Hamster cage
A Hamster cage is a cage designed to house hamsters.
For pet hamsters, commercially available pens are made of wire or plastic. Some pet owners house their hamsters in aquarium tanks or make their own wooden pens. In laboratories hamsters are housed in pens designed for scientific use. There are also special pens for exhibition, as in a hamster show.
For Syrian hamsters, the National Hamster Council recommends a minimum cage size of minimum of 1000 cm2 useable floor space and a ceiling 19cm high. For dwarf and Chinese hamsters their minimal recommendation is 750 cm2 useable floor space and 17cm high. Hamsters prefer larger cages and want much more than the minimum. “Starter packs” or hamster pens advertised for new owners are almost never large enough to be the only housing for a Syrian hamster, even when these pens are advertised for use with Syrian hamsters.
The ideal floor for a hamster is solid and covered with bedding. Hamsters which have thick bedding for their floor are happier and have better health. Wire flooring can harm hamster paws and for the benefit of the hamster is covered with a solid floor such as cardboard, ceramic plates which the hamster does not chew, or mats marketed for hamsters.
Wire-top cages typically are designed in such a way that there is some option for the hamster to climb on some of the wire. Plastic cages do not have bars on which the hamster can climb, but can be expanded with plastic tubes for climbing. Wire cages can expose a hamster to drafts, and additionally, some wire cages permit the hamster to throw bedding material through the wires as it burrows, digs, and plays. Pens with solid walls contain all the bedding, and additionally, prevent drafts of air from disturbing the hamster. Syrian hamsters are larger than Chinese and dwarf hamsters, so they need a larger pen and hamster accessories than those smaller hamsters. Hamster tubes come in two sizes also – smaller ones suit dwarf and Chinese hamsters of any age, while larger tubes are comfortable for Syrian hamster adults but too big for small hamsters to use.
A wire-top cage is a plastic base with a wire structure arching over it. Wire-top cages may take many shapes, and for hamsters, may have one level or be multi-story with tubes, stairs, or ladders connecting the levels. Wire-top cages for hamsters are often marketed in two varieties. One version is for the larger Syrian hamsters, with the space between bars being about 12mm. The other version is for Chinese or dwarf hamsters, with the gap between bars being 8mm. Pens with smaller gaps, perhaps around 3mm, are likely intended for mice, and are also likely to be too small to provide a good home for any sort of hamster.
Well-designed wire-top cages have doors placed so that a human can open them as needed and reach into any part of the pen to access the hamster or clean the space. A cantilever design for upper levels in wire-top cages may wobble if the cage is not well designed, and if it does, this fault could upset hamsters because they prefer stable ground. Wire-top cages will ideally securely fasten the plastic base to the wire frame so that the entire pen can be transported without risk of the parts separating or the cage structure failing.
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