Hides & Platforms

Multichamber Hides

A multichamber hide gives a hamster different areas to sleep, go to toilet and store food, replicating what they would do in the wild in their burrows. If it's a heavy wooden one, stilts will be needed so it's not just balanced on top of the bedding, especially if heavy items are going on top. This is so a hamster doesn't get squished. Stilts can be bought (separately in some cases) to go with certain multichamber hides such as Getzoo, Happy Henry's Homes, Hope's Healthy Treats or Niteangel. Alternatively, long wooden dowels can be stuck on with hamster safe glue such as Ponal glue or another non toxic wood glue.

Multichamber hides can also be DIY'd out of cardboard, if doing this it will be light enough to go on top of the bedding without stilts, just ensure nothing heavy is placed on top.

Ensure any entrances are at least 7cm wide for Syrians and 5cm for Dwarf species, this is just so they can navigate through them easily, especially when their pouches are full.

Getzoo

Happy Henry's Homes

Honey Three Paws Multi Chamber Hamster Hide.

Honey Three Paws Hides

Hope's Healthy Treats

Mixerama

Niteangel

Getzoo

Happy Henry's Home Hamster Chamber Peek Hide.

Happy Henry's Homes

Honey Three Paws Hides

Hope's Healthy Treats

Niteangel

Other Hides

Other hides can be dotted around an enclosure, providing extra shelter. These can be made out of ceramic, coconut, grass, terracotta, wicker, wooden, or even cardboard.

DIY hides can also be fun to make and over the years I have made many out of cardboard, cardboard mache, dowels and bendy bridges. Like with multichamber hides, ensure any entrances are at least 7cm wide for Syrians and 5cm for Dwarf species, this is just so they can navigate through them easily, especially when their pouches are full.

If in the UK, some great places to buy hides are shops like Aldi and B&M, they sometimes do ceramic bird feeders that are quite cheap but also safe and suitable for hamsters. Tea light holders and salt pigs can also be suitable, just make sure they don't have any holes in them for a hamster to get stuck. Other places to look at are shops like Asda, Dunelm and Poundland or second hand stores and websites, and in the USA there are the dollar stores.

Ceramic & Terracotta Hides

Amazon Salt Pig

Bucatstate

Dunelm Salt Pig

Mixerama

Niteangel

Rick Stein Salt Pig

Rodipet - 2nd Hand Only

Trixie

Bucatstate

Bucatstate @ Hamsters We Love

Hope's Healthy Treats

Mixerama

Niteangel - 2nd Hand Only

Pets At Home

Rodipet - 2nd Hand Only

Trixie

Coconut, Grass & Wicker Hides

Getzoo

Mixerama

Nature First @ Hope's Healthy Treats

Pets At Home

Hamsters We Love

Nature First @ Hope's Healthy Treats

Pets At Home - Fill the holes in on the top

Rosewood

Cardboard & Wooden Hides

Getzoo

Happy Henry's Home

Honey Three Paws Hides

Mixerama

Pets At Home

Hamsters We Love

Honey Three Paws Hides

Hope's Healthy Treats

Mixerama

Pets At Home

How To Make Your Own Hamster Hides

Platforms

It is recommended to put heavy items such as wheels, sand baths, ceramic hides and branches on platforms so a hamster doesn't burrow underneath, creating tunnels and having everything collapsing on top of them. I'm sure no one wants to accidentally squish a hamster.

There are many places platforms can be bought nowadays, such as Hope's Healthy Treats, Niteangel and Trixie and even custom made sized ones can be purchased from places like Happy Henry's Homes or Honey Three Paws Hides. The IKEA Variera is also often used, it is a metal shelf insert but as it has lots of holes in it, it's a good idea to cover the top with something like cardboard or cork.

Alternatively, some people make their own and I have a tutorial video on how to make platforms.