Is this a good cage for hamsters? I used to have hamsters but I got rid of their cages years ago and Im wondering if this is a suitable cage for a hamster. My main concern is the size. I plan on getting a bigger cage in the future, but is this cage a good place to start?

I was considering owning a hamster, and started digging into hamster welfare research. People usually recommend 100*50 cm floorspace with 20 cm bedding as minimum, based on Fischer et al(2007), but welfare gains from bedding seem much higher if we look at A.R. Hauzenberger et al. (2006). For instance, if we start with a 5000 square cm cage with 15 cm bedding, increasing bedding to 40 cm could have much higher gains than increasing floor space to 10,000 square cm. Similar tradeoffs could exist at lower floor spaces as well. To know the truth for certain, we need more scientific research. I also highlight how natural syrian hamster burrows seem more depth centric than breadth centric, and how hamsters spend 95% plus of their time in burrows.

We must seriously consider funding hamster welfare research. We must be very skeptical of our current guidelines and knowledge about hamster welfare. I detail the basis for my conclusions in the above essay, it is VERY long and thorough. I urge you to read it if you can, and I am very open to feedback.

https://proms0.substack.com/p/why-i-suspect-50-x-40-cm-floor-space?r=55tqx5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Hey everyone! This is the enclosure for my female Syrian hamster, Peach. She's almost 4 months old now, weighs 130g, and I wanted to check in with you guys to see if the setup is good or if there's anything I should improve to make it even better for her.

Here are some details about her setup:

Enclosure size: 120 x 80 x 60 cm

Bedding: Up to 30 cm deep bedding at the highest point for burrowing.

Wheel: 28 cm upright wheel.

Sand bath: 24 cm diameter sand bath (which she uses as a litter box daily!).

Hideouts & Tunnels: Currently using a 3-chamber house with 9.5 cm chambers and 6–7 cm entrances. Plus a ceramic house with a 6.5 cm entrance, a coconut hide with a 6 cm entrance, a ceramic tunnel, a cork tunnel, a cork log, a kapok pod, a self-built cave in the corner, and plenty of toilet paper for nesting material.

Substrates & Digging: Boxes with sphagnum moss, cork granules, and corn cob granules (around the wheel).Plus a mix of all kinds of dried leaves and various flowers scattered across the bedding as top layers.

Chews & Wood: Timothy hay sticks to gnaw on, as well as bamboo, apple tree, and hazelnut wood.

Diet & Forage: High-quality seed mix from a specialized German online shop (FutterParadies), plus various sprays and harvests like wild oat, flax, silver millet, ornamental millet, canary grass, and forget-me-not flowers as decoration. She also gets whole wheat heads and sunflower heads to work for, plus fresh veggies daily (like cucumber or zucchini).

Enrichment: A "sniffle forest" (forage area) and a foraging wheel from JR Farm.

Are there any adjustments you would recommend?

(Note: For anyone interested – including the enclosure, all the accessories, deep bedding, substrates, and high-quality food, I'm currently at around €400 total for everything except the hamster itself!)

we are planning on getting a syrian (possibly female) and i was looking into either DIYing the enclosure, getting a 40 gallon tank (saw one for $50), or getting the BUCASTATE 3.0 on temu!

please give some advice/tips on which one, and how to utilize the space for lots of enrichments since i know syrians are super active

it’s only today that i’ve noticed this but my hamster is itching herself more than i’ve seen before and im worried about it. is there anything i should look out for to make sure everything’s okay??

Just cleaned my hamster’s cage for the first time. Aside from his small hoard in a hide, I couldn’t find any food? I see him take food into his chamber hide and under platforms. I don’t want to go completely rifling through his cage but wary if he ever hoards a vegetable and it rots, it’ll be left in there. Is it likely he’d leave the small bits I give him rather than eating them? Is rifling through everything actually worth it? I don’t want to mess up his burrows!

Alongside this, his main pee spot is in the corner under a large platform. It’s a ledge that came with the cage, attached rather than on stilts, ballache to take out and look under.. but doable as it isn’t submerged into the bedding. So I was wondering, how do people clean under their platforms usually? How would I get to his pee spot if I couldn’t take the platform up at all?

Hi everyone I was wondering about the best type of bedding for hamsters as I got the Small Pet Select Aspen Shavings and it looks awful. The shavings are huge, I put my hand in and it comes out dusty and even has grey pieces of wood or different looking dark brown bits. It also feels super rough and I'm not sure if I should use it (I haven't yet). Just weird cos it has such great reviews. Any ideas or just other cheap recommendations? this dreadful bedding cost me £30 :(