About a two years ago my children fell in love with two baby Dwarf Hamsters. They brought them home and we knew nothing about them!

We purchased two of the usual fun hamster cages from the local pet store and set them up and let the hamsters run around in the little cages. One cage was a wire cage, and one little dwarf hamster promptly disappeared through the wires and into the walls of our house.

The second cage was all plastic, and we could barely see the little critter as it made its nest and climbed around. Cleaning the plastic cage was a horror show for my children; a lot of work, tubes to scrub, bedding spilled everywhere. It was a mess.

When the escapee came back through the walls, we caught him or her and knew we needed a new home immediately. So we went to Walmart and found two 10 gallon glass aquariums. They cost 9.97 each, and I found screen tops that could easily be attached to the top to hold water bottles. The screen tops fit with four small screws and looked sturdy.

Home we came with our two aquariums. We easily set them up, attached the screens to the top. Filled the bottom of the cage with Critter Care Bedding that we found at Walmart, and we put the two beloved little Dwarf hamsters into their new homes.

These aquariums have provided my family with the perfect viewing ground for our hamsters. We can watch them eat, sleep, play and drink from the water bottles that hang from the holes in the screen. The 10 gallon size is large enough to put in toys for the little hamsters to enjoy. The top is easy to reach into for little hands to give treats to the hamsters.

We became so knowledgeable about our hamsters that we tried breeding them. We allowed the two hamsters to spend a night or two together, and 18 days later a litter of 7 hamster puppies arrived in our aquarium! Through the glass walls we were able to watch the entire process from birth to grown hamsters. My little son watched proudly as his hamster nursed her babies. We counted them every morning and could easily see all seven of our cherished hamsters babies through the walls.

When it came to cleaning the cage, we could easily reach in, clean one side of the aquarium and not disturb the nest of babies.

The glass aquarium is a little too heavy for my children to be picking up and moving around for clean up. But the joy of these is the big open top. It is very easy to scoop out all the old bedding, and we wipe it down with flushable wipes that we buy at the grocery store. By using this clean up method my children can do it themselves and not even move the cage. The glass stays clean and dries quickly and my kids quickly put fresh bedding in, fill up the food bowl and that is all it takes.

With the addition of a bunch of babies we of course needed more aquariums. So we went to Walmart once again and purchased two more of the Hagens glass aquariums. This time they were on sale for 8.97 each.

At first I was going to get smaller aquariums for the small hamster babies but I realized that the smaller ones were actually more expensive than the 10 gallon size. So we went for the less expensive larger homes for our critters.

My children has begun their own little hamstery now. They sell hamster babies for 12.00 a piece. When they get enough orders we plan a litter and put our original two hamsters together in one aquarium for a while.

Dwarf hamsters seem to be a perfect pet for my children, and the aquarium is easy to use and easy to view. The hamsters cannot escape, the clean up is a breeze and they seem very content with the size of the caged area.

I know many parents shy away from hamsters as pets. I used to do that as well. And after our experience with our first two cages I was ready to throw in the towel and forget hamsters! But, with these inexpensive aquariums there is no odor to content with, they are easy to clean (I cannot stress that enough) and with the clean up easy it makes watching these little pets fun and enjoyable.

The biggest problem we have now, is that the store never seems stocked with the aquariums! We have recommended these to so many people that the supply of 10 gallon aquariums is dwindling!

Recommended: Yes