Caring for Your New Hamster

Before you buy your hamster, you need to have a cage ready for it at home. Glass aquariums will work fine, but they are heavy. The fancy plastic pet store cages with tubes and such are nice, but they are difficult to clean, expensive, and often difficult to get your hamster out to play with him. We have found large Rubbermaid tubs to be excellent cages. They are easy to clean, lightweight, inexpensive, and hard to get out of.
Make sure you provide objects to enrich the environment of your hamster. They don't have to be expensive--cardboard tubes, small clean boxes, etc. are just as good. You should purchase a water bottle (water dishes are easily contaminated) and a wheel for exercise. We personally like the Mini Silent Spinner (available at many pet stores), which does not have slits the hamsters can get their feet stuck in, and Walmart's exercise wheel that can be converted between in-cage and out-of-cage use. A food dish may be purchased or improvised.
All hamsters are allergic to chemicals found in cedar, and many are allergic to pine. Aspen or Carefresh bedding should be used. Because their teeth constantly grow, they should be given something safe and wooden to chew on. Don't forget hamster food, and you can give them occasional non-citrus treats such as apple slices and cantalope. Just don't overdo it on the fruits, because dwarf hamsters are very prone to diabetes, and fruits are high in sugar.

Here are some pictures of our hamster habitats to give you an idea of inexpensive ways to make hamsters happy.


As you can see, it doesn't take a lot to make hamsters happy. We make a lot of uses out of the larger, "economy size" toilet paper rolls, either leaving them whole as large tunnels, covering the end and making it a house, cutting it in half and making it a hut, or cutting a ring out and covering the bottom and using it as a large, shallow food dish. One of the hamsters' favorites is to give them the toilet paper roll with some toilet paper left on it that they can shred and make their own nest. We also use tissue boxes when we have them, but be careful that your hamster can't jump out!
Please note that some of these are older pictures that use water dishes, which we do not recommend.
If you are interested in breeding and raising your own hamsters, I recommend you see the Raising Dwarves page. We will sell a mixed-gender pair, but they cost a bit more to make sure you are serious about taking care of them and their future babies.

Kits for Sale

With every purchase, you will receive:
  • 1 large cardboard tube for hiding
  • 1 large homemade food dish
  • A snacksize bag of food
    Cost: Free!

    Beginner's Kit
  • 1 14-gallon (approximately) translucent rubbermaid tub
  • 1 large cardboard tube
  • 1 homemade food dish
  • 1 full 5lb bag of food
  • 1 full bag of aspen bedding (minus what is used to set up your cage)
  • 1 water bottle
  • 1 salt block
  • 1 chew stick
    Cost: $20

    Beginner's Kit Plus
  • All beginner's kit items
  • 1 "silent spinner" wheel
  • 1 wood house
  • 3 extra chew sticks
    Cost: $35

    Compare and Save!

    The "Traditional Way"
    2 hamsters: Around $30
    Hamster cage: Around $35
    Total: $65! and that doesn't even count the other necessities!
    		 The Hamster Heyday Way
    2 hamsters: $10
    Beginner's kit: $20
    Total: Only $30!! And that INCLUDES the necessities! Plus, ours are handtamed and rarely bite--try picking up a hamster at Petsmart and seeing if it doesn't bite.

    • Hamster Heyday | Current Breeding Hamsters | Available Hamsters | Caring for Your New Hamster
    Past Hamsters | Baby Pictures | Raising Dwarves | Different Breeds | Contact and Location | Links

    All graphics and text (c) Hamster Heyday, 2006-2007. This page updated January 2007.