Little Things Every Day: Hamster Cage Makeover

I grew up having hamsters, at all times of my childhood and my son had the experience of owning one as well. They are the easiest pets to care for and if held daily they can be quite friendly as well. It's been years since we last owned one, so we posted on Facebook looking for a hamster breeder. We were hoping this way we would find a super friendly one that was use to human interaction since birth. We instead adopted one off of Facebook His name is Dorito. Fitting for his coloring, my son named him.

I wanted to originally give him more space, every website suggest more space for hamsters then a 10 gallon tank. However after hours of searching for the right thing I did not want to pay 60-80$ for a nice cage with all the features. I also seen suggestions of making a home out of a tub for them as well. But do to space reasons, we decided to keep the 10 gallon. It's OK to have a 10 gallon for your hammy, just make sure he/she gets out everyday for exploring and ball time. We have this small animals pop-up play pen here and it allows the critter to free roam a larger space. We add in tunnels and other hamster toys to this space, so that he gets out of the small tank. We also own one of these Hamster balls here, that we let the hamster roam the entire house with as well.

So we received a 10 gallon fish tank with the hamster and a small wire wheel and a food dish and water bottle. Later we found out the wheel was cutting into his front forehead and causing him too loose fur. I went through three wheels before I found the right one!! I tried so man and either they were to noisy or to large for his environment. I purchased a all natural wood wheel, that reviews said was totally silent. It really is, we are so happy no more noise! . Our wooden wheel I purchased from Amazon here in size M.

When we first adopted Dorito he was living in a sport water bottle, which is OK, but we wanted something cute and functional. I found a adorable pot at Hobby Lobby that was deep and wide enough and fit perfectly under his riser ledge. It's super easy to get him in and out of it.

I wanted a light all natural theme for the look of the cage, so I changed his bedding from the bright confetti colors to Aspen Pine bedding. I find the pine bedding works just as well as far as smells and it cost a fraction of the price of other bedding. It is very affordable! Just be sure to only get Aspen as other shavings can cause issues for your hammy. Do your re-search.

{Dorito enjoying his sand bath, we buy reptile sand which is safe for hamsters}

The last edition was the riser. This one my mom helped me create with her wood cutting tools, we cut a top base from wood, sanded it all down smooth. Then drilled 4 holes for the leg pegs to go through and glued it all together. We measured out the platform to fit our 10 gallon tank and it worked perfectly! We also added a ladder ramp so he could easily get to the top. I usually add fresh vegetables on top, in a cute bowl to inspire him to the top of the platform. Or his sand bath {as seen in the pictures}. He loves his new home make over and it didn't cost a lot of money, I think he's happier in his new surroundings and most importantly when hes running all night in his wheel we can no longer hear him.