Hamsters

• If their home is small they may become stressed, as they have too little to do. The accommodation will need to contain a dark, draft-free sleeping area. • You can buy a specially-made cage. The most common types have bars on the sides and top. You can attach toys and a wheel to these as well as shelves for your hamster to climb on. Do not buy cages with wire floors or wire shelves as these can hurt your hamster’s feet. You can also buy modular cages, with tunnels that interconnect, rather like a hamster’s burrow. These need to have adequate ventilation in the tunnels. You can have fun adding to your hamster’s home with new tunnels, or by changing the arrangement, giving your pet new routes to explore. • The bottom of the cage should be covered with at least 2 inches of bedding. This allows your hamster to dig, and soaks up any mess. • Suitable materials for digging, burrowing, and bedding should be paper-based and include shredded tissue paper or paper towels, or torn-up paper and newspaper. Paper based bedding materials are easily found in pet stores. Meadow hay is also excellent bedding material.

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Hamsters