DIY Hamster Bin Cage

Meet Tim my extremely 'Tim'id hamster.

I got Tim about a month ago and decided to make him a bin cage so that he had a lot of room to run and a place to burrow (and an excuse to get my craft on). I bought the biggest storage box I could find that was tall enough to fit the 11" wheel in. My boyfriend excited to use his manly drill drilled many many many holes in the box sides and lid. 

I bought a small kitchen bin to use as a burrow, the top of the bin was cut off and sanded down to fit comfortably into the cage. So that Tim could reach his burrow I bought him this Flexible tube. I think these are awesome as they bend to whatever shape you need, can be as long or short as you want and are big enough for Syrian  hamsters to use. The only downside is that they can be a bit tricky to clean due to the ridges but I definitely think it's worth it.

Here's the bin/burrow where he's made a nest right at the bottom:

I made a sand bath for him out of a takeaway tupperware box filled with chinchilla sand (important: do not use chinchilla dust, chinchilla dust is too dusty for the hamsters respiratory system). He loves to roll around and dig in this. He also uses it as a toilet which makes cleaning his cage so much easier for me. I sieve the sand everyday to get rid of any mess and once a week I replace the sand and clean the tupperware.

Here's the sand bath and mini-sieve I use:

Here's the complete bin cage:

(Just for a bit of extra space I placed my other cage on top of the lid attaching the cage to the bin cage with a tube. To do this I cut a circle into the lid that was big enough for the tube.)

I'll be updating with more inventions for Tim soon: see more hamster posts Here.

Enjoy this post?