and is cheaper than a lot of cages, is an Ikea detolf hack - it's a glass cabinet you tip on it's back and leave the door off then make a lid with some mesh and wood pieces. It makes an amazing hamster habitat and there's room to section off a whole section as a digging area. If you have the wall space! It costs about £40.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ik...hamster+detolf

The key word is "enrichment". That includes depth of substrate for digging (they can even dig networks of tunnels if they have it deep enough!), space to roam and forage in and little hidey places and tubes inside the cage. A shelf to sit under or on and a house/nesting box to build a good sized nest in.

I don't know how long it is since you bought the second unit, but some people have managed to get a refund, even after a cage has been used, to go towards something else.

I did the same thing - started out with a 3 tier rotostak thing and found out more later (I googled hamster cage when our Syrian started getting stuck in the tubes!) and upgraded him to an 80cm by 50cm cage which he loved.

They are also better with less height really as they have a tendency to fall and injure themselves, especially the smaller dwarf hamsters, although it looks like you have it set up quite carefully for that. So a longer lower cage is better for them really. For now you could put more substrate in the base and maybe put a cardboard egg box or something similar for her to chew on.

It's great that you have come on here wanting to know more about what is good for hamsters! I learned loads on here.

[AmityvilleHams]

While the cages are both way too small,they can still be used as carriers.For a good cage though,around half of a square meter would be great if possible but an 80 x 50(cm) cage would be good as well.Check out Amazon,there are loads of wonderful options especially if you are in the UK with access to German cages since they do make a load of cages that are great for hamsters which have floor space of half a square meter or even larger!

If you don't want to buy a cage which can get expensive,you can also get something like a Detolf which would be perfect for a dwarf hamster.You could make a cage as well,there are endless options for DIY cages and Ikea hacks and all sorts of things!The main importance though is that the cage allows for proper burrowing and has the right amount of floor space,but around a half square meter is fine for dwarf hamsters as long as you have it set up with lots of covering and hiding places.

[MellyJelly]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

It's annoying when pet shops sell you a cage that's too small! They do need a lot of space and a larger cage with a continuous floor area of 70cm by 40cm minimum used to be recommended by the RSPCA - many people go larger. You can have cages like yours as an add-on to a main cage, but two smaller connected cages doesn't give the same kind of normal behaviours as one larger cage.

Having said that, you have them nicely set up with lots of things to do.

Those type of cages are limited in how deep the substrate can go and they do like digging in substrate so as deep as you can go with it.

Moving things around and cleaning that often could cause quite a bit of stress though. Especially for a hamster who is just settling in. Again it is one of the downsides of that kind of cage that you need to clean it like that. With something larger and good access and deep substrate you can just spot clean mainly and only need to do a main clean about every two months. With the deeper substrate, the bottom half tends to stay dry.

Hamsters like to scent mark to find their way around as they don't see well, so if you clean everything every few days it's removing their natural scent every time and making it feel less like home and a bit strange!

I'd suggest maybe making a bin cage to add on to the current set up - or add one of the units to the bin cage. If you don't mind a bit of diy. It means cutting a hole in the front and top of a large plastic bin (eg the 78cm Ikea Samla bin is a good size) and then meshing them.

This kind of thing

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ik...MlA-8Q_AUIBigB

They have plenty of space to move around quickly, dig and do other hamstery things in a cage like that. One of your units added on would add a fun element and somewhere else to go.

Are you in the Uk or US? If in the Uk, Zooplus sells good cages that aren't too expensive. If you're in the US a lot of people use glass tanks to give the floor area and buy a lid for them. A 30 or 40 gallon tank usually.

Another option with just a little bit of diy and is cheaper than a lot of cages, is an Ikea detolf hack - it's a glass cabinet you tip on it's back and leave the door off then make a lid with some mesh and wood pieces. It makes an amazing hamster habitat and there's room to section off a whole section as a digging area. If you have the wall space! It costs about £40.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ik...hamster+detolf

The key word is "enrichment". That includes depth of substrate for digging (they can even dig networks of tunnels if they have it deep enough!), space to roam and forage in and little hidey places and tubes inside the cage. A shelf to sit under or on and a house/nesting box to build a good sized nest in.

I don't know how long it is since you bought the second unit, but some people have managed to get a refund, even after a cage has been used, to go towards something else.

I did the same thing - started out with a 3 tier rotostak thing and found out more later (I googled hamster cage when our Syrian started getting stuck in the tubes!) and upgraded him to an 80cm by 50cm cage which he loved.

They are also better with less height really as they have a tendency to fall and injure themselves, especially the smaller dwarf hamsters, although it looks like you have it set up quite carefully for that. So a longer lower cage is better for them really. For now you could put more substrate in the base and maybe put a cardboard egg box or something similar for her to chew on.

It's great that you have come on here wanting to know more about what is good for hamsters! I learned loads on here.

Thank you so much. This is incredibly helpful to me. I'm going to fallow your advice and get a large open cage to connect to her set up. I also will do more spot cleaning and less rearranging so I don't cause her too much stress. Thank you!

[Pebbles82]

You're welcome. Erin's hamsters has a very good video on cage cleaning tips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww

Do you think you'll make a bin cage? If you're in the US there is a Sterilite bin that is a good size for a bin cage. I would also think about asking for a refund for at least one of the cages unless you have space to connect both of them to a larger one! Some people have done that and said it wasn't suitable or too small and got their money back To put towards something else.

[AmityvilleHams]

A 40 or 50 gallon bin would be around half a square meter,but you could get a Detolf for a bit more and you'd just have to make a lid for that and you could easily set it up where you only have half the Detolf open and then slowly transition to a full Detolf over time.