Cages

Hamsters in the wild can travel up to 5 miles every night. This is why it is important to provide your hamster with a large cage. Remember, that the larger the cage, the more enrichment you can provide and the more enrichmnent, the happier the hamster! Aim for at least 800 square inches of floorspace or larger, not including levels. You must know that larger cages are harder to find, so here are some ideas:

• try aquariums


• try bin cages


• try DIY enclosures

For the hamster's safety, place the cage in a quiet room with no traffic and direct sunlight. 

Bedding:

Hamsters are ground dwellers, as they spend a mojority of their time underground in their burrows. They can burrow up to 31 inches underground, which is why you must provide at least 6 inches of bedding, but for your hamster to be able to properly burrow, 10 inches is more recommended. A hamster's burrow contains many chambers including their toilet, nest and food storage. However, providing a safe substrate isn't always that easy. You need bedding that is safe and that can hold a proper burrow. Unsafe beddings include:

• pine shavings


• cedar shavings


• any type of scented bedding

Safe beddings include:

• paper based beddings


• hemp shavings


• aspen shavings


• birch shavings


• spruce shavings

That is for your hamster's safety. However, these are the bedding types that may not hold a good burrow:

• hemp


• large flaked aspen


• carefresh

To help your hamster burrow, you can layer in soft hay to improve the stability of the burrows. Bad substrates include ripped up toilet paper, shredded newspaper, paper pellets and wood pellets. You may also want to add some nesting. AVOID COTTON AND FABRICS! Cotton is unsafe because of it's long stranded fibers, which can

• wrap around limbs, which can cut circulation


• wrap around teeth


• cause a blockage is swallowed

Instead of that, you can use non-scented toilet paper instead.

Wheels:

A hamster's  natural behaviour to forage causes them to have the urge to travel. That is why wheels are important. However, you must pick a right size and type of wheel. YOUR HAMSTER'S WHEEL MUST BE SOLID! Wire and mesh wheels can get a hamster's toe or leg caught and cause infections on the foot. Safe wheels include:

• Silent runners


• silent spinners


• wodent wheels


• niteangel wheels


• cork and wooden wheels

Remember, too small wheels can cause permanent back pain. A hamster's back must always be straight when running. A syrian and chinese hamster must have a 10 inch wheel or more while a dwarf hamster must have an 8 inch wheel or more. There is no such thing as to big of a wheel. Actually, the larger the wheel the more control the hamster has over it. Don't forget that there was a study done which shows how hamsters prefer larger wheels over smaller wheels. Flying saucers are not good wheels, as they cause the hamster to have to curve in to run as well as when stopping, the wheel can very easily throw the hamster of. 

Hamster balls:

Hamster balls are used fro exercise for a hamster, but they are unsafe. They are unsafe because:

• The hamster cannot properly control the ball which can cause them to bump into things which can cause them trauma and injury


• lack of ventilation


• the hamsters foot might get stuck  in the small slits


• the hamster ball isn't proper enrichment

Hamster balls are just as bad as small enclosures.

Diet

Diet is an important aspect for any pet's care. When it comes to hamsters, they are omnivores. In the wild. hamsters would eat many different types of:

• herbs


• vegetables


• seeds


• grains


• fruits


• insects


• small mammals

That's why hamsters need a varied diet. Often, commercial hamster food is quite boring. It lacks variety, and sometimes even lacks proper nutrition. Some people recommend to feed your hamster a pelleted diet to prevent them from becoming a 'picky eater,' but this is the wrong thing to do. 'A haming ways giude' can help you find the right food for your hamster. However, we must remember that we don't all live in the same areas, and so may not have access to the same things. When feeding fresh fruits and vegetables, chop them up into tiny peices to prevent them from moulding. WATER IS A NECESSITY! A myth says that hamsters don't need water as long as they are given fresh fruits and vegetables, but this cannot be further from the truth. You can give water to your hamster in both a water bowl and a water bottle, but make sure to give your hamster fresh, clean water every day. 

Cage cleaning:

Once upon a time, people took all of the bedding out of the cage once a week, but this is very stressfull to the hamster. Hamsters are very clean animals. They pick out only a couple of places to pee in, as well as they are very scent orientated. Syrian hamsters have 2 scent glands on each side of their hips and dwarf hamsters have 1 scent gland on their belly. Scent marks are used to mark territory. A study done shows that a full cage clean causes a hamster's heartbeat to increase by 150 beats per minute and it takes them 50 minutes to calm down. Only completely clean the cage if your hamster has an illness or they passed. Every couple of weeks, you can remove 1/3 of the bedding from a hamsters cage and replace it with new bedding. Instead of fully cleaning, we spot clean! This means that you clean any areas that have been peed in. Poop doesn't have to be cleaned, it's hard and doesn't have any scent and for hamsters, this is used for marking their territory. Spot clean every 2 days. Check in their:

• sandbath


• burrows


• above burrows

Grooming:

Hamsters don't need to be groomed, unless they are long-haired with lots of mats. DON'T BATH A HAMSTER IN WATER! This is because:

• It is damaging to their coats


• it is stressfull to the hamster


• you risk putting your hamster into shock

Instead of a water bath, we have sand baths! Sand baths help to properly remove any excess oils safely. All healthy hamsters need a sand bath. Unsafe sand baths include:

• cat litter


• any dust or powders


• bird sand

Safe sand baths include:

• soft children's play sand as long as it has been sifted through and baked


• reptile sand with no calcium or dyes added


• hamster sand baths in pet shops

Hamster nails stay trim on their own, as long as you provide many different textures. Provide chew toys for teeth. 

Social or alone:

Unlike the majority of animals, hamsters are solitary. This means that they have to live alone. Syrian and chinese hamsters are more aggresive to other hamsters than dwarf hamsters. Even if dwarf hamsters are housed together in many videos, never risk housing them together. Hamsters can really injure themselves if they live together, as they can get into a fight. When fighting, hamsters hold onto eachotherwith their claws which can hurt both of the hamsters. Even though hamsters are nocturnal, never wake up your hamster unless their is an emergency. 

Health

Hamsters are prey animals, so they can hide being sick quite easily. If you notice any of the following:

• sudden behaviour changes


• increase or decrease in weight


• discharge from the ears, eyes, nose or genitals


• diarrhea


• fur loss or extreme itching


• wheezing, sneezing or laboured breathing


• bad smell from mouth


• lumps, bumps or bloating


• inactive


• not eating


• increase in drinking


• limping ot falling over

then make sure to take your hamster to yur local exotic vet immediately. You must take your hamster to an exotic vet, as hamsters are considered as exotic pets.

All of this information is taken from Victoria Raechel's video on youtube called 'Basic Hamster Care 2021.' Her channel is called Victoria Raechel like her name. I absolutely recommend her channel to any hamster owners or lovers. She gives DIY ideas, teaches more about hamsters and in her older videos, her bunnies too.