Dwarf Hamster Cage requirements

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Gizmo exploring his clean and shiny cage

Gizmo is my Winter White Dwarf Hamster, he is around 4 months old and is very friendly.  He is surprisingly tame for a dwarf hamster and has been this way since day 3 of bringing him home.  The one thing he does get grumpy at however, is when his things get moved around his cage.  I try to keep everything where it is, but, it is a live and learn process, for instance having the sand bath at the very front of the cage was not my brightest idea ever. The sand was too close to his sleeping area, it wasn't very private for him, and, the Perspex got really dusty.  Upon cleaning his cage this time, I moved his sand bath to the back, in the opposite corner from his sleeping space.  He got grumpy.  Now even when Gizmo is grumpy he doesn't tend to bite, he just refuses to step on to my hand and be picked up, he is huffy more than grumpy.  Anyway, this morning he woke up and started to explore a little so I grabbed a quick video of him rummaging around his new, clean surroundings.

Building a Guinea Pig Pen

Pen 1 & 2 together

Last Summer I undertook the challenge of making a proper indoor guinea pig pen for our two girls (Peanut Butter) Oreo & (Princess) Tink (Tinkerbell, the Diva).  Below is a step by step guide on how this was done.  I did it in two parts as it was quite a big job.  

Unfortunately I am unhappy at the size of pen 2 so I will be expanding on this soon.  I will however post pen 2 up as the whole design was made to suit easy expansion so there will be a pen 2 expansion guide later as well.

The cost of this cage was absolutely zero as it was all re-used wood form an old wardrobe, aquarium sealer was left over from a previous project and screws were there already too.

What tools did I need to make this cage?

Drill, sander, Aquarium silicon to seal the pen, Screwdriver, hammer, screws, PVA Glue to help strengthen the joints, dowels to help strengthen the base and back joint. and the following:

The above was Pen 1, made specifically to fill with hay and keep the hay inside the pen as much as possible.  

Step 1:  Cut the base (measurements are 50 cm depth x 100 cm Length. 

Step 2; Cut out the back (46cm x 100cm

Step 3: cut out the two side panels and label A and B 44.5cm x 48.5 cm each (this accounts for the thickness of the base and back of the pen.  

Step 4 take side panel B (the closest to where pen B is going to be) and cut a large arch so as the guinea pigs can get back and forth form pen 2

Step 5: cut a front panel out (depending on wood thickness – this is 15mm each) 97cm long x 20 cm high

Step 6: Cut a panel for the roof of the cage approx. 15 cm x 98.5cm

Step 7: Line up the side panels with the front and top panels and mark a diagonal line to match and line up with each one.  keep it as flush as possible.  (I did calculate the measure for mine, but I don’t have the precise calculations and measurements to hand anymore and this is a good way of measuring it as well. 

Here are some photos of the process as it moves along:

Pen 1

Pen 2

Once it was all screwed together, I used aquarium sealer around the inside edges to stop water leakage.  I then put cup hooks into the top front of each side panel and hung a wire mesh panel on it to help the piggy’s feel more secure as they were not keen on the openness of the pen. 

Viola! Pen 1 complete.  If, however, you make this with a non-veneered wood you will have to find a nontoxic way of sealing the wood surface.  this was all made form an old wardrobe, so it was veneered MDF.  Easy to cut and work with and completely waterproof on the surface.   I also added ‘feet’ to the pen to raise it off the floor allowing air to circulate under the pen. 

Pen 1 with temporary attachment

I hope this helps and is clear enough, if however, you have any questions please feel free to use the comments below to ask.  Pen 2 will be uploaded shortly.  The best thing about this method of building was that I could keep the original pen attached to this pen until I had time to build the second pen. 

Fudge's New Habitat

So we all decided that Fudge seemed a bit bored in his Hamster Heaven (HH).  He had taken to constantly seeping and hardly getting up through the night to play.  Myself and my fiancé were getting a bit worried about him so we thought it would be a good idea to build him a bigger habitat to live in and oh boy is it bigger ! Fudge has gone from his HH which gives him 4.3  square feet  to his DIY habitat which gives him 6.2 square feet of roaming floor space.  He had a good investigate of this space and seems to have found himself a beautiful dark little corner to sleep in, the HH was to bright and he always ended up sleeping in the light as he didn't seem to like any other house we put in there for him.

I have put this guide up to show that it doesn't have to cost a fortune to make your own cage as this only cost me £25 for extra wood for the mesh cover and supports, the mesh and hinges and handles.  I also bought face masks as I was sawing MDF veneered wood and safety goggles as I was using a Jigsaw.

Fudges new habitat started off as a plain old TV unit

Firstly I took the top off of the unit so as I could add hinged lids and a mesh lid later, and also let me remove the two dividers inside the unit.

I took one the dividers and cut an arch into it using the Jigsaw and re-attached about a cm further away from its original place as I needed to fit 3 detolf shelves in the large gap.

I then cut and attached some old table legs to help hold the glass in place from the exterior of the cage

I then added the 3 detolf shelves in the front and some support wood on the inside (top and bottom) to hold it. I used aquarium sealer to seal the shelves together and to the sides of the wood.

I cut two pieces of wood from an old wardrobe and added the handles (about £2.00 each) this is the first cost in the building of this cage as I had old wood and screws spare from old furniture and previous cage builds.

I then attached a hinge to each lid (should have been 2 but I mis-judged the weight of each lid. these where about £3.50 for 2 hinges. (There is a mesh covered hole in the top, please ignore as this was not part of the design - It was the last piece of wood suitable for a lid ha ha).

I added a support beam to the outside of the habitat to help support the weight of lid number 2 and made a wire mesh lid for the end lid

I then added a mesh window in the hideaway section to let air get in. the mesh and the wood used to make the mesh totalled to around £15 altogether

I would recommend adding the shelf before putting the glass in but I did it the hard way Ha ha. Add wood shavings/aspen, and hay, and of course, toys.

I hope this helps anyone wanting to build their own habitat for their Hamsters but am more than happy to answer any questions.