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Welcome to Dashing Hamsters. I created this website back in 2005, initially to have a place to share my love of hamsters. Throughout the years I have come across a lot of information that just often doesn't match up. Care standards and information are outdated, and these little creatures are misunderstood by many. So I decided to make this website as more than just a hamster lover's website, but a hamster website for modern owners who are looking for up to date advice on how to care for and understand their beloved hamsters. On DH you can learn about hamsters, see some cute pictures and read through a hamster filled blog.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Minimum Cage Sizes

     Recently I was bored and I decided to do something a little bit productive I guess. I took some yarn, a tape measure, some tape and some hamster supplies and decided to put a pictorial thing together of different cage minimums. These are just a few randoms one's that I pulled out of books and off the internet. If you guys have any other ones then I'll add them too I suppose. 
     I did two separate pictures for each minimum. One reenacting a setup for a single syrian and one for two dwarfs. I used some basic supplies and kept it minimum (wheel, bed, water bottle, food dish, toy). For the syrian setup I used an 8" comfort wheel, a small food dish, an oasis water bottle, and mini (second smallest) igloo and a puzzle playground see-saw. For the dwarf setup I used two 6.5" silent spinner wheels, two itty bitty igloos (smallest size), a large food dish, an oasis water bottle and a puzzle playground see-saw.
I just measured out the yarn to act as the base of each minimum cage size.

Mine (Hamster Hideout's)-- 360 square inches
Syrian's:

Dwarfs':

OSPCA's, Humane Society's, Popular Pets Magazine: Hamsters (Hamsters for Dummies and the Hamster Handbook has similar minimums varying by no more than a few inches)-- 10 gallon/ 2 square feet
Syrian's:

Dwarfs':

RSPCA's 75cm by 50 cm
Syrians:

Dwarfs':

German Style 100cm by 40 cm
Syrian's:

Dwarfs:

One square Metre (mentioned in a German Study):
Syrian's:

Dwarfs:

Hamsters: The Ultimate Pocket Pet by Virginia Parker Guidry's- 19 square inch minimum
Syrian's:

Dwarfs:

3 comments:

  1. That's very interesting but I don't get those two last pictures: do they mean the regular cage according to Virginia Parker should be SO SMALL...??? Maybe it's just a transport cage...?

    (Sorry for this deleted comment - I made too many grammar mistakes ;-)))

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  2. In the book that is what she recommended as a cage- not a transport cage. I had others read it as well to see if I was mistaken and was reading it wrong. Alas I wasn't. I do believe that it was a mistake, though a poor one at that. Not every one will realize that and they will think that they're little cage is like a mansion. :(

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  3. My goodness...! It's just... barbaric...! :-/ I must say that in Poland there are many big enough (or even bigger) cages you may choose from and that's a huge success. Luckily, we happen to have one of those a bit bigger than the standard one and - as you said - a hammie is completely happy with it :-)

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