so there are actually some very large differences when it comes to Germany
hamster care standards and North American hamster care standards so today
we are going to be going through those and talking about them before I get on
with the video I would like to say a big thank you to dogshamsters on Instagram
she is a German hamster owner and she was kind enough to gather all of this
information for me and to find all of the German hamster care standards so
that I was able to make this video so make sure you go check out her Instagram
and give her a follow so in North America 450 square inches of floor space
is recognized as the bare minimum for hamsters of course others will recommend
that you go for something larger but this is the bare minimum in Germany 741
square inches of floor space is their absolute bare minimum and this minimum
is recognized by their veterinarian association for animal welfare although
this minimum generally isn't recommended for Syrians and many people will
recommend 893 square inches for Syrians instead. When it comes to bedding in
North America it's often argued what the bare minimum amount you should give
though many will agree that you should at least provide five to six inches of
bedding depth for all species of hamster whereas in Germany they recommend that
dwarf hamsters have nothing less than six inches and Syrian hamsters have
nothing less than seven inches of bedding though there are some people
that will say that dwarf hamsters should have at least 7 inches of bedding and
Syrians should have at least 11 inches. The bedding should also not just be in
a small corner they suggest that you have it in a wide space so that the
hamster is actually able to properly burrow
another thing they don't recommend just having a digging Tower this is generally
a tall box where you put a bunch of bedding this doesn't provide your
hamster the ability to actually properly burrow.
in North America a hamster sand bath is seen as an optional hamster accessory
while I do agree that every single hamster should be given the opportunity
to have a sand bath in Germany a sand bath is a must-have for every single
species and roborovski's need to have at least one third of their cage be sand
so in North America our wheel minimums are 6.5 inches for dwarf hamsters and
eight inches for syrians and Chinese hamsters, of course a larger Syrian will
most likely need to have an 11 inch wheel in Germany it is recommended that
roborovski's have an 8 inch wheel dwarfs have a 9 inch wheel and syrians
have at least an 11 inch wheel they also do not believe that the Flying Saucer
type of wheel should ever replace a regular wheel because for one the flying
saucers take up a lot of space in the cage they also can throw the hamster if
they try to stop they can fly off very easily and another thing is that even
with a flying saucer they can actually cause the hamster to kind of run at an
awkward angle
so in Germany hamster balls are known as dangerous
whereas in North America it is a very debated topic I personally do not
believe hamster balls should be used they are considered cruel in my opinion
as well as in North America we like to use a lot of plastic accessories,
hideouts, toys for our hamsters whereas in Germany plastic is seen as very
dangerous for the following reasons if the hamster chews it it can be
dangerous, it traps in a lot of heat, a lot of them don't have great ventilation,
the semi transparent plastic hideouts actually let in a lot of light so that
can actually disturb your hamster when they're trying to sleep. instead they
like to use a lot of wooden and ceramic products. So for hideouts in Germany all
hamsters there must have a multi chamber hideout these are hideouts with multiple
different chambers for your hamster to go through and it kind of stimulates how
they would be in the wild for the entrances a dwarf must not have anything
smaller than one inch and a Syrian can't have anything smaller than a two inch
entrance because when a hamster goes through a hole that is too small and
they have very full cheek pouches they can actually cause damage to them. So
here in North America we actually do not have anybody who sells multi chamber
hideouts so they are not available for us to use unless you decide to make your
own which sometimes can be a bit challenging.
in North America most of the hamster seed mixes sold in the pet store just don't have the requirements a
hamster actually needs so you're going to generally have to mix two different
types of foods we're going to want a high variety seed mix
a high protein lab block to get the right requirements the hamster needs
there also is no mixes sold for the different species of hamster they often
make the mixes for multiple animals for example they'll make a mix and then
they'll put suitable for hamsters gerbils and mice so in Germany they see
all pet store hamster mixes as unsafe / unhealthy so a lot of people do order
their hamster seed mixes online these have zero additives and a hundred
percent natural ingredients they also believe that their food shouldn't have
any pellets or anything with additives in it so that is it for the differences
between these two countries standards for hamster care keep in mind now that
not every German hamster owner is going to follow all of these standards listed
this is just for the majority of German hamster owners this is what they
generally follow same with North American hamster care this is what we
generally follow but you can see that there are very big differences between
the two countries standards I do believe that Germany has a much higher care
standard than North America does but North America we're learning every
single day and we're slowly trying to get more people to care for their
hamsters properly and kind of lean towards the German hamster care
standards so yeah guys I hope you enjoyed this video bye