When it comes to owning a smaller species of hamster, such as the Winter White Russian Dwarf, Campbell's Russian Dwarf, or Roborovski Dwarf Hamsters there are many various smaller (much smaller) cages made available in the UK, some of which are recommended, by pet stores, as great homes for your hamsters' entire life! In the photo below is an example of one of these smaller cages versus my own DIY home for my Winter White Russian Dwarf Hamster, Gizmo.
Gizmo was extremely quick to let me know that he was most unhappy in his cage. It took him around about 10 days before he started gnawing on the bars insistently to be let out. He could have been out in his ball for 20 mins and running about the sofa for 20 mins and the second you put him back in the cage he would be climbing the bars and chewing at them constantly. At this point, Lil Bear (My fiancés Syrian Hamster) was doing the same. We did a lot of research on Hamster Central and watching various pet tubers, in particular, Erin's Animals, and found that all hamsters actually travel around 5 to 7 miles in a night.
When you look at the small cage in the picture above (if I recall correctly this was 47 cm x 37 cm), this is not suited to any animal that travels up to 7 miles a night! The wheel which comes with the cage is also a 3.5 inch wheel. this is absolutely no good for a Winter white hamster, Gizmo has since had his wheel upgraded to a 6.5 inch wheel which is much better for his spine alignment. There is actually, no specific recommended size given in the UK for a Dwarf Hamster, only a Syrian (80 cm x 50 cm). I also find it difficult to comprehend that suppliers don't understand that Syrians are larger and need more suitably sized toys, and continue to make 100's of toys that are only really suited for dwarf Hamsters. They also don't understand that Dwarf hamsters are highly energetic and need bigger, more suitable cages and wheels. In Germany the recommended size for any hamster is 100cm x 50cm.
Unfortunately, the Hamster Heaven Model (80cm x 50cm) is not suitable for all dwarf hamsters as the gaps between the bars are too wide, the top bars are also not welded to the side bars leaving an escape route for Roborovski dwarf hamsters. Our spare Hamster heavens which we had for our Syrian hamsters were in the loft. I considered using them but at that time I was still wary of our Russian (Winter white), Gizmo, escaping. So, it was at this point I took it upon myself to design and build Gizmos large Cage in the above picture. He has his silent wheel, a spinning saucer, a little set of shelves he likes to run up and down and lots of hidey holes he can run in and out of. Gizmo is much happier now, and loves to run around, he is a climber, so he loves to run up the ladders and although the substrate is fairly deep, he hardly ever digs in it, although he does still use his wheel. Financially this did not cost as much as it did to re-house Lil Bear, in his Detolf habitiat, but there was still some cost involved. It cost £14 for the wire mesh, the Plexiglass was £18.00 and the aquarium sealant was £5.00. We had the wood from an old bookcase, and screws etc for the rest of the cage already.
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| You can see the huge difference in size here (new cage 90cm x 50cm) |
Gizmo was extremely quick to let me know that he was most unhappy in his cage. It took him around about 10 days before he started gnawing on the bars insistently to be let out. He could have been out in his ball for 20 mins and running about the sofa for 20 mins and the second you put him back in the cage he would be climbing the bars and chewing at them constantly. At this point, Lil Bear (My fiancés Syrian Hamster) was doing the same. We did a lot of research on Hamster Central and watching various pet tubers, in particular, Erin's Animals, and found that all hamsters actually travel around 5 to 7 miles in a night.
When you look at the small cage in the picture above (if I recall correctly this was 47 cm x 37 cm), this is not suited to any animal that travels up to 7 miles a night! The wheel which comes with the cage is also a 3.5 inch wheel. this is absolutely no good for a Winter white hamster, Gizmo has since had his wheel upgraded to a 6.5 inch wheel which is much better for his spine alignment. There is actually, no specific recommended size given in the UK for a Dwarf Hamster, only a Syrian (80 cm x 50 cm). I also find it difficult to comprehend that suppliers don't understand that Syrians are larger and need more suitably sized toys, and continue to make 100's of toys that are only really suited for dwarf Hamsters. They also don't understand that Dwarf hamsters are highly energetic and need bigger, more suitable cages and wheels. In Germany the recommended size for any hamster is 100cm x 50cm.
Unfortunately, the Hamster Heaven Model (80cm x 50cm) is not suitable for all dwarf hamsters as the gaps between the bars are too wide, the top bars are also not welded to the side bars leaving an escape route for Roborovski dwarf hamsters. Our spare Hamster heavens which we had for our Syrian hamsters were in the loft. I considered using them but at that time I was still wary of our Russian (Winter white), Gizmo, escaping. So, it was at this point I took it upon myself to design and build Gizmos large Cage in the above picture. He has his silent wheel, a spinning saucer, a little set of shelves he likes to run up and down and lots of hidey holes he can run in and out of. Gizmo is much happier now, and loves to run around, he is a climber, so he loves to run up the ladders and although the substrate is fairly deep, he hardly ever digs in it, although he does still use his wheel. Financially this did not cost as much as it did to re-house Lil Bear, in his Detolf habitiat, but there was still some cost involved. It cost £14 for the wire mesh, the Plexiglass was £18.00 and the aquarium sealant was £5.00. We had the wood from an old bookcase, and screws etc for the rest of the cage already.
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| Hamster Heaven (80cm x 50cm) |
From my
personal experience (3 Syrians, 4 Russian dwarf and a Roborovski) 80cm x 50cm
size is good for Roborovski and Dwarf hamsters, although bigger is always
better. I have My dwarfs in habitats
90cm x 50cm for my Dwarf, Gizmo and 110cm x 40cm for my Roborovski, Tyr. I would also like to add that giving a tiny
Roborovski hamster 110 x 40cm habitat is useless if it is empty. A hamster
brain still needs to be stimulated and the hamster needs to "own" his
territory and everything in it. Again, you need to consider their biology. When
you put a hamster into a massive cage with all of these lovely toys and
goodies, the hamster will spend hours scenting everything to make it theirs...
for a tiny Roborovski that is A LOT of work, so also please keep in mind that
if you give your Hamster the perfect size cage with all the toys you do not
clean it all out once a week, once every Four weeks is the general agreement
and you clean out only the worst of the bedding and substrate to save your
hamster some work and stress. If you clean out everything this can put stress
on the scent gland and cause blockages to occur, this in turn can cause
infection. So just to make it short and sweet, yes cage size is important, but
a balance has to be found too.
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| Gizmo asking for his Christmas presents. Look at that wee face! |
Now you may be thinking of getting a housing unit in which you can add various modules and long tube tunnels to it. These types of cages are not the most hygienic of cages, cleaning can take hours as each tube and module has to be disconnected and washed thoroughly. Any Hamster that chews a lot is likely to be able to escape via the tunnel systems, and if you have a pair of Dwarf hamsters this can cause major territorial issues between the pair and even injuries caused by fighting. It also does not allow for a hamster to run in full speed form one end to the other, the hamster needs to slow down and navigate. These types of cages only try (very weakly) to convey a hamsters burrowing habits but does not allow for the fact that they run at high speed for up to 7 miles a night, in the open.
Previously I adopted two further Russian Dwarfs, Odin and Loki, who came to us in smaller, rosewood, cages. These cages were really small homes, and we noticed that the top hidey area could be opened if the hamster pushed on it, and one of the little bridges up to the hidey was not secure and fell off, so we did decided to put them into the hamster heavens (without the tubing or penthouse) we had in the loft and they both love them.
This post is to help anyone who wants to buy a Dwarf hamster, understand that they need the largest cage possible, and that it is much much better if you can build one yourself as Dwarf hamsters are extremely limited in the availability of suitable cages.
Previously I adopted two further Russian Dwarfs, Odin and Loki, who came to us in smaller, rosewood, cages. These cages were really small homes, and we noticed that the top hidey area could be opened if the hamster pushed on it, and one of the little bridges up to the hidey was not secure and fell off, so we did decided to put them into the hamster heavens (without the tubing or penthouse) we had in the loft and they both love them.
This post is to help anyone who wants to buy a Dwarf hamster, understand that they need the largest cage possible, and that it is much much better if you can build one yourself as Dwarf hamsters are extremely limited in the availability of suitable cages.
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