You can use all sorts of things for a sand bath. You could use a dish, a cookie jar or buy an actual sand bath. With sand you can buy reptile sand without calcium or children's play sand but this will need to be sterilized. I like Komodo sand and my hamster enjoys it.
. It's true that dwarf hamsters can appreciate sand baths more than Syrians - but it depends on the Syrian! Some enjoy them, some don't bother with them. Does your hamster use a potty for peeing in? What I do is get a corner litter tray with sand in - which our hamster uses to pee in - makes life much easier! Because the cage stays clean and dry and you just empty the potty once or twice a week. A lot of the ones sold for hamsters are too small, as you thought, and only big enough for a dwarf hamster, but people use all kinds of things as a sand bath for a Syrian hamster. You could just use a pyrex casserole dish for example from a kitchen cupboard, or an old ice cream plastic carton. Sand can get kicked about though, so other things people use sometimes use are things like an angled glass cookie jar or a large salt pig (more enclosed) - but you don't actually need to buy something.
The Tiny Friends Chinchilla sand is ok as well. If you get Chinchilla bathing sand, it needs to say "sand" and not "dust". There seems to be some debate on whether or not childrens play sand needs sterilising or not as some already says sterilised so it maybe depends which one you get!
I do the wheel a different week from the substrate as well - and any other items, just as and when needed.
Ah yes I forgot that - the Hamster Heaven already comes with a potty! Does he use it?Thank you for the advice! Yes, my hamster lives in a Hamster Heaven cage that came with a potty however he doesn’t use this and uses the penthouse instead as well as storing food there too.
Okay, putting more substrate in the cage is definitely something that I’ll do. I have heard that getting the right size wheel is really important for them as their backs can arch, I think, so I’ll have a look at getting a new one soon too. Possibly the 28cm Trixie wheel. Thanks again!Just to add. One thing they really do love is lots of substrate in the base of the cage - so they can have normal behaviours like burying hoards and pushing the substrate about or digging a bit. I thought from the photo your hammy looked quite low down in the cage. They need about 4" deep of substrate but most people try to put about 6" in (ie just below the edge of the base - any higher and it can spill out!). It might sound like a lot of substrate but - it lasts a lot longer the more you use - because then you don't need to do clean outs very often (especially if they use a potty tray!). You can just "spot clean" mostly and go 2 to 3 months before having to change the substrate - even then it's usually clean and dry at the bottom and I reuse about half the old substrate and mix it in with the new - that way it still smells familiar to the hamster, because it still has their scent, so it's less stressful for them. Big clean outs can be very stressful for them (if you didn't know already!). They scent mark their cage and leave scent trails in their substrate to help navigate their way round the cage (as they really don't see well) so if everything is cleaned at once they can feel a bit lost and stressed. So partial cleans are better
You might want to think about a bigger wheel for him as well! I can't see from the photo well, but it looks like a smaller size flying saucer. It can be an issue fitting a bigger wheel into the hamster heaven so some people remove one of the shelves (usually the one with the holes in) and put a bigger wheel at that side. Something like the 28cm Trixie wheel is really popular. The wheel that comes with the cage is a bit small and they can't run with a straight back in a small wheel. Goodness knows why manufacturers still put small wheels in cages!
. there may be others you can get locally, but for a Syrian it ideally needs to be about 11" diameter. you can get 10" ones as well but sometimes a hamster can outgrow those and then you need to get another one! They run really well in an 11"/28cm diameter too. I don't know if he bar chews but sometimes they bar chew when their wheel is too small (not getting enough exercise)!
. If you need to take the shelf with the holes in out to fit a wheel in there is then room for some more floor toys at that side too - just things like a cardboard tunnel or an extra hidey place (tissue box) tend to go down well! Pringles tubes make good tunnels for Syrians (cleaned out of course!)
. I just get the clear one and only paint the inside of the wheel and the cork lining (so it's wipe clean if they pee in the wheel - which they often do!).
