You might not realize it, but toys are a very important part of your hamster’s life. Toys help to keep your hamster both exercised and entertained, so they can live a good quality life.
There are lots of hamster toys out there on the market, so it can be difficult to know which ones are going to be the best. Take a look at the toys we recommend for your hamster below.
Why Does My Hamster Need Toys?
Your hamster needs toys for two reasons: mental stimulation and exercise.
Mental Stimulation
Without toys and the mental stimulation they give your pet, your hamster will likely become very bored. Think about it — they live in the same four walls every day of their life! Toys keep your hamster engaged and excited, giving them something to do and keeping their brain active.
A bored and unstimulated hamster can quickly become a depressed hamster, which will drastically reduce the quality of their life.
Exercise
Hamsters are very active little animals, needing plenty of exercise a day. Toys, such as a wheel, tunnels and climbing toys, are a great way to keep them moving around their hutch and ensuring they hit their quota of exercise for the day.
When you’re at home, you can also take your hamster out of their cage and let them exercise around the room. Just make sure you keep an eye on them, as they’re very fast and not very big!
The Best Type Of Toys For Your Hamster
Hamster Wheel
A hamster wheel is a must have in your hamster’s home as it is great way to keep them exercised.
However, you should make sure the wheel is the right size for your hamster. By this, we mean that your hamster should be able to run with a flat back. A wheel that is too small and causes your hamster’s back to curve can cause health issues. We recommend a wheel that is no smaller than 8 inches (20 cm).
The hamster wheel should also be a solid structure and made with a non-slip surface. This surface should ideally be flat with no bars or mesh so it doesn’t hurt your hamster’s feet. Both wooden and plastic wheels are available.
Tubes and Tunnels
Tunnels and tubes are a fantastic way for your hamster to explore their cage and climb around.
You can buy tunnels and tubes at pet shops or online, and make elaborate structures that snap together. You can then change the shape and structure of the tunnels when you clean them out, keeping your hamster engaged with a new puzzle each time.
However, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on tubes if you don’t want to. The inside of toilet rolls or tunnels made from water bottles are also great options if you want to keep things on the cheaper side. A great way to engage them with these toys is stuffing them with bedding and small treats, which will encourage them to forage.
You will find these homemade toys don’t last as long as store bought ones as your hamster chews and uses them, but they won’t mind!
Sand Bath
Wild hamsters live in very dry places with a lot of sand, so you’ll find your pet hamster will enjoy a sand bath.
Make sure you use sand bought from a pet store that is specially designed for small animals. Provide your hamster with a little dish filled with a few centimeters of sand. You hamster will enjoy rolling around and digging in it, which will keep them both entertained and their coat shiny and clean.
Make sure to change the sand out every couple of days because your hamster may use it as a toilet. You can learn more about sand baths here.
Chew Toys
Hamster teeth are constantly growing, so they need plenty of things around their home to chew on to grind them down. If you don’t provide your hamster with these, you’ll find they start chewing the bars of their cage, or anything they can get their teeth on!
Chew toys can be made of a number of things. Natural wood is a popular option, such as wood from fruit trees. Pine cones are also a good option. Homemade chew toys such as toilet paper and paper towel rolls are also a cheap, safe option.
Climbing Toys
Climbing toys, just like tubes and tunnels, are another way for your hamster to explore their home and prevent boredom.
Climbing toys often come in the form of ladders or what look like mini assault courses which you can buy at pet shops. Grapewood vines and cork flats are also a good option. Again, you can make your own climbing toys out of cardboard, too.
Hideaways
Hideaways offer your hamster dark, cozy and secure places to rest and hide in. While this might not sound like a fun toy to us, your hamster will love them!
These hideouts are often called hamster houses or a nest box, and can be a single chamber hide or have multiple chambers. They work well in connection with tunnels to provide extra space for resting.
Hamsters are nocturnal animals and so will spend the daytime either in their burrows or in their hideaways, sleeping and resting. Therefore, we recommend you provide your hamster with at least three or four hides, in combination with a few tunnels.
Bridges
Bridges provide a fun way for your hamster to get around their home, as well as an opportunity to explore their cage from different levels and angles.
Toys To Avoid
Hamster Ball
In a hamster ball, your hamster is enclosed in the ball and can then exercise/run in the ball which then rolls around on the floor.
Hamster balls are very popular and many hamster owners provide their pet with one. However, here at My House Animals, we do not recommend you use them.
There is concern that these balls are stressful for your hamster, because your hamster is trapped inside and cannot escape to their food, water or hides. They can also become tired and then are not able to stop exercising unless they are removed from the ball.
Depending on the size of the hamster ball, there is also concern that they can hurt your hamster’s back, just like a hamster wheel that is too small. The slits for ventilation in the hamster ball are big enough for your hamster’s feet to get trapped and hurt.
As you can see in our list above, there are many other great toys that keep your hamster exercised but do not risk harming them.
If you do decide to give your hamster a ball, make sure you monitor them closely. You should never leave your hamster in their ball and walk away, as this can be both dangerous (they can bump into things) and stressful and exhausting for them. Never leave them in the ball for more than 10 minutes at a time.
Plastic Toys
Hamsters really love to chew, and for this reason, we don’t recommend plastic toys if you can avoid them. There are many plastic toys on the market, and they can be safe if you monitor them closely and check they are not being eaten by your hamster.
If your hamster ingests plastic it can be very dangerous for them. If you see your hamster chewing a plastic toy in their home, remove it immediately and make sure you supply them with other, safe chew toys.
Metal Toys
Metal toys, or wooden toys fastened together with metal pieces, should not be given to your hamster. Metals are very toxic when ingested and because your hamster will love to chew everything, there is chance they could be harmful.
Rubber or Foam Toys
Both rubber and foam toys should be avoided as both of these materials are dangerous if your hamster ingests them.
