Advice on ventilation and activity...

[carrie1019]

Hi Everyone! I am new to the forum and wanted to get some ventilation advice. I am re-purposing dollhouse bookshelves into hamster cages and have just started my first one. I have 2 Syrian hamsters that I got from Petco that they were unable to sell at Christmas that I decided give a good home. They have been great at showing me all the things I need to work on in my my project. I want to make sure that I give them the proper ventilation and I know the more the better. I'm curious if anyone has some guidance on proper drill size and ventilation ratio to space.

Part of my reasoning is these 2 guys I have seem to be SUPER lazy and not very active. Maybe they are just not active and don't want to move around. I'm just wondering if it has anything to do with oxygenation...maybe I'm just over thinking, lol. I just want to make sure that I am doing right by them and am taking proper care and want some advice by others that may know. I am attaching a couple of pictures. The 2 small acrylic panels have 2 rows of drilled air holes and each side wall has air holes drilled in the windows. The top shelf has the strip across the top completely open. I do not have any air holes drilled into the framed door. The bottom is not yet enclosed and that is my next step and I am trying to figure out how I am going to ventilate the 2 sides which will be covered with acrylic and the front will be a framed hinged door with drilled air holes.

Any advice you all can offer will be much appreciated. Thank you and I am excited to be a part of your group!!!

[SKB_Hamsters]

I’m quite concerned with looking at your cage about the amount of ventilation. I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable with putting one of my hamster inside. My diy cage have the entire lid meshed. As just drilling holes is often not sufficient as can trap humidity and ammonia inside the cage and can restrict air flow. And I would be concerned with the hamster possible squeezing through the gap.

I really like that you want to provide your hamster with better cages and making a diy as you can give your hamster more space more cost effectively than store bought cages. How big are each of the floor areas? As it hard to see in the photos as at first I thought it looked small but then seeing the wheel in the cage it looks bigger than I first thought.

I would personally would add wire mesh to sections of the back and side. And over the windows. As they will allow for a better circulation into the cage. As I see the roof goes up quite high so you could always cut a section out of this and mesh it too. I do know mesh can look a bit more unsightly than acrylic but the amount of hole you would need to drill you risk cracking the acrylic. But can’t guarantee this will sufficiently improve ventilation if the meshed areas aren’t large enough

I hope this helps