Syrian Hamster Cage Size Rspca

Published in 2007 researchers gebhardt henrich fischer and steiger examined the behavior of 60 syrian hamster females in cages of various sizes.

Syrian hamster cage size rspca. Suitable places to hide. This document is about the syrian hamster. This is what the rspca minimum recommends for a syrian. Horizontal bars will allow some opportunity to climb.

Hamsters use their whiskers or vibrissae to aid detection of objects to. Check the doors on any cage to make sure they are secure as hamsters can become quite expert at opening doors. Among the most popular kept as pets are the syrian the russian dwarf campbell and the roborovski. Hamsters belong to the family cricetidae and there are 24 different species.

Join yahoo answers and get 100 points today. If you choose a cage with multiple levels make sure there is no place where your hamster could fall. The largest was a huge 10 000 square cms large cage that s about 1 550 square inches. What are the rspca s minimal cage size recomendations for syrian hamsters.

Research animals department rspca 3rd edition april 2011. Pet hamsters prefer to occupy a cage with a solid floor covered by a suitable litter material. Upon measuring my old large plastic hamster home from pets at home i discovered that. Home cage for hamsters pdf 254kb.

The space between the bars on a syrian hamster s cage should be no more than 1 2 inch apart. Their cage to be clean and they need dry bedding and nesting material. Hamsters of all species need at least 80x50cm. Their minimum cage size for syrian hamsters is 75cm by 50 cm.

The researchers recorded the behavior of the hamsters looking for signs of stress. Why not view our full hamster factfile pdf 48kb. Good practice for housing and care supplementary resources for members of local ethical review processes 1 several species of hamster are used in the laboratory including the chinese hamster cricetus griseus and the golden or syrian hamster mesocricetus auratus. Modular cages are marketed as permanent living dwellings yet they often can not even accommodate the right wheel size for a syrian and are so small that they can cause chronic stress.

Hamsters naturally build nests. Hamsters need a lot of room especially when they are active at night so buy as big a cage as possible ideally with a deep plastic base minimum 3 5cm and wire top. Get your answers by asking now. Metal bolt clips like those on the end of a dog leash can be clipped on to lock doors for an extra level of security on wire doors.

The smallest cage in the study was 1 800 square cm in floor space which is about the same size as 288 square inches. Cage cleaning for hamsters pdf 228kb. The minimum size for the uk rspca recommendation is about 80cm x 50cm continuous floorspace for a syrian hamster or a pair of dwarf hamsters and 70cm x 40cm for a single dwarf hamster. Most hamsters are kept in cages that are too small very much under the rspca s 80x50cm continuous floor space minimum.

We only know of a single scientific study on this topic. The national hamster council recommends a minimum of 1000cm 2 of useable floor space x 19cm high for syrian hamsters and 800cm 2 of useable floor space x 17cm high for dwarfs but that is not to say that you can t go bigger and many owners have chosen cages much larger than this to allow for the addition of more enrichment through the addition of a range of toys. Shelters for hamsters pdf 235kb. But this is a minimum and in germany the minimum recommended size is 100cm by 50cm.

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