What size enclosure to have and why?

It is recommended to have a hamster enclosure that has a minimum continuous floorspace of 100 centimetres (length) x 50 centimetres (width).

This minimum of 100 cm x 50 cm equates to 5000 square cms or 775 square inches, which may often be seen mentioned.

To calculate the square cms or square inches, multiply the length of the enclosure by the width.

 

This minimum is endorsed by Hamster Welfare, Blue Cross, PDSA, Woodgreen, TVT (which is the Veterinary Association for Animal Welfare in Germany) and the majority of hamster rescues in the UK and USA​.  Going by my own experience 100cm by 50cm is a size where you can start to comfortably fit everything in that a hamster needs, not to only survive but to start to thrive.

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Does height matter?

The other thing to think about is the height of the enclosure.  Personally, I wouldn't recommend anything shorter than 50cm, especially for Syrians as their supplies can be bigger than all the other hamster species as adequate space is needed to fit deep enough bedding and all their other items in.​  However, in some situations a shorter enclosure may be acceptable; Roborovskis, Dwarfs or Chinese hamsters might be content with this.  This should be very much considered on a case by case basis and it's not normally recommend going below 36cm, which is the height of the Ferplast Duna Multy/Ferplast Plastic Home 3 at Pets At Home.