Hamsters are playful pets that love to run on their wheel with a stop to the water ‘fountain’ every now and again to stay hydrated. Nowadays there are so many toys for your pet to play with, with everything from wooden chews to a miniature climbing frame to keep your pets thoroughly entertained.
However, instead of giving them a ball to run around in on the floor or a few treats now and again, why not build them a fully equipped hamster playground! Here they can have all the fun in the world with a variety of homemade toys and mini play equipment. You can build everything from slides to a little swing for them to take a break on.
It may also be worth having a few treats or a bowl of food and some water dotted around so your hamster can tuck in whenever they feel like it as well as keep up their energy until it’s time to leave the mini play park.
In this article, we will be taking a look at how to create a hamster playground.
Base
First things first, you need a base for your playground. A large wooden board is ideal for the base as its sturdy enough to hold the equipment without the risk of it toppling. After you have chosen your wooden base, you need to think about what’s going to cover it. Ideally you want something that is soft and gentle for your pet as well as being durable enough to handle hours of scurrying feet. Artificial grass is one of the best options for your mini play park as not only is it extremely resilient to all kinds of wear and tear, it is also low-cost and all muck and debris can be simply washed away at the end of a long day in the hamster play park.
Also, there are many different types of grass to choose from, all of which will be ideal for your fake grass lawn for your pet.
Equipment
Next you need to think about the equipment you want to use in your play park. Swings and slides are fairly easy to make and mini ‘sandboxes’ are great too – for these it is recommended to fill them with hamster bedding instead of actual sand.
To make a swing, all you need is two necklace chains that you can cut down to size, a small block of wood and five thin strips of wood that can be your frame. Firstly, you need to cut everything down to size – it can be any size as long as it isn’t too big for your pet. This will also be based on the size of your pet. Once everything is cut down to size, you need to sandpaper the thin strips of wood so they sit on a slant at the end; this will be where you join them together with superglue.
After this is done, join the slanted ends together in a swing frame shape and attach the necklace chains to the horizontal strip of wood. You can attach the necklace chains by making a small hole in the wood and threading the ring on the chain through the hole. Once you have done this, attach the bottom plank of wood that will act as the swing seat to the necklace chain in the same way and voila! You have yourself a hamster swing! Feel free to make it as colourful as you like beforehand.
Alternatively, you can make a little ‘sandpit’ for your hamster to sit in while taking a break. For this all you need is the bottom of an old box, some paint if you want to make it look colourful and some soft bedding. Just pop the bedding into the box and you have your mini sized pit for your hamster.
There is other equipment you can make however; these are just a few examples!
A Splash of Colour
Once you’ve got all your bits and bobs together for your hamster play park, why not add a splash of colour and a few little details to enhance the appeal of your playground. You could create a multi-coloured picket fence to go around the park or you could have a few homemade tunnels dotted around to give them something else to play with.
As for colour scheme, you can do anything you want! You may want to get a cardboard back drop and create a blue sky themed drop for a never-ending feeling of summer or a winter wonderland with snowmen and a Santa Claus.
These are just a few tips on how to create a hamster playground! Do you have any more to share with our audience.
