08/07/2021
Caring for animals is one of the most rewarding things you can do, but with so much misinformation out there it can be hard to know the best way to care for your pet.
Small animals can easily be mistreated even by owners who truly care about them just because of pet stores labelling pets as 'easy' to care for and selling products that are just not appropriate for animal welfare.
So today we want to discuss how to care for hamsters. And the first step is to disregard anything that the pet shops will tell you.
Pet shops sell lots of habitats for small animals. They use small cages that are easy to buy more of and line up on shelves. Very commonly, people will walk out with a small shallow tray with a wire bar-frame like pictured below.
This is not the fault of the pet owner. Customers are misled into believing these small, convenient, cheap homes are suitable for their hamster - therefore making hamsters a low-cost investment.
However these homes just are not suitable. Not only are they too small for your pet to have space to roam, but the trays are too shallow for an ideal amount of substrate. The trays tend to measure around two to three inches. But actually hamsters love to burrow just as much as gerbils do, and need up to eight inches of substrate to allow for their natural burrowing tendencies.
These cages are also do not allow for the correct sized wheel for your hamster (wheels should be up to eight inches in diameter also, or else hamsters may damage their spine).
So what do we advise instead? Well, even a large container or plastic box would be more appropriate to allow for their complex needs. Many people have taken to using thin vertical glass cabinets turned on their side to allow a long and deep strip for the hamster to burrow and hide to its hearts content.
Signs of an unhappy hamster include biting the wires of the cage and excessive use of the wheel.
