While bedding is the material you line your hamster’s enclosure with, sand is also a great substrate that can be put in a section of the cage or in a bowl, for easy cleaning. Hamsters use it as a potty litter and to bathe, or to play and dig in it.
Offering you hamster sand has quite a few benefits: it helps not only keep your hamster clean, but also the cage. This means you won’t have to do a complete cage cleaning as often as you would have otherwise.
There is no potty training when it comes to sand. Once you put the bowl in the cage, they just know what to do. Most hamsters love the sand, so it should something to be considered.
There quite a few varieties of sand available and advertised as safe for small animals, however not all of them are actually safe. Hamsters have delicate respiratory systems, so inhaling fine particles of dust may cause infections and other health issues.
Safe Sand
Play Sand is a great choice for a sand bath in your hamster’s cage. It is sand that has been previously washed and dried, making it safe for children sand boxes. It can be easily found at Home Depot or Lowe’s for $5.
IMPORTANT: Play sand needs to be baked to make it safe for your hamster. Read the instructions below.
Plain reptile sand, without added calcium or dyes, is perfectly safe for hamsters. It can be found in the reptile section of most pet stores or on Amazon.
We recommend Reptisand Desert White sand because we think it’s the safest.
Aquarium sand is also a very convenient option for a hamster’s litter bowl. It can found in pet stores in the fish supply section.
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Sand baking instructions:
Items needed:
- deep aluminium baking pan
- an oven
- a wooden spoon or any other utensil to check the sand
Pour the sand in the baking pan an then place in the oven (depending on how much sand you are baking it might be a good idea to place the pan on the oven rack and then pour the sand). It is optional to preheat the oven. If you do not, allow more baking time (at least an additional 20 min). Bake for at least 1 hour -1 hour and a half at 350-400F. Check to see if the sand is completely dry by carefully moving some sand in the middle of the pan.
Unsafe Sand
A sand is unsafe if it has a dusty consistency, it contains added calcium, colorants or any other chemicals. Hamsters love digging into sand and even getting their nose in the sand, and inhaling these dangerous substances could harm their delicate respiratory systems.
- Supreme Tiny Friends Sand (it used to be safe but the formula was changed making it unsafe)
- Chinchilla dust
- Colored reptile sand
- Reptile sand with added calcium
