A hamster cage (Fig. 1) has two purposes: to prevent the animal from escaping and getting lost and to provide an appropriate environment for its needs. For the former purpose, the cage must be absolutely escape-proof, with a secure closure; escaped hamsters are very difficult to find and they are unlikely to return to their cage. A hamster that is free to wander around the house is exposed to many dangers and can also gnaw furniture and electricity wires. The best materials for the cage are steel, hard plastic and Plexiglas, which resist corrosion by urine and gnawing.
Given their minute size, Roborovski hamsters must not be kept in normal hamster cages since the rodents can squeeze through very small spaces and escape. They should, instead, be kept in smooth-walled containers made of plastic or Plexiglas, which must be well aerated.
The cage must also constitute a habitat that provides the hamster with proper living conditions; for this reason the most important characteristic is the size of the cage. Hamsters are very active animals which, in nature, run large distances in the search for food and dig deep dens. Thus, the bigger the cage is, the better the hamster’s living conditions will be.
A solid floor is preferable (grids can cause fractures to such small paws) with plenty of non-toxic, non-powdery litter material, such as pieces of paper and wood shavings (Fig. 2). The cage should be furnished with a wheel (an indispensable addition) and otherobjects for exercising such as small horizontal and vertical tubes, which hamsters love running through, and boxes with different openings that the animals can slip into. It is very important to provide one box in which the hamster can create a nest. The cotton-like material sold in some shops as material to pad the box should not be used; it can wind around the paws, blocking the circulation and lead to loss of a limb. Kitchen paper is a safe, cheap material for padding the box. Cages with elaborate systems of tubes can be purchased; these are excellent as far as concerns providing a stimulating environment but they have the drawback of being difficult to clean.
The cage and its furniture should be thoroughly cleaned at least once a week, using hot water and soap or diluted bleach and rinsing carefully. Water and food containers should be cleaned and disinfected every day.
Golden hamsters are solitary animals, which do not tolerate the presence of other hamsters and so should be housed alone. Russian and Siberian hamsters can be kept in groups of one male and one or two females or in small groups of the same sex as long as the groups are formed when the animals are still young. In fact, the introduction of an extraneous adult can lead to fierce fights, which may even end up with an animal being killed. Roborovski hamsters can be kept in pairs.
In the case of Chinese hamsters, it is a risk keeping a couple together: if this is done, the animals must be observed carefully to see whether they fight and if they do the animals must be separated. It is usually the male which comes off the worse; indeed males can often be killed by a female companion. It is, therefore, advisable to keep these animals separated.
