Hamsters

Materials that are fibrous such as cotton wool (cot- ton), wood wool, or any synthetic materials should not be used. They can easily cause injury to your hamster by getting tangled around feet or teeth or swallowed, causing impaction of the gut which can be fatal. • When you add new bedding, pile it up in the middle of the cage. This way your hamster can be occupied as it arranges its home to its own satisfaction. • You may want to provide your hamster with an even deeper area to burrow in. An area with a solid floor filled with deep bedding has been shown by scien- tists to be very important to hamster welfare. If the whole cage is not suitable then provide them with a large, deep plastic box in part of their accommoda- tion as a digging pit. Fill the box with a mixture of sand and soil. The sand should be the type used for children’s sand pits and the soil sterilized. This is easily done by heating it in a microwave. Make sure it is completely cool before you put it in your ham- ster’s digging pit. You will need to provide a ramp so your hamster can get in and out of the box easily.

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Hamsters