As solitary animals, hamsters often lack stimulation in their enclosures. While they don’t like to interact with other hamsters, they still need plenty of stimulation to live a happy and healthy life.
The following enrichment ideas stimulate vision, smell, hearing, and touch senses. Most importantly, they stimulate thinking and curiosity as they make the hamster think to discover food and activities.
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1. Safe Herbs
Herbs might not be high on your list of enrichment priorities, but they should! Hamsters love nibbling parsley and basil, some of the most common herbs and enrichment ideas. For a stronger scent that enhances the senses, you can also consider oregano, in moderation, of course. Other aromatic safe herbs for hamsters that can be spread out and even hidden for them to discover include thyme and mint or chamomile for its calming effect.
2. Leaves and Flowers
Non-toxic leaves that are safe to nibble entice smell and taste sense. Dandelion or raspberry leaves are among the safe options for hamsters that are also easily sourced. You can add them to the enclosure either fresh or dried, depending on the season.
Rich in vitamins, these leaves also enrich your hamster’s diet. Lavender is also a common choice among hamster lovers as they are cheap, rich in flavor, and easily served fresh or dried. They also add a touch of class in terms of enrichment options.
3. Encourage Foraging
There’s a common misconception that hamsters can only find food they find in their feeding bowls. They have a great sense of smell and can easily find food scattered throughout enclosures. You can even feed your hamster both by adding food to the bowl and by hiding it to stimulate foraging behavior.
4. Sprays
Hamster sprays or cut flowers arranged interestingly make a strong case for a top hamster enrichment idea. Not only do they look like a million dollars, but they also stimulate hamsters, truly enriching what can be a dull enclosure.
Be warned, not all sprays are suitable for hamsters. So mark your favorites between foxtail millet, amaranth, panicle millet, flax seed, classic wheat, and a few other similar choices.
5. Nuts
Rich in protein and seen as a healthy treat, nuts should only be seen as a hamster treat, that’s an occasional one. You don’t want an obese hamster! Furthermore, you should stay away from all the flavored or salted nut options and stick to the classic plain sweet almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, or pistachios.
Avoid large pieces of nuts as you don’t want your little furry friend to choke.
6. Treats
Is your hamster showing no interest in nuts and seeds? consider the various treats you can buy online. Go with dried mealworms or crickets. Take it further with dog chews or source other treats from the pet store, particularly from the reptile section. Be warned that all of these treats should be given in moderation, even when hidden away. They can make your hamster obese when given daily.
7. DIY Boredom Breaker
Not able to find the right enrichment ideas for your hamster’s enclosure in pet stores? Create your own and keep boredom away for good. One of the simplest ideas is to find a type of hamster-safe tube to fill with explorable goodies. Consider a cardboard tube with nuts, seeds, flowers, and sprays. Hide the goodies away in a short or long tube to keep your hamster busy for hours.
8. Chew Toys
Chewing toys are a great way of spending a lazy afternoon. Despite the common misconceptions, they don’t file teeth but they do help kill off a few hours. Some of the common chew toys for hamsters include apple sticks and other types of safe sticks that act like chew toys. They can also be made from other types of materials and purchased from canine friend areas of the pet store.
9. Live Plants
Live plants are ideal for nibbling but they also add actual life to your hamster’s cage. The best part is you can use cut grass and similar options all the time inside of the cage while some herbs with strong scents might only be used occasionally.
10. Deep Bedding
Your hamster cannot burrow without deep bedding. The ideal depth of the bedding is still debated, but most hamsters only burrow when the bleeding is at least 10 inches. Many ideal hamster cage setups come with 20-inch bedding to encourage natural burrowing tendencies.
11. Different Substrates
Aside from bedding depth, the materials of the substrate are also important. Consider combining multiple substrate materials that allow your hamster to explore new textures, just as out in nature. Beech chips, aspen, coco husk, and even cork granules are all natural materials ideal for digging, and substrate made with multiple materials spark the burrowing interest of your hamster.
12. Bigger Cage
No matter how many cool additions a hamster enclosure has, its size limits your pet’s activities the most. Have you ever considered updating your hamster’s cage? Let’s say you have a typical small one of around 12 x 12 x 12 inches, you can move up to a more average cage of 24 x 14 x 14 inches. Some of the larger ones start at measurements of around 30 x 18 x 16 inches and offer plenty of space for enrichment ideas that keep hamsters occupied throughout the year.
A bigger cage also ensures there are more things you can add for the hamster to chew on and file teeth at the same time. A taller cage also helps with clearance for adding a larger hamster wheel, an absolute must for an active rodent.
13. Change the Setup
A setup that changes frequently is the easiest and cheapest way of keeping a hamster entertained. Consider moving the position of the large exercise wheel, changing out the depth and location of the hideouts, and creating new tunnels for hamsters to explore. Move around the plants and bridges to create the illusion of a new space that your hamster feels like exploring.
14. Sand Bath
While there’s certainly room for all types of enrichment in a large enclosure, a sand bath is an absolute must. You see, hamsters shouldn’t bathed as other pets. Weather and shampoo are detrimental to hamsters. So how do you keep your small pet fresh and clean? You use sand baths, the real alternative that removes odor and keeps hamsters clean.
Almost any type of clean sand such as play sand can be used to create a small bath for your hamster. As a pro tip, always sanitize your sand by baking it in the oven to make sure you don’t introduce any bacteria into the enclosure. Alternatively, you can just purchase heat-treated sand from the pet store.
15. Hamster Wheel
Hamster wheels are a must for a happy and fit hamster. The problem with these upright wheels is that many are small. They should be at least 10 inches and you can find the type of materials or wheels that spark interest. From wooden wheels to plastic and even rubber wheels, there are plenty of options to choose from. Consider moving the wheel around the enclosure from time to time or even add multiple wheels to keep your small pet active and interested in moving around.
16. Water
Water is an essential addition to the enclosure. However, you can serve water in a myriad of ways. The classic water bowl is the first option. Some of the perks of using it include a low price, easy access, and plenty of great designs to choose from. Some of the cons of using water bowls include frequent cleaning needs and even a risk of drowning. You might as well check out water bottles that don’t require frequent cleaning and which certainly don’t come with a drowning risk.
17. Logs
Various logs can be used to create tunnels, sitting areas, hiding spots, and support for other features. You can use some typical logs from the garden or order logs and log-made goodies such as tunnels and sculpted bridges. Consider cleaning the logs thoroughly before adding them to the enclosure.
But by far, the biggest reason to use logs in a hamster cage comes with the natural chewing benefits of wood. Hamster teeth are constantly growing and there’s no better material than wood to keep them healthy.
18. Rocks
From smooth river rocks to rounded-edge slate, there are plenty of great rocks to enrich a hamster’s cage with. Consider some of the ideal rocks to pair together such as flat ones which your hamster can easily climb and rest on. Rocks are also a cheap and durable decorative solution for a cage that isn’t dull. Interested in taking things further? Use granite to help keep your hamster’s nails worn down naturally.
19. Platforms
Adding layers to your cage is a proven way of making the enclosure more complex and keeping the hamster entertained. Most importantly, platforms or stilts help make the entire cage safer.
Think about it this way, you have rocks and logs inside, what if they trap your hamster? You prevent such risks by using platforms or elevated surfaces with legs that allow your hamster to freely burrow without the risk of a large hamster wheel falling over it.
20. Hideouts
Hideouts are some of the cutest enrichment ideas. The good news is there are now thousands of them to choose from. You can get them from other animals and birds as well. As long as they’re safe and made from durable materials, they work fine.
Consider wood and terracotta hideouts as they’re made from natural materials, and less likely to impact the health of your hamster. Look for interesting hideouts shaped like homes, ant nests, mushrooms, or even pyramids to create a more attractive environment for your little pet.
21. Tunnels
As all hamster owners know, the little rodents love tunnels. They hide, play, feed, and even reproduce in them. This is why adding at least a couple of great tunnels is a proven way of making a more interesting space to explore inside the cage for your furry pet.
You can choose to create your own from cardboard or purchase a more durable alternative. There are now tunnels made from birch, cork, bamboo, or even terracotta to choose from. These solid tunnels are proven not to collapse.
22. Maze
Hamsters love to explore new tiny places and even burrow for them. A maze represents an ideal option to keep them busy as they learn to hone their natural exploration instincts instead of sitting around all day. A multi-chamber hide is also a place you can use to hide traits such as nuts.
This way, your hamster is much more likely to get interested in exploring a maze knowing there might be a treat at the end. Wooden hamster mazes can have as little as 2 rooms or as many as 12 rooms. They can have one level or be made with a multi-level design.
23. Playpen
The walls are up and hamsters have a safe place to explore. Use a playpen with an open entrance inside of the cage to create a separate space or a mini cage. You can also use the playpen to get the hamster out of the cage or as a place to store other toys or enrichment ideas you only take out occasionally.
Feel free to explore the playpen in other areas of the pet store such as in the cats and dogs areas where you may find larger options and even modular solutions which can be made larger or smaller, depending on the number of hamsters you have.