Free-roaming hamsters isn’t a new practice, but it has gained a lot of social media attention in recent years. This has left many curious about it, but concerns about safety and hamster enjoyment have put them off.
If you’re just curious or are genuinely looking to try free-roaming with your hamster, this article will answer all your questions. We will clear up what the practice actually involves, whether it’s good for your hamster, and what safety features you should be aware of. We also provide alternative options for people who may not feel confident or be in an unsuitable environment for free-roaming.
What Is Free-Roaming Hamsters?
Free-roaming involves allowing your hamster to have free access to a room or space without limits. It is often used for exercise and bonding purposes and can give your hamster a great change of scenery from their cage.
Responsible hamster owners will already have cages that exceed minimum requirements, but this is still limiting for some hamsters. Especially Syrian hamsters, who would explore significant areas in the wild, appreciate a change of scenery.
It can apply to entire rooms like mentioned above, but in the case of smaller hamsters, even smaller areas can be beneficial.
Is Free-Roaming Good For Hamsters?
Free-roaming is an incredibly effective and easy way to get your hamster exercising. It’s also great for freshening up enrichment activities when they are bored of what you can offer in their cage.
It also gets hamsters used to interacting with their environment. While you should never free-roam until your hamster is tame, it may increase their bond with you and they may trust you more afterward. This is good as it allows you to introduce them to other humans without concerns over their behavior.
Hamsters may be a little unsure of free-roaming at first because the new area may not have their scent, but they get used to this pretty quickly. You can help alleviate some of this by free-roaming in a room you use frequently so your scent is present and can calm them.
Free-roaming can be dangerous if you aren’t watching your hamster carefully, though. They may escape through any small holes, or bite through electrics, so you must be incredibly careful. We provide further advice about how to free-roam safely later in our article.
How Important Is Free-Roaming For Hamsters?
Free-roaming can be incredibly important for your hamsters in terms of exercise and enrichment. It provides them with a larger environment to explore and may build their trust with their owners.
But not everyone lives in an environment where they can free-roam safely. You aren’t a bad hamster owner just because you can’t do this.
If you cannot free-roam, you can still enhance your hamster’s cage by ensuring its cage exceeds the minimum requirements. You should also switch up their enrichment activities as often as you can to avoid boredom.
You should also handle your hamster regularly, whether you choose to free-roam or not. This builds their trust in other humans and helps with the hamster taming process.
How To Free-Roam Hamsters Safely
Free-roaming can be an incredibly beneficial process for hamsters, but it can also be dangerous. If you are looking into practicing this with your hamster, make sure you follow the advice below to keep your hamster safe.
Tame Your Hamster & Build A Bond
The most important rule to safely free-roaming hamsters is to make sure you have tamed them first. You should be able to pick them up and handle them without them biting or hissing at you. This is a great sign that they trust you.
This step is incredibly important because they will be more responsive to you during free-roaming periods. You will also be able to read their body language better and remove them from potentially dangerous situations.
It’s also important that you feel confident handling your hamster. If you hesitate while trying to remove them from danger, they could go missing or escape from weak handling.
Choose A Small Room Sparse With Furniture
Once you become more experienced with free-roaming, you may choose a room you and your hamster are more familiar with. Commonly, this is a bedroom, because many hamsters sleep in the same room as their owners.
To begin with, however, you should choose a room that has little to no furniture in it. A hallway or bathroom with the doors shut is a good option.
The more sparse a room, the fewer hiding places your hamster has to get lost in or behind. You will also be able to intervene early with potential dangers when you and your hamster are beginning to understand hazards and boundaries.
Don’t Feed Before Free-Roaming
It’s a good idea not to feed your hamster before free-roaming them. While you can’t completely remove their food, such as from places they’ve burrowed it, don’t give them new food in the hours leading up to playtime.
This provides a higher chance that they will be hungry during playtime, and will seek out food earlier if they do go missing. It also means you can lure them back with treats should you lose sight of them. Remember to use a treat they are familiar with to further entice them back.
Keep Other Pets Out Of The Room
As cute as you think it will be to introduce your hamster to your other pets whilst free-roaming, this could become dangerous very quickly.
Even if your pets are placid, hamsters are very small animals, and can’t defend themselves against larger animals like dogs or cats. Should another pet get spooked by your cat, and mistake it for prey, they may attack it and could even eat it.
It’s best to use more controlled methods to introduce pets to one another. You should only do so when pets are separated by a cage or door and can be pulled away if needed.
Block Off Holes
It is incredibly important to block off any holes in the room you’re using, no matter how small they may be. Even Syrian hamsters can fit through cracks in doors, or walls, and may go missing if they do so.
You can use blankets, books, or even door stops to prevent your hamster from getting into small holes. If it’s something like a hole in the wall, you may even want to fill it as a more permanent solution.
Remove Anything Unsafe
Your hamster should be able to free-roam safely, so you should remove anything hazardous. This includes electricals and wires that your hamster could chew through, medical equipment, and cleaning products. Certain foods that may be toxic to animals should also be removed for their safety.
How To Free-Roam Safely With Small Hamsters
You should follow the advice above when it comes to free-roaming with small hamsters, but there are additional steps you should take.
If you have a smaller hamster, such as a dwarf, such a large space may be overwhelming to them. It may be a better idea to use a playpen, where they can still free-roam in a larger space without it being too much.
Smaller hamsters can also be incredibly sneaky. They may escape out of the smallest holes, even if you hadn’t noticed them before. By keeping them slightly more contained than you would with larger hamsters you are preventing them from running away and potentially getting lost.
Final Thoughts
Free-roaming is incredibly beneficial for your hamster. Doing so provides easy exercise and enrichment opportunities and allows them to build a bond with their owner over time. It is most effective for Syrian hamsters because they are a more confident breed, but alterations can make it enjoyable for smaller breeds too.
You should consider safety features when free-roaming your hamster, though. Using a room with little furniture and where holes can easily be blocked up is incredibly important for keeping them safe. Your hamster also shouldn’t have access to electrical wires, or other hazardous substances.
Even if free-roaming isn’t an option for you, you can increase their enrichment by getting a cage that exceeds requirements. Handling them regularly and switching out the toys in their cage will also get many of the same benefits that free-roaming provides.