How to Choose the Right Hamster Cage

There are a few different aspects to choosing the perfect cage for your hamster to give them the ideal home environment. Hamsters are active, especially during the night so they need space to run around and exhibit normal behaviours. They’re a burrowing species so they need places to dig, and they love to climb. Which is why their cage needs to be able to facilitate all of these needs.

When you’re considering the material, their cage is made out of, metal wire is generally considered to be better for a few reasons. It offers good ventilation and is secure enough that your little furry friend can’t nibble their way through and let themselves out.

Plastic habitats can be excellent homes too as long as there’s enough ventilation, but some hammies love to gnaw and may be able to escape. You may have to monitor them at first to make sure it’s escape proof. Some owners are choosing large glass tanks as habitats which can make for very roomy homes with lots of depth to dig in, you just need to make sure the air circulation is good.

Hamsters like to move around a lot. They need space to run, climb and dig, but they also need enough space to keep these areas entirely separate. Many hamsters tend to pick a corner of their home to do most of their toileting and the cage should be big enough to allow for their food to be away from that area. Along with their main sleeping space. Sometimes hamsters choose to do everything in one place, but they need the option to keep their home nice and tidy if they want.

For Syrian hamsters, the recommended minimum size of their cage should be:

These minimum requirements should leave plenty of room for everything you need to provide your hamsters for a happy life. A cage that is deeper than the required length can be a little less wide, but on average, you should aim to meet this, so they don’t feel cramped among their toys and sleeping areas.

If they’re going to have lots of free time outside the cage either in a play area or cuddling with you, a well set up home that is just shy like the Savic Hamster Sky Metro Hamster Cage that comes with a hide attached to the bars and leaves extra room on the ground to run around is ample space.

Whatever cage you choose should have enough space to be set up with everything your new pet needs. Essentials like food, water, a nice comfy sleeping area and space for enrichment should all fit comfortably and not need to be squeezed in. Hamsters love to get new enrichment like the Rosewood Boredom Breaker Chew Tube for Hamsters but you can also use things like the tubes from inside toilet rolls to let them explore.

It’s not just important to think about what you put in their cage but where it’s located. It should not be in any draughts or in direct sunlight where your hamster can’t avoid the heat on hot days.

It should be kept in a room with a more predictable routine so you’re not in and out of it and turning the light on at different times, this can upset their sleep schedule. You should also avoid placing their home near anything noisy like the television, washing machine, or computers.

Something you should keep in mind when choosing a hamster cage is how easy it is to keep on top of cleaning. While your hamster might enjoy a cage with lots of joining tunnels and different spaces to explore, you still need to have access to these to regularly keep it clean.

Sometimes it’s easier to get a larger rectangular cage instead of anything more exciting and fill it with things that can be removed easily when you need to clean. Having something with a regular shape that you can scrub down easily is ideal and will take no time at all to clean with pet safe disinfectants.

They need space for enrichment, tunnels, tubes and ladders to help them live a happy and active life. If you’re going to be adding a wheel of some kind like the Super Pet Silent Spinner, it needs to be large enough that your furry friend can run with a straight back which can take up a substantial amount of space so their home needs to be large enough to house the right kind of toys for their size.

Toys are an integral part of a hamster’s life, especially since a lot of the time they’re awake, we’re usually asleep so they need lots of things to do. Having a selection of enriching toys to swap out and change week by week will keep them occupied.

From cages to everything you need to fill them, take a look at all of our hamster essentials to help keep them happy and thriving.