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The 7 Most Ambitious DIY Hamster Projects

March 28, 2014 By Sarah Yee 2 Comments

The 7 Most Ambitious DIY Hamster Projects

This article is submitted by a reader. If you wish to submit your writing to our blog, please check out this page


Here are some entry-level ideas, best done at the end of summer, when you have a supply of ice-cream sticks generously donated by yourself or your family! Of course, they can be bought en masse at any craft store, but that’s not nearly as delicious. What you can build is only really limited by your imagination, so go nuts!

7. DIY Popsicle Stick Toys for Hamsters

hamster home ice cream stick DIY projectCredit: Tiny Furballs

6. DIY Hamster Platform

It almost looks like a wrestling ring for rodents, but this is a platform fit for a hamster king or queen. All it needs is some spare popsicle sticks from #7, and you could make a little Iron Throne.

diy-hamster-platform-finalhttps://dwarfhamsterblog.com/diy-hamster-platform/

5. Diy Hamster Bath

This is for the hamster of discerning tastes, who values luxury and privacy while bathing. Throw a couple of rocks and a tiny rake in it for a multitasking Zen garden!

diy hamster bath househttps://dwarfhamsterblog.com/diy-hamster-bath-house/
(Props to the Dwarf Hamster Blog for making the list twice!)

4. Home-made Hamster Elevator

From here on out is utter madness. Let’s ease into it by watching a hamster learning to use a home-made elevator.

3. IKEA Expedit Cage

You’re looking at a spacious bit of converted IKEA furniture from a site called IKEA Hackers. It resembles a fish tank but is actually the final form of a shelving unit. The remaining shelves are to be used for filing, and honestly, I’m a little disappointed that there isn’t a hamster-sized work cubicle, as this all sits in someone’s study!

diy expedit hamster home

http://www.ikeahackers.net/2009/12/expedit-hamster-home.html

2. iMac Hamster Home

At one point, it was widely known that the internet is run by a series of tubes. Self-confessed Apple fan boy, nicknamed Sunder, has taken this to its logical extreme and put his hamster inside an iMac monitor, with food accessed by a series of tubes. This group of pictures really says it all, but Sunder also provides a detailed guide to doing this DIY project yourself!

imac diy hamster tunnels

Credit: Awesome Hamster Home

1. Human Hamster Wheel

Uncontestably and completely the most ambitious DIY hamster project. A human hamster wheel. That can cross bodies of water. Let that sink in. A human hamster wheel.

The builder/inventor/apparent madman, Chris Todd, stated that this monstrosity took 11 months to construct and almost resulted in divorce. No word yet on what could have caused the marriage strain, though I suspect it was too much wheeling and dealing on Todd’s part.

human hamster wheel

Credit: Daily Mail


James has two rodent pets, George the hamster and Mildred the rabbit. He enjoys seeing them play together and when he’s not busy tending them he works as electrical instructor at Ableskills.co.uk .

Filed Under: DIY Hamster Stuff, Just For Fun

DIY Hamster Bath House

May 8, 2013 By Sarah Yee 25 Comments

DIY Hamster Bath House

Dwarf hamsters should never be bathed in water but they do enjoy rolling in bath sand. Mine are always kicking the sand out of their bath tub. Also, my original hamster bath tub was tiny, made from plastic, and as you can see from the photo, it gets chewed on! I could get a chew-proof ceramic bath, but I had plenty of material leftover from my last DIY hamster platform project so I decided to build one.dwarf hamster chewing on bath tub

This hamster bath house / giant bath tub was made with leftover wood dowels, popsicle sticks, and part of an old gift box. Since it’s mostly wood and cardboard, it’s not so bad if the hamster chews on it. Plus it’s much bigger and a hamster would have to kick the sand pretty high to get them out. It’s easy to build, requires few materials and took me only twenty minutes at most.

diy hamster bath house

IMPORTANT NOTE: Some readers have reported hamsters getting their legs stuck between the popsicle stick wall. To prevent this from happening, please build the bath house with sticks placed horizontally (unlike the photo above which shows the sticks placed in a vertical position)

Materials needed for DIY Hamster Bath House

  • Base: cardboard box or old gift box
    I used the cover of an old gift box to make the base. You want something that’s hard enough, so use anything that’s made from cardboard or harder. Old plastic containers would probably be fine too.
  • Wall: ice-cream or popsicle sticks
    These will form the wall around your base and prevent the sand from getting kicked out.
  • Entrance: wood dowels, or cut-up popsicle sticks
    I used the leftover wood dowels from the DIY hamster platform but you could cut up popsicle sticks for the entrance too. We want the entrance to be a little lower so your hamster can get in easily.
  • PVA glue to stick everything together

Instructions for DIY Hamster Bath House

  1. Glue popsicle sticks to the sides and back of the base to form walls.
  2. On the front of the base, leave enough space for an entrance and glue the popsicle sticks on both sides of the entrance
  3. Glue the wood dowels or cut-up popsicle sticks to make an entrance that’s a little lower than the rest of the popsicle stick wall
  4. Decorate your bath tub and fill with sand

That’s it! If you wanted to, you could probably add a roof or even convert this into a hamster house.

If you’ve enjoyed the tutorial, please help us spread the word by sharing this with your friends. And if you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a message below. Thank you!

Filed Under: DIY Hamster Stuff

DIY Hamster Platform

April 28, 2013 By Sarah Yee 9 Comments

DIY Hamster Platform

I wanted to make a platform for my dwarf hamsters because the one that came with their cage was kind of ugly. After looking at Nikkigrace’s Ikea Knuff hamster platform on Hamster Central, I was inspired to make my own DIY hamster platform.

This platform is suitable for dwarf hamsters. There’s enough space for a hamster (or two) to go on it as well as sleep under it. My dwarf hamsters seem to like sleeping under the platform during the day. Scroll down for detailed instructions to make this platform ^_^

DIY Hamster Platform

Time taken to build this hamster platform: About 30 minutes (not including time taken for glue to dry)

Materials for DIY Hamster Platform

Here are the materials I used and instructions to make them. Note: I didn’t make any stairs because I forgot! Luckily, my dwarf hamsters were able to climb up the platform on their own. You could probably make stairs with popsicle sticks or paper tubes if you wanted to. You could also use these bendable fiddlesticks as makeshift stairs.

Materials Used for DIY Hamster Platform

  • Platform base: A piece of corkboard – $2
    I used a round corkboard for this because I wanted something different. You could use a square one or even cut out your own shapes
  • Fence: 2 packets (40 pieces each) of 8 x 40 mm wooden dowels – $4
    There were 80 pieces of wooden dowels but I didn’t finish using all of them. You might need to get more or less depending on the size of the platform base
  • Legs for platform: 30 x 90mm cylindrical wood pieces  – $2
    I used only three legs and I should have used four! But it’s not wobbly so nevermind. You’ll need more or less depending on the platform base. You can also use shorter legs to make a lower platform.
  • PVA glue to stick everything together – $2

Total cost: 10SGD (approximately 8USD)

You should be able to find these materials easily in a hardware store. Amazon also carries wood dowels but I think they’re kind of pricey. If you’re in Singapore, I got all of these items from Daiso Sembawang — the corkboard is in the Stationery section and the rest are from the Crafts section.

DIY Hamster Platform Instructions

  1. Glue the legs to the base and wait about 10 to 15 minutes for the glue to hold it together. I used three legs, but like I mentioned earlier, you could use more or less legs depending on the shape of your platform and how stable you want it to be.
    Glue legs onto the cork base
  2. Flip the platform over and stick the wooden dowels along the edges of the base. Turn your platform as you stick the dowels so you can see clearly whether you’re sticking them in the correct position.
    Flip the base over and glue on the dowel fence
  3. Remember to leave an opening in the fence for your hamster to go on the platform.
    Remember to leave a gap for the entrance
  4. Put PVA glue on the outside of the fence between the dowels to make them less likely to fall out. You want to put glue on the bottom half only so that if your hamster chews on the fence, it doesn’t eat the glue too (although PVA glue is hamster-safe, it’s better if they don’t eat it).
    Apply glue on the outside of the fence between the dowels
  5. Leave it alone for a few hours to dry and we’re done! ^_^
    ...and we have a DIY platform for your hamster!

Ready-made hamster platforms

Super Pet Woodland Getaway

Super Pet Woodland GetawayIf you prefer not to make your own, there are plenty of hamster platforms available for purchase as well. A good one would be the Super Pet Woodland Getaway which is a platform and a house in one. For under 10 bucks, you can get a medium-sized platform/house that has enough space for a hamster or two to nest in and climb on. Larger sizes are also available but they might be a little too big for a dwarf hamster to climb onto. This is made from wood that is safe for animals (our DIY platform is too!) so there’s no issue if your hamsters chew on it.

Any questions or comments? Leave a message below. If you’ve found this helpful, please help us out and share it with your friends! ^_^

Filed Under: DIY Hamster Stuff

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