hey guys it's me Victoria and in today's video I am going to be talking about how
to have a happy hamster one of the best ways to make your hamster happy is by
giving them enrichment though this has been proven difficult because hamsters
don't get the same type of enrichment as other animals may get such as social
species like rabbits guinea pigs and rats who receive enrichment from being
with other species of their own kind hamsters on the other hand are not
social species therefore they do not receive enrichment from the same species
in fact they will fight and become stressed usually when with these same
species human interaction is not always a source
of enrichment either like it would to a dog or cat because hamsters have not
been domesticated nearly as long some hamsters don't even like human
interaction therefore avoiding it so what does give your hamster enrichment
the first thing would have to be a large cage if you've watched my videos before
you may already know that I am a big believer in giving hamsters a large cage
the bare minimum in the US and Canada is 450 square inches of
floor space now remember this is just a bare minimum
therefore just because your cage meets the bare minimum does not automatically
mean your hamster is going to be happy inside their cage if your hamster shows
behaviors of boredom then it is a good idea to upgrade your hamsters cage
boredom behaviors include things like chewing the bars constantly monkey
barring which means if you have mesh in their cage and your hamster continuously
goes to climb on them fall off climb on them again as well as pacing so your
hamster paces up and down its cage or wall scaling which they'll just be
jumping at the glass if you have a glass aquarium as well as low activity levels
can be a sign of boredom because your hamster doesn't have enough space to do
it's natural behaviors a scientific study done on hamster cage size revealed
that when a hamster was given a cage the size of a 1,550 square inches of
floor space they showed less signs of boredom though of course even some of
the hamsters in this sized cage even then they showed boredom therefore this
should show that it is necessary to have a large cage for your hamster other ways
to give your hamster enrichment would be to give them the opportunity to express
natural behaviors such as burrowing and foraging in the wild a hamster will
burrow deep in the ground and they will create things like chambers and each of
these chambers have a specific reason so one will be for your hamster to store
its food another will be its bathroom and another chamber would be for them to
sleep in in order for this to be achieved a hamster needs to be given a
proper amount of bedding I would say to give them at least 6 inches of bedding
or more more is preferred of course in some sort of section that way they have
the ability to create some type of little burrow foraging is another
natural behavior your hamster would show in the wild this can be achieved by
taking their food and sprinkling it around the cage in the bedding hiding it
in different toys things like that so they have to work for it and to find it
hamsters have a really good sense of smell so finding food is easy for them
dried herbs also can be sprinkled around the cage to help encourage foraging of
course dried herbs seem to be a lot harder to find in the US and Canada but
there are some websites that do sell them another thing that is great for
foraging is sprays so things like flax sprays oat sprays and wheat sprays all
are great for foraging you can actually get these at your local pet store and I
will also leave links in the description bar if you want to purchase some another
way to make your hamster happy is to provide them with a sand bath one of the
only ways your hamster can bathe themselves besides grooming themselves
is taking a sand bath now not all hamsters will
roll and shake in their sand baths but a lot to do use them please make sure you
are providing sand and not dust because dust is too fine and can cause your
hamster an upper respiratory infection chinchilla baths and is okay as well as
Children's Place sand from your local hardware store you should also make sure
to provide your hamster with a large dish to bathe in if they're provided
with something too small to bathe in it's very likely that your hamster won't
use it providing a hideout in the sand bath can help as well because it makes
the hamster feel more protected when they decide to bathe in the sand you can
keep a hamster sand bath in your cage all the time and you really don't need
to clean it unless it has been soiled another important thing that can help
keep your hamster happy is providing them with a high quality and high
variety diet hamsters in the wild would eat grains seeds animal proteins fruits
and vegetables so you should be providing your hamster with a high
variety seed mix along with a high-protein pellet because sadly there
are no seed mixes that have a high enough protein so you do need to mix it
with a high-protein pellet as well as your hamster should be supplemented with
things like safe hamster vegetables fruits cooked unseasoned meats dried
insects and other things and of course one of the main ways you to keep your
hamster happy is just to provide them with the proper care they need so yeah
guys I hope this video can help many hamster owners who are trying to have a
happy hamster and provide them with a good life see ya guys thank you for
watching bye