The Range’s “Guide to Owning a Hamster” published on their website says ” Avoid cotton wool of ‘fluffy’ bedding, materials that can separate into thin strands, or non-specialist material, as these can harm your hamster.” But at the same time as providing this advice they sell their own brand of cotton wool bedding that they say is “Suitable for hamsters, gerbils, mice, and rats”.   Since 2021 HamsterWelfare.com has communicated with The Range regarding this bizarre issue. We have of course pointed out that major organisations such as The RSPCA, PDSA and Blue Cross all advise against the u ..read more

Woodgreen recommends 100cm x 50cm Minimum Cage Size for All Species of hamsters. For hamster guidance, 3 out of the 4 major animal charities in The UK recommend this minimum, with both Blue Cross and PDSA also saying that a hamster cage should be at least 100cm x 50cm for All species of hamsters.   For Woodgreen this is an upgrade from their old advice that used to suggest a minimum of 80cm, its great to see these major charities align their opinions with each other to provide more clarity to the public of what minimum size hamster cage you should use.   Even though hamsters are smal ..read more

Tiffany of HamsterWelfare.com has designed a poster for you to print or share on social media. You may be connected to a pet shop or have a social media account and we would love for you to display our poster so that the wider public can become more aware of our cause and help spread more awareness about proper hamster care.   The post HamsterWelfare.com Poster For You to Print or Share first appeared on HamsterWelfare.com | Welfare Advice – Evidence – Care Information ..read more

  A new cork lined 28cm wooden wheel is being sold in Pets at Home stores and the community have praised this on social media. A 28cm minimum wheel size for Syrian hamsters is a well known requirement, but for quite some time it has seemed that Pets at Home have ignored the welfare advice and hidden the truth from the public and only sold unsuitable wheels. Pets at Home supplies the majority of hamsters to the UK population so it is very positive that they now also offer an adequate sized wheel at the point of purchase. It also gives us an indication that Pets at Home are trying to impro ..read more

  Many pet shops recommend that Dwarf hamsters can be housed together, but the community has commonly disagreed with this advice and there have been many reports of lethal fighting among Dwarf hamsters that are kept in the same enclosure.   The study says “The current advice provided for the housing of pet dwarf hamsters is clearly inconsistent with the findings of research on their natural history, with implications not only for enclosure size and guidance on housing with or apart from other individuals but also regarding the provision of shared resources to species that do not na ..read more

UK rescue network Happy Hamsters organised the 2023 Hamster Fair, held at Millennium Point Birmingham with a huge attendance of over 500 people. The impressive venue held a lot of hamster related stalls, games and talks that took place in a huge auditorium with a large cinema screen that featured a live chat with Victoria Raechel.   There were a lot of amazing hamster owner friendly stalls and variety for everyone with merchandise such as cups, pictures, stickers etc. One ingenious activity was a wheel spin game from Pocket Sized Paws for when you spent over £15 to win a free gift!   ..read more

In the hamster community many people have came across gate keeping of barred cages, in this blog we hope to raise some points on how barred cages can be good.   With the current study of hamsters done by The Veterinary Association for Animal Welfare (TVT) which can be seen on our hamster cage page, it is recommended that a hamster should have 100 x 50cm (775 square inches) of unbroken floor space (no levels/ attachments). The base of a cage can taper inwards so we advise to measure any enclosure from the bottom as you will get the most accurate measurements.   There are a few wired c ..read more

Pets at Home launched a rebrand and the public took the opportunity to express their concerns and grievances about the company. The Instagram post announcing the rebrand was launched early evening on 18th April 2023, it seems that a hamster rescue called Treasured Paws Hamster Rescue was the first who spotted this and said “Pets at home have launched a rebrand… lets all head to the comments to congratulate them”.   An hour later Treasured Paws Hamster Rescue posted again saying “We’ve got about 11 hours before the P@H marketing team get back to their desks”.   Pets at Home have been ..read more

PDSA now recommend 100cm x 50cm minimum cage size for hamsters. This is for ALL species of hamsters including dwarf and it’s great to see that smaller hamsters aren’t being discriminated due to their slightly smaller size. This month Blue Cross another major charity, also increased their minimum and now say “no smaller than 100cm x 50cm”. We hope that this sets an example to other major organisations who suggest a smaller minimum requirement.   In a major overhaul of their old advice the new guide contains lots of great information and it’s refreshing to see the old out dated advice bein ..read more

Blue Cross recommend 100cm x 50cm Minimum Cage Size for ALL species of hamsters. This is a big breakthrough for the hamster loving community as Blue Cross are the first major charity to recommend 100cm x 50cm, the same as TVT veterinary research from Germany.   Blue Cross say “The ideal home for a hamster is housing no smaller than 100cm x 50cm floor space, by 50cm tall. The bigger the better as hamsters love to explore and roam.”   We are also pleased to see Blue Cross say that “Tanks or aquariums are ideal as they allow for deep bedding” and that “Hamsters need to burrow, so a min ..read more