STEPHAN DOESN'T NEED FOOD ANYMORE

Do you think Stephan will be able to survive living like this for a month or even half a year?

This is great to see. But I would highly recommend for his safety to remove the wire mesh wheel in favour of a wooden or plastic one. The openings in the mesh can trap his feet/legs and break them. Also the flat surface in the wheel will let him get up to his full sprint, which he can't do with the wire mesh as he's aware of the holes in it.

I don’t think it’s healthy to limit his food to what can be grown. In the wild, he would have access to more variety (not types of grasses but things like insects, fruit, and grain) to make sure he’s meeting his nutritional needs. Could he survive a month or longer? Perhaps. But with a primarily green grass diet and the constant moisture from watering, I worry about diarrhea and wet tail from bacteria. Hamsters actually prefer making their burrows in more arid climates. At least give the little guy some hay so he can provide a barrier away from the damp.

To your question if you should not feed him other than just the sprouts it's a big NO. Hamsters are omnivores and their main diet consists of seeds (oleaginous seeds 30% and farinaceous seeds 70% of the mix to keep them in healthy weight), roots and animal protein. Hamsters can eat greens too but they are not herbivores and too many greens will upset their stomach. By feeding him only plants he will most likely get upset stomach fast and will most likely die due to diarrhea and malnourishment. He may also die due to hypothermia (or fall into coma like state which can kill them fast) which you can give him by making him live in moist environment as hamsters can not control their body heat unlike many other animals. Dwarf hamsters should eat fresh greens only the amount of the size of their head every 2 days as it is not their main diet. The plants should be also way more varied than just 3-4 different plants and add various flowers (which are safe for hamsters, not all flowers are). I appreciate the thought of a wheel for your hamster but you could not have picked a worse wheel. This type of wheel easily injures hamsters and there are many cases of hamsters breaking their limbs with it. The wheel has to be completely solid and not have any nudges on the running surface. If you'd like a naturalistic looking wheel I would suggest a beautiful wooden wheel :) Another thing I would suggest against is the fact that you bring twigs and plants directly from outside without cleaning them. They need a proper cleaning before using if you wish to use any. No soil or moss should ever be picked from outside as they are full of bugs and bacteria which is very harmful for the hamster even after cleaning. Buy farmed moss and plants for your pets, they are often available via reptile section. The twigs should be baked in the oven in about 100C for 1 hour at least to kill off any bugs such as bird mites which are very common cause for hamsters skin rashes, irritation and hair loss. I would highly suggest that you would end this experiment or at least put it on hold and study about hamsters a bit more before more experimenting. I have been watching your experiment videos with him and in every video things just get worse and worse. You could easily avoid those mistakes by doing basic research about hamsters before attempting new things. No hard feelings personally. I just do not like seeing experimental videos on animals where even basics are way off. It gives false information for those who do not know better. The trend may spread and cause a lot of damage to already highly abused animals such as hamsters. Thank you for understanding. I am open to answer any questions related to hamsters as I am well educated and have been working with different rodents for many years.

While this idea is very cool I really really need people at home to know that even a dwarf hamster needs about three times the size that this enclosure is and a bigger wheel (min 20cm in diameter) to ensure he doesn't over arch his back when running and a wheel that doesn't have holes in it..

Hamsters forage A LOT. so, give him plenty of options, more diversity in food. Offer some life bugs (hamsters love mealworms for example, but just a few, 2 or 3 or so). In a bigger cage with more plants and diversity, this idea would work.

Don't use a wheel with mesh. That can cause bumblefoot or other painful ailments. And again, I recommend a bigger enclosure. He's climbing because of stress.

Hi there! Hamster enthusiast and veterinarian here. So I LOVE the natural theme you’re going for. Also you appear to have several inches of bedding which is great! But, just a few things to note if you want to keep improving (as others have mentioned already)… 1. Wheel change: avoid mesh as it can cause injury. Get a size up so your Hammies back lies straight when running (as they can develop spine disease over time when curved) 2. Bigger is better!: hammies can roam up to ~5 miles a night (wow!). Opt for a bigger enclosure so they have lots of room to forage and explore. Hamsters are ground creatures so go for width rather than height. Levels can be put in place but as long as they don’t get too high to cause falling injuries. 3. Food pyramid: hamsters are omnivore (like us!) and enjoy a wide variety of food. They (also like us) can get fat quick on diets too rich in fat. Offer a commercial pelleted hamster food with added snacks on top. Fresh leafy greens are wonderful, but keep sugary foods like fruit, carrots, and yogurt drops to a minimum. Many stores also offer dried flowers and herbs which can be added too! Also, don’t forget to offer a hamster safe salt or mineral lick! There’s lots of other things I could add so feel free to message me if you have any questions! Overall I love the hamster care you’re going for. They aren’t just pocket pets, but members of the family too! Keep up the improvements 🥰🐹

It's a shame to see so much effort put into this hamster just to be put in the wrong places. This hamster could have a partial dry tank with plenty of enrichment and have the other part as an ecosytem- the possibilities are endless and it could be so amazing for him if this man actually researched this little guy's requirements. Although he may be in a better place than a little plasic bin with a 10 year old it still doesn't excuse the fact that this man has the funding, and obvious time, to give him an amazing home and life. Best of luck to Stephan, hopefully things change before the humidity, lack of food diversity, and lack of space get to him.

While this is a cool little project, both his old house and new hamsterium are too small for hamsters long term, at minimum the enclosure should have 3 ft×3ft of space for him to run around and explore. This much surface area will also allow you to grow more varied plants for a well rounded diet. Also I recommend replacing the mesh wheel with another wheel that doesn't have holes, much safer and healthier. The bigger the wheel, the less damage to his back as well (you don't want his back curving to much)

I think it's a wonderful concept, but given the size constraints of the "hamitarium" it seems congested. I'd think it'd be a bit less chaotic with a larger size "hamitarium". I'd love to see this concept, but where he or she would have space to roam n still have the farms. Adorably charming and creative!!

This is a great idea, however, as a hamster owner I'm seeing several problems: *the size of the enclosure is too small. When hamsters are in too small of an enclosure they will show signs of stress including running around the perimeter of the cage and trying to climb up the walls/the wheel, which he is doing. * Speaking of the wheel, metal wire wheels like that are dangerous. A hamster's foot can easily get caught in the holes while running, and can result in him accidentally breaking his leg while running. I would suggest a solid plastic wheel, and also one that's a bit larger than he has now. * It would also be a good idea to keep the cat and other animals away from his enclosure since this usually also causes stress in hamsters. especially if it's a predator. I'm sure your cat is friendly, but the hamster doesn't know that. He also obviously didn't enjoy that insect being in his space * He could have a small sand pit, and a few more things to chew on *Remember that hamsters are omnivores, and while (most) fresh greens aren't bad for them, they don't provide all the right protein. Make sure to also feed him seeds, lab blocks, and stuff like mealworms or crickets!

SAVE THIS GUY OMFG GET THIS HAMSTER OUT OF THIS MANS HANDS

Sorry I wouldn’t agree with having just fresh vegetables all round. It sooner or later will upset his stomach. Hamsters still will need seed mixes and seeds. Please do change his wheel, wire mesh wheels are dangerous as it could easily hurt their feet. Keep into consideration that they are home pets and not being brought up directly from the wild.

We need more updates, I hope he didn't die from poor research. You know that this is wrong because so many comments have pointed out the problems and you continue to abuse Stefan. I hope he has a bigger cage and a better life.

1) Wire mesh wheels are both uncomfortable and potentially dangerous for hamsters, especially for dwarf hamsters like Stephan, as their legs can get caught into the holes and break (because the wheel keeps going). The hamster won't stop, either; they'll keep running, likely causing permanent damage, and in some cases painful death. 2) Bigger enclosure. That thing is a fucking shoe box. It's a fancy-looking shoe box, but still a shoe box. 3) Every time you change something major, you're stressing Stephan out. A hamster in a well-sized enclosure/cage does not try to escape. You put in "anti-escape measures"; meanwhile, a hamsters at ease in their area rzrely even try, especially after a little while. Seriously, like I said in a different video, get a Detolf from IKEA. It would fit your set-up perfectly. Also, I really, really hope you don't leave the lights on when recording overnight and such. At one point it looked like you did, but I can't be sure. Obviously, hamsters are largely nocturnal, and hate bright lights, and equally obviously they prefer darkness as they do their business in the night.

this cage looks too small. you should put him in a bigger one so stefan can live a happy life : )

Stephan probably needs more protein and fat than he will get from greens alone, so you would still need to provide other food.

the longer this goes on the more this feels like a sad experiment considering his housing and diet

Not sure how many of you all know of the AntsCanada channel (though I'm guessing at least a decent amount), but while watching this poor little guy repeatedly try to find a way out of his too-small space, a thought struck me. I think this enclosure here is actually smaller than most (if not all) of the dozen plus terrariums that AntsCanada uses for his numerous colonies. His numerous ANT colonies. Maybe there's one or two that are smaller, but at the very least, I do know for sure that the vast, vast majority of his enclosures (which, again, are meant for friggin' ANTS) are bigger than this little thing...which is meant as the only living place for a hamster. And for a lot of AntsCanada's terrariums, I'm talking a lot bigger. Like, embarassingly bigger. I mean, what can you even say to that