HAMSTER TOYS

A hamster is a great pet to have. They are a lot less responsibility than having a cat or a dog, and they are not too attention demanding. They however do like to spend time with their owner. There are several activities that you can perform together. Chances are, every once in a while, they will come out of their cage and explore the room surroundings but under the guided watch of their owner. One of the fun ways to bond, play or simply occupy your pet hamster is via playing in the hamster maze.

Basically a hamster maze is a small version of a maze, specifically designed to suite hamsters. It consist of some leading paths, some blind ending, while others leading to the next path. It’s basically used as a challenge where the hamster gets to tread through all the paths until they reach the exit point. Others don’t have an exit point, and basically lead to reward points, like to a pot of hamster goodies and snacks.

A hamster maze has a long history, being used by scientists to investigate some common traits in mammals. It’s not limited to hamsters alone, since it is used with all other kinds of rodents, especially the lab mice. It tests the memory levels of rodents and how easily they can remember their way. They may be small, but records indicate that a rodent can go through a maze in perfection a second time, given a defined time span; something a human is almost incapable of doing without leads. The only disadvantage is their memory is short lived. Usually, hamster mazes used for these experiments are huge, being made of wood in most instances. But for home purposes, it doesn’t need to be that big, and can usually be home made. The DIY option goes down well with home owners since all you need are some cardboard boxes, decorating papers, adhesive tape or glue, and some little imagination. You need to have some kind of layout for your maze to ensure that not all paths are blind ending.

You can have fun with the overall size and design, but it’s recommended that the walls are not too high or too low in such a way that the hamster would jump over them. Plus as a bargaining chip, it’s always good to have some kind of snack at the end of the maze to give the hamster even more reason to overcome the challenge. Since making a hamster maze is not hard, you can easily make several designs, and increase the size of the maze to avoid monotony. In any case, you are not likely to get bored especially when you make some kind of game out of it. You could time and see how fast the hamster gets to the others side and give it a treat every time it clocks better performance. Buying a hamster maze is not really necessary, but should you need one, they are available in most retailing pet toy stores.