Hamster enclosure

Help your hamster to live their best life with our top tips on setting up their enclosure.

When adopting a hamster, just like any other small animal, it is important to ensure that the enclosure they will be living in gives them the best opportunity to thrive and display their natural behaviours. Unfortunately, lots of commercial pet shops do not sell the correct sized enclosures, and as such many hamsters live their lives in unsuitable environments.

How much space do hamsters need?

Hamsters require a barless enclosure a minimum of 100x50x50cm in size irrespective of the species of hamster, but obviously the bigger the better. Suitable enclosures that we would recommend are Bucatstate 2.0 or 3.0, rectangular pawhut or suitable sized aquarium with a mesh lid.

If you are using a wooden enclosure then painting with either Cuprinol garden shades, plastikote fast dry enamel (only the small pot of clear plastikote is safe) or modge podge will help protect the wood and it’s a good idea to either tile or add metal brackets to protect the wood from being chewed and your hamster escaping.

Inside your hamster enclosure: substrate, bedding and chambers

Hamsters are burrowing creatures and require a minimum of 20-25cm (8-10”) of safe bedding in which to create their burrows. The bedding needs to be gently compacted as you are adding it to the enclosure as this helps to hold the burrows. Safe bedding includes Kaytee clean & cozy (scented or odour controlled are not safe), Chipsi classic, Carefresh, Megazorb or FitchFirst.

Any heavy items need to be on platforms to support the weight and allow your hamster to burrow safely underneath. You can buy multi chamber hides with stilts or use platforms. Wheels, sand baths, hides etc definitely need to be placed on platforms or legs unless the hides are placed on the floor of the enclosure and bedding placed on top.

Hamsters need a large sand bath to help keep their fur clean and some also use it as a toilet. This can be a specific hamster sand bath, a large ceramic or Pyrex dish but does need to be supported on a platform. Safe sand includes Komodo’s sand, reptile sand but this needs to be calcium free and undyed or play sand but this needs to be baked at 180°c for 20 minutes. Dust is not safe for hamsters. Sand baths should be part of their permanent set up. Robos require their sand bath to be at least a third or the size of their enclosure, this can still be raised on a platform so your hamster can burrow underneath.

Hamsters love different textures so it’s a good idea to offer a variety such as safe moss, cork granules, coco fibre, cork granules, beech chips, aspen, meadow hay. These can be placed in hides or in dig boxes and you can sprinkle their seed mix and forage in as enrichment. You can also add slate tiles or granite to their enclosure to help keep cool areas in hot weather but also helps to keep their nails short.

Keeping your hamster entertained

Hamsters love to explore and chew so adding lots of enrichment to their enclosure is very important. Enrichment can include safe branches, tunnels, whimzees (without calcium), forage and sprays.

All hamster enclosures need to have an upright wheel, flying saucers are not safe. Wheels need to be a minimum 21cm diameter for dwarf hamsters and a minimum 28cm for syrian they can be made from wood or acrylic.

If you use a wooden wheel it is recommended that you protect the wood with either Cuprinol garden shades or plastikote fast dry enamel paint to protect the wood especially if your hamster pees on their wheel. Wheels need to be placed on a platform within the enclosure.

Hamsters need constant access to water and it’s recommended to give them not a water bottle and bowl, tea light holders work well and are the right size so there is no risk that your hamster could drown. Ramekins are too big to use as a water bowl.

You will also need 3 or more hides around the enclosure and these can be ceramic, coconut, wicker, wood. These hole size for a dwarf needs to be at least 5cm for dwarfs and 7cm for Syrians.