hey guys and welcome back to our channel in today's video we are going to be
talking about how to set up your hamsters enclosure now the first thing
of course is you're going to need an enclosure we want to make sure we have a
large hamster cage because just because hamsters are small animals does not mean
they can be put into small cages they have a lot of energy and they need a lot
of room to do their natural behaviors now the first thing we're going to want
to put into our hamsters cage is a substrate and this needs to be a safe
substrate because hamsters are burrowers so they are going to need something to
burrow in we are going to want to use a safe option such as paper based bedding
Aspen wood shavings, hemp shavings we are going to want to avoid any soft wood
shavings, cedar shavings, pine shavings, any scented beddings as well as we don't
want to use fleece because once again hamsters need to be able to burrow so
we're gonna want to make sure we put a lot of depth in our hamsters cage
because they need to be able to burrow not just dig because those aren't the
same things for a minimum I would recommend having at least six inches in
a section and a lot of hamsters actually have been found to not start burrowing
until they've been given at least ten inches or more
the next thing you're
going to want to put into your hamsters cage is a hideout this is really
important because this gives your hamster a place to feel safe, protected
have their own privacy, go to sleep in you can have multiple hideouts in the
enclosure so your hamster can pick and choose the one I have in the video here
is just a multi chamber hideout and this kind of just mimics how a hamster would
live in the wild the next thing you're going to need in your hamsters cage is a
wheel this is super important and we're going to want to make sure we have a
safe hamster wheel we want to avoid using anything that has wire or mesh and
it needs to be a suitable size for dwarf hamsters I would recommend a wheel of
eight inch or larger and for Syrians and Chinese hamsters I recommend 10 to
12 inches remember you can never have too big of a wheel the bigger the better
and the less likely to hurt your hamster
the next thing you're going to want to
put into your hamsters cage is a sand bath this is really important because
hamsters can't be bathed in water, water can have some negative effects on
hamsters so sand is the best way to go sand helps hamsters remove any excess
oils on their coats as well it gives them another texture to dig in make sure
you have a big sand bath so that they're able to actually move around in it as
well as I would recommend putting a hideout or some type of covering on it
because a hamster will be more likely to use the sand bath if they feel safe and
kind of hidden another thing is yes a lot of hamsters use their sand baths as
their potty which in my opinion is fine it just makes spot cleaning the
enclosure just a little bit more easier
of course, we're going to need some sand to fill our bath sand with you can use
safe options such as Children's play sand, chinchilla bathing sand or reptile
sand without any added calcium or dyes we are going to want to avoid things
like chinchilla bath dust or critter bath powder or hamster powder as these
can cause our hamsters to develop respiratory infections next is the fun
part and that is putting in our accessories and toys you can pick a
variety of accessories and toys for your hamsters cage I personally go with more
natural products such as cork logs and grapevine wood and a lot of different
tubes these kind of mimic the textures a hamster would naturally be walking on and
touching but you can use plastic items and a lot of other hamster toys and
accessories just make sure they are going to fit the species you've chosen
you really don't want your hamster getting stuck in anything too small for them
another thing that I would recommend is making your cage semi
crowded now when we're using a large cage we don't want to have too much open
space because hamsters are prey animals so we don't want them to feel unsafe or
out in the open and just not want to come out so we want to kind of fill it
up with a lot of the accessories have a lot of spots where there's little nooks
and crannies for them to hide in go under things like that so they feel a
lot safer in their enclosure of course don't crowd it so much that your hamster
literally can't walk but make it semi crowded
next our gonna need some chew toys because hamsters have continuously
growing teeth so they need something to gnaw on something that's natural
remember that hamsters chewing on metal bars is not a natural behavior and
that's not them trying to wear down their teeth it means they're stressed
there are a variety of different types of chew toys out there I recommend just
buying a bunch of different types and seeing which your hamster likes the best
next you're going to need a food and water source you can use a food dish or
you can also scatter feed your hamster that just allows them to get more
enrichment as well as you can use a water dish or you can use a water bottle
either option is fine
The next thing that I like to add into my enclosures
and I recommend others to add into their enclosures because it helps us provide
the hamster a little bit more enrichment is some hamster safe dried herbs as well
as some soft hay herbs are great because they have great natural properties as
well as they're great for foraging and soft Hays like orchard grass hay and
botanical hay both make for making burrows stable it also allows the
hamster to use it as some nesting if they want to just remember don't use any
rough Hays like timothy hay this can end up with your hamster getting poked in
the eye or poking their cheek pouch which we don't want
and that is the gist of setting up a hamsters enclosure I hope this video is
helpful and I will see you guys in my next video bye