So you've decided that you want to get a hamster but before getting said hamster you have to get
all of the supplies for them, so you walk into the pet store and you become immediately overwhelmed
with all of the choices there are. So today I'm going to be talking about everything that your
hamster needs as well as I'm going to be giving you some budget-friendly options because you
don't have to break the bank with everything you buy. The first most important thing you're going
to need when getting a hamster is obviously an enclosure. While hamsters are small animals they
still require a lot of room because they need a lot of enrichment to keep their brains stimulated.
When it comes to selecting the style of enclosure I personally would recommend an aquarium-styled
enclosure, that way you're not limited to the amount of bedding that you can put. You really
can put a lot, which is important for a hamster. For the size of the enclosure, I highly would
recommend everybody aim for at least 800 SQ inches of floorspace. That's 40 inches by 20 inches and
this is going to give you plenty of space to put a ton of enrichment to keep your hamster stimulated.
The enclosures that I have for my hamsters are all DIY enclosures and they range from $100 to about
$200 to make, sometimes you can make them for even cheaper it really just depends on the supplies
that you have at home. I also would recommend bin cages as long as you are finding a decent-sized
bin this can be a budget-friendly option but do keep in mind that sometimes it can be harder to
find a proper-sized bin. Next up you're going to need bedding. Now hamsters are borrowers so
you're not just gonna be using being to soak up urine you're actually going to be using it
as another enrichment. This means you're going to be need to put a decent amount of safe bedding in
the enclosure for your hamster. Safe bedding for your hamster to use includes: paper-based bedding
like carefresh, Kaytee clean & cosy, full cheeks paper bedding, Uber paper bedding, boxo and other
beddings like that. As well as Aspen Shavings, hemp shavings and Spruce shavings. You're
gonna wanna make sure that the bedding you're choosing is burrow friendly meaning it's not
going to collapse when your hamster tries to dig a tunnel through it, so avoiding things like any
paper shreddings, pelleted bedding those should be avoided as well as no fleece or blankets because
those don't allow for any sort of burrowing. To give a hamster a proper chance at burrowing I
highly would recommend putting at least 10 inches of bedding inside of their enclosure. If you can
put more that's even better and even more of a chance of your hamster burrowing. Next up
you're going to next food so your hamster doesn't starve. Unfortunately all of the seed mixes sold
in the petstore just aren't the greatest for your hamster and they're really isn't a whole lot that
I could recommend somebody go out and buy instead I definitely would recommend looking on etsy,
some people will sell their own homemade hamster food to they'll sell imported food from Europe
which is a lot better. if you are having to go to the petstore and buy a hamster seed mix you likely
are going to have to buy a couple of different brands to mix together to create something that is
going to be suitable for your hamster. Next up is a wheel, hamsters have that natural instinct to be
on the move so definitely having a wheel inside of their enclosure is extremely important it's also
important that they have a proper wheel. I would definitely recommend buying a stand up wheel over
a flying saucer wheel. You're also going to be want to make sure that it is a solid wheel and
it doesn't have any mesh or rungs on it. The size of the wheel is also very very important because
anything too small can cause your hamster to have back injuries. So for a dwarf hamster,
I wouldn't recommend going anything smaller than an 8-inch wheel typically a 10-12 inch wheel would
be much better suited and for a Syrian and Chinese hamster I wouldn't go smaller than a 10-inch wheel
but an 11-12 inch wheel would probably be best suited for them. There are some Syrian hamsters
who are so big that they may actually need a 13-inch wheel so keep that in mind. The wheel
brands that I use and personally really like are the wodent wheels, Silent runner wheels as well
as the Niteangel wheels. Now next up you're going to need a water bottle or dish or BOTH some people
choose to have a water bottle and a water dish in their enclosure, that's perfectly fine and
gives your hamster either or to choose from. I personally use water dishes for my hamsters
because I find them way easier to clean out as well as my hamster is able to get the water more
freely without having to do as much work as using a water bottle. You'll also want some extra little
dishes for veggies or if you need to put some type of wet food into a dish and these dishes
don't have to be anything special, they don't have to be super expensive you could literally
go to the dollar store and find some ceramic little tiny plates or little cups that you can
use. It definitely doesn't have to be something hamster specific. The next really important
thing is a hideout. This is going to give your hamster somewhere to sleep or just somewhere to
feel safe because they are prey animals. I would definitely recommend buying more than just one
type of hideout just incase your hamster doesn't like the one specific one that you've got. There
are plenty of different types of hideouts. There are a lot of different wooden hideouts,
there's ceramic hideouts the main hideouts that I personally would recommend would be multi-chamber
hideouts, these are more on the expensive side but they do mimic a hamster's burrows but you don't
have to go with anything super duper expensive, you could honestly use cardboard boxes- cut some
holes in there and your hamster probably will love that just as much as a store-bought hideout,
you also can find hideouts in everyday items. if you got the dollar store sometimes you can
find little ceramic candle melt holders and these can also work for a hideout for your hamster. Next
up you're going to want to get a sand bath and the sand, this is how your hamster may choose to
clean themselves if they become overly greasy. For the sand bath itself you can literally use
almost any sort of dish you can buy a specific sand bath for your hamster online it may cost a
little bit more or you can literally use any bowl dish, baking tray, instead and that can be a lot
cheaper. For the sand itself you're gonna wanna make sure that you're not buying anything that is
like chinchilla dust or small pet bath powder, these can be really dangerous because they are
very very fine and can cause upper respiratory infections so you're going to want to make sure
that it is 100% sand. When looking for a sand for your hamster you're gonna wanna make sure that it
does not have any added dyes and no added calcium. I personally use reptile sand the exact brand is
the exo-terra desert reptile terrarium sand. This is what I use and it is safe for hamsters. Next up
you're probably going to want to get some chews for your hamster to chew on in the enclosure.
Is it a life or death situation if you don't have chews.... no. Your hamster can live without having
chew toys as long as they have other natural materials in their enclosure and of course they're
eating hard foods, they don't necessarily need dedicated chew toys and a lot of hamsters won't
necessarily even use them but I personally like to get different varieties of chew toys because
sometimes my hamster's do enjoy shredding them or ripping them up and you don't necessarily
have to go to the pet store and buy them you can use cardboard or toilet paper tubes if you
grow your own safe trees in your yard and they're not sprayed with any pesticides or fertilizers if
you properly sanitize them you can use those for some chew sticks just make sure that everything is
safe. Types of chews that I would avoid personally would be any type of mineral or salt chews,
these are really unnecessary as well as you're gonna want to avoid any of the edible chews
these are the chews that have shavings and honey or some other type of filler all combined into
like a shape I would definitely avoid those. The next couple of things are more enrichment
items and if you don't necessarily have every single one that's not going to be a huge issue
but I definitely would recommend having a lot of these things. Tubes and branches now there
are so many different types of these that you can could get for your hamster. Willow tunnels,
cork logs, grapevine wood, bamboo wood, paper towel tubes there's such a variety of different
tube, branch- accessories. That is going to give your hamster enrichment so there's tons
for you to choose from. Platforms! These are pretty important in my opinion because they
can be used for holding up heavier items- you don't want to just put a ceramic item sitting
on 10 inches of bedding because if your hamster burrows underneath that, that risks the hamster
becoming crushed by that item but if you have a platform and then you put the ceramic on top,
your hamster can burrow underneath without being squished. Next up is other substrates. Now once
again you can use any sort of container to hold these substrates in whether that be a
baking tray or a dish that you use for eating cereal out of- literally any bowl can be used
to hold a substrate for your hamster. now the different substrates that you can use
for enrichment for your hamster can include coconut fibre, coconut bark, cork granules,
beech chips, if you use paper bedding you could also just put aspen shaving, just a different
bedding type for your hamster to dig in, explore in maybe you hide food in there it gives them a
different texture to be walking on. Next up are sprays. and what these are is just basically the
seed plant dried up. and you can stick them in the enclosure and the hamster has to collect them the
same way the kind of would if they were out in the wild collecting seeds from a field. So it kind of
gives them that enrichment of having to work for their food because they have to collect the seeds
from the seed pods. Unfortunately not a lot of pet stores are going to sell sprays in North America I
think one of the only sprays you'll be able to find in a pet store is probably millet spray,
and this is a decent one but not all hamsters are going to enjoy millet spray and there are so many
other varieties of sprays out there I definitely would recommend looking on etsy because you can
find so many different types. Next up we have herbs and flowers this is another great enrichment
for your hamster basically herbs and flowers are just dried plants and you can sprinkle these all
over the enclosure, your hamster can go around and eat them if they please or it just gives another
texture and smell for them. Then of course we have treats. I don't find treats to be a needed
thing because you could consider almost anything a treat, if it's something that you don't give often
I consider that a treat. So it doesn't necessarily have to be something you bought from the store- If
it's a piece of fruit every once in a while that can be considered a treat so you don't have to go
out and spend hundreds of dollars on treats. You could either make your own or you could just use
high-value items like little nuts and fruit and thing like that. Next up I recommend getting
a carrier this is really important if you have to take your hamster to the vet or maybe you're
moving somewhere or evacuating, you can't just carry your hamster in your hand the entire time,
that's super dangerous. So having a carrier is pretty important I definitely would recommend a
plastic carrier over the cardboard boxes you get from the pet store because your hamster
definitely can chew out of that if they want to. You could also just easily make your own
homemade carrier from a plastic bin. And last but not least something I would recommend having is
a playpen for your hamster. If you don't have a safe room for your hamster to just come out
and play in a play pen is definitely really important, you can use it to make a safe area
for your hamster to play in safely, how many times have I said safe now- a ton. You don't
have to buy a hamster-specific playpen the type of playpen that I actually have is just those
solid storage grids and I've zipped tied them all together so I can fold them and unfold them
to put away for storage and I can make it as large as I want to and it wasn't too too expensive. So
that's pretty much everything you're going to need to start you off with owning a hamster,
obviously as the months and years go by you can get more and more accessories as that's
usually what happens when you start owning hamsters you just acquire so many accessories
and supplies. So I hope this video was helpful and I will see you guys in my next video. Bye!