Dwarf Hamster Care

Basic Care: Costs

Advanced Care:

The cost of supplies to care for a dwarf hamster: ball, food, bedding, cage, wheel and water bottle.
Want to buy a cage kit like the one above in the picture?	Good supplies to start out with: Home-made cage (you need a soddering iron to make enough holes to make sure your cage has good ventilation). (anything from 5 gallons for 1 hamster to 14 gallons on up for multiple hamsters). Traditional Hamster cage (if you do not want to make one or purchase one made). 4 oz Critter Canteen or other water bottle Dwarf-Sized Exercise Ball Dwarf-Sized comfort running wheel Package of safe bedding A good quality lab diet or hamster food Care Guide
Costs How much does it cost to buy supplies for a hamster? Maintaining a hamster is fairly cheap but buying a start up supplies costs a bit more. Here are some ideas on the possible costs of housing a hamster: Walmart: 10 gallon aquarium with locking top: $16 (sold separately but price is for both) Aspen shavings: $3.50 No Drip hanging small animal water bottle: $2 14-16 gallon clear plastic tub: $5-6 19 quart size tub for housing a single hamster: $4 You MUST have a running wheel if you use the 19 quart size of plastic container. It is too small for a dwarf hamster without a way to exercise. Petsmart: (add tax) Comfort running wheel: $4.50 Carefresh: $4.99 Kaytee Aspen shavings: $7.50 (larger package than Walmart ever has) Critter Canteen 4oz size: $2 (water bottle) Hamster food: $5-6 (Hamster food: (a good hamster mix like Harry Hamster): for a 2lb bag. You can buy cheaper mixes with higher amounts of bird seed but as these are not nutritionally complete, no matter what they say. You would then need something like oasis, small animal vitamins for $5. It is more economical to buy a high quality hamster food than have to face possible vet bills later because your hamster became sick from a poor diet. Rat and mouse food blocks: $3-4 (this is not the brand I use and might not be suitable as a sole diet for dwarfs. They can be used to help wear down their teeth. The brand I use is PMI LabDiet. It comes in 50lb sacks only and I have to special order it for my dwarfs. If you do want some and are willing to pick it up or pay shipping, I can sell you smaller quantities as you would never use that much before it went bad with one or a few hamsters). Exercise running ball $3.99 (dwarf size) Target: (add tax) Aspen shavings: $3.50 14-16 gallon clear plastic tub: $5-6 Lowes and possibly Home Depot: Roll of brown contractors paper: under $10. If you have a few hamsters this can be a safe economical bedding...run it through a cross cut shredder and you have instant bedding. It seems to absorb odor better than white paper...same with brown grocery bags. Free or cheap hamster supplies: Plain white typing/computer paper (old e-mails or reports with black ink only...colored may harm the hamsters depending on what it is made out of) This can be put through a cross cut shredder to make hamster bedding. Brown paper grocery bags. These can also be shredded to make bedding but avoid parts of the bag that are glued in case the adhesive is toxic. The tubes that smaller plastic bags come on in grocery stores. My hamsters love to play in these and the stores usually throw them out. If you are friends with someone at such a store, ask them to save a few for you. Cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls. Hamsters love to shred these and hide in them. Toilet paper. Plain white toilet paper makes wonderfully soft nesting material for the dwarfs to make a bed for day-time sleep. All pictures on this site are copyrighted by Odds and Endlers. Any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.