By purchasing a hamster, in any case, you will also have to think over a dwelling for him - an ordinary cage or a full house. The second, by the way, can be made independently and thereby get a multifunctional design, spending a minimum of money. There are also variations of small houses that are simply placed inside the cage and are used more for playing.
Design features
A home for a hamster, made by hand, should have several mandatory areas: where the rodent will sleep, eat and store supplies. In addition, it is important not to ignore the toilet, bedding, the opportunity to play and carry out hygiene procedures. Of the toys, experts recommend purchasing a running wheel, the size of which depends on the size of the little animals, well-ventilated tunnels, hammocks or swings, as well as details that allow you to develop teeth: wooden sticks, twigs, mineral stones.
To drink, you need a drinker, which will be a regular bowl. For feed, you should take a couple of containers - for wet and dry options. We must not forget about pressed sawdust.
Dimensions
Of course, the size of the home-made house will be determined depending on the size of the rodent itself and what functions the structure should perform. As an option, a wooden house for a small hamster requires the side walls are 10 by 10 centimeters in size, and the front and back should be at least 15 by 10 centimeters. A piece of wood is taken for the top with sides 17x12 centimeters.
The form
In principle, the shape of the house under construction can be anything. However, there are several requirements for the design itself:
- it is important that the owner has the opportunity to get inside and carry out cleaning;
- in the structure for small hamsters there should not be large gaps through which they can escape;
- if the rodent, on the contrary, is large, it can get stuck in a too narrow passage, therefore, these should also be avoided.
Step-by-step instruction
When deciding to build a hamster house at home, it is important to make sure that the selected material is environmentally friendly, and if the animal tries it “by tooth”, there will be no terrible consequences for its health.
If plastic is taken for construction, then it must be food grade.
From cardboard
It is easy and simple to make a cardboard house, but it cannot be distinguished by its special durability and durability. You can print the template on thin paper, and then transfer it to cardboard and cut it with a stationery knife. Then all the details are bent in the necessary places and glued together. At the last stage, the inlet for the rodent is cut.
However, it is much easier to take the cardboard box left over from paper napkins and design a home based on it.
From plastic bottles
To create a plastic structure, a one and a half liter bottle, a stationery knife, a marker, scissors and a lighter, which in the absence are easily replaced with matches, will be required. The necessary height of the house is measured from the bottom of the tank and is marked with a solid line marker around the entire circumference. With the help of a clerical knife, this part is trimmed, and the edges are melted under the influence of a lighter.
Further, in the house, a passage is cut out in the form of an arch, the edges of which are also processed by fire.
If you ignore this stage, the animal may be injured on a sharp surface. The finished house is placed inside the cage.
There is a variation in the manufacture of a more complex design of three or four five-liter bottles. Its drawing is best studied on the Internet, but the main point of the design is that the bottles are connected, inserted one into another, forming tunnels. In one of the containers a bedroom is made, in the second a feeding process is organized, in the third the hamster can go to the toilet, and in the fourth, if there is one, have fun on the wheel. Between themselves, the components of the house are additionally strengthened with glue and tape.
Another plastic housing for the rodent becomes construction of a conventional container in which useful little things are stored. The size of the box used should be quite large so that the hamster does not experience inconvenience when inside. For example, it could be a container dimensions of 640x460x300 millimeters.
Felt-tip pen and ruler, building net, pencil and knife, lighter or matches, as well as plastic clamps are also useful for manufacturing. A hole is cut in the lid with the help of a heated knife blade, which is then tightened with a net fixed by clamps. Holes for the latter are again created with a red-hot knife.
From plywood
Having obtained the finished parcel box from plywood, you can transform it into a hamster house. An inlet is drilled or cut on the side of the structure. Optionally, you can cut through several windows. Such a house should be painted with colorless paint for an attractive appearance.
From coconut
The most eco-friendly and stylish will be a house made of coconut. The main thing to do is to cut a hole with a diameter of at least 5 centimeters. After draining the milk, it is also necessary to remove all the flesh from the inside using a chisel.
If you first hold coconut in the freezer, then it will be cleaned much easier. An empty coconut is well washed, and the entrance is additionally sanded with sandpaper. Such a house is placed in the cage of the animal.
From paper
The easiest way to create a hamster house is to use two cardboard tubes left over from toilet paper or paper towels. Both alternately flatten, after which semicircular holes cut through on both sides. After straightening, one tube is inserted into another, forming a cross. This design is placed in a cage.
One more unusual paper house will turn out to be made of toilet paper itself. Although, most likely, he will live no more than a couple of days, the manufacture is so simple and economical that you can create a design as many times as you like to entertain a pet. In addition to toilet paper, a balloon and a basin filled with water are useful. First of all, the balloon is inflated to the size of a large apple. Next, the paper is torn into separate pieces and soaked in water.
Each sheet is immediately glued to the ball. It remains to act until eight layers are formed on the structure and it is completely covered. Then the future house is cleaned up to dry on the battery. The hardened structure must be removed from the ball, for which it is pierced by a needle or simply untied. At the end, a neat arch-shaped entrance cuts through the hemisphere.
From wood
Quite a long, but interesting, wooden house is created from ice cream sticks. In addition to 80-120 parts, wood glue, a ruler and a knife are useful. To create a house, a drawing is pre-compiled. Such a structure has two side walls, a floor, a ceiling and two parts of the roof. All of them are created by connecting sticks in parallel. Finished floor, ceiling and walls are glued together.
To make the roof rafters, it will be necessary to place sticks along and then across to ensure greater reliability. Until the glue has dried, you can further strengthen all with rubber bands.
If the house is planned to be two-story, then it will be necessary to think over a system of getting to the second level, for example, thanks to a ladder made of the same sticks.
The most successful solution, of course, is considered a full-fledged wooden house. The wood used must be coated with an antiseptic and stain. If desired, a varnish layer can also be provided, this will simplify the process of cleaning the structure. For construction, you need a board 4 cm thick, ideally from deciduous tree. In addition, a drill, sandpaper, a hammer, a set of nails, wood glue, a jigsaw and a drill are useful.
The first step is to prepare blanks according to the drawings. Then the holes for entry and ventilation are cut. For convenient fasteners, narrow rails used at connection points are useful. Each detail is worked out with a sandpaper, and its edges are cleaned with sandpaper.
After that, the walls are connected with a hammer and nails or with screws. It is not necessary to fix the roof, as this will deprive the owners of the opportunity to clean.
In the end, all the points of the cloves are checked so that they do not have the opportunity to injure the rodent.
From the box
It is very easy to create a house for a rodent from an ordinary box left from paper napkins. In this case, cardboard tubes for toilet paper, scissors and PVA glue will also be needed. The box is installed so so that the hole is in front, and a pair of rolls is fixed crosswise.
The resulting figure is inserted into the hole, forming the entrance to the house. Similarly, fixing a few more rolls, you can make a maze. All parts are reinforced with glue for reliability.
Interesting examples
Knowing the technique of weaving from a vine or having a basket of suitable shape and size, you can make a very unusual and stylish home. A round plywood, on which a wicker "yurt" is fixed, is usually used as a bottom. In addition, it is not necessary to cut a hole in this case.
Clay craftsmen can make a hamster house out of this material.In this case, it is better to make the lid removable, in order to be able to clean inside. You can decorate such a design with voluminous clay elements.
By analogy with a birdhouse, you can make a house for rodents from a stump of a suitable shape and size. In this case, you will have to work hard, cleaning out the "insides", but the resulting design will look very natural and will not do any harm to the hamster.
See how to make a house for a hamster with your own hands in the next video.
