Recommended minimum habitat size for dwarf hamster
Hello.
I know that recommended standards vary drastically from country to country, but I was wondering what the most universal consensus is on minimum habitat size for a dwarf hamster?
I am absolutely in favour of giving one's hams plenty of space and stimulation-as much as is possible- and that almost every pet shop sells and promotes disgustingly unsuitable cages and habitats for hamsters. They love running around, exploring and burrowing and they love having lots of options to hide, sleep and stash their hoards.
I was reading on a local rescue website that the minimum required habitat size according to them is 5000cm2 of unbroken floor space excluding any wheels, bridges, sand boxes, houses etc. So pretty much every dwarf ham habitat would have to be well over 5000cm2.
Also, they say that a habitat made up of two smaller cages or bins joined together does not meet the above requirement even if the combined floor area exceeds 5000cm2.
My hams each have two-part habitats joined with tunnels that do exceed 5000cm2 together but the floor space is not unbroken- ours have wheels, bridges, flying saucers, sand boxes, logs, seesaws, tunnels etc as well as areas of 20cm deep substrate, so it is not all unbroken floor space to run on.
What are everybody's thoughts?
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