Page:The Golden Hamster Manual.djvu/20

 standard pens, Illus. 3, food stores (F) are in and on the slopes of the nest where the young may readily get to them, and urination (U,U) is in the front corners, passing at once into the trays. As in Illus. 4, oversize pens allow extra floor width inviting urination near some of the food stores (U,F).

Hardware Cloth

Hamsteries use galvanized hardware cloth, otherwise called hail screen, in sizes No. 6 to No. 2. Illus. 5 shows No. 6, 36 openings to the square inch. Illus. 8 shows No. 2, 4 openings to the square inch. The

writer’s first choice for floors Is No. 4; second choice, No. 3. No. 6 may not always be self-cleaning enough unless entire floor is of wire, as in Hobby Hamstery Pens as shown In Chap. 19. No. 2 is too open for the feet of the pre-sight young; and certain snakes in some parts of the country are successful in sucking very young hamsters through No. 2 wire floor area, although unable to harm them through No. 2 wire used on pen sides and doors. No. 4 wire has 16, and No. 3 has 9, openings per square inch, which are adequate, and either one is satisfactory for all wire used in pen construction. No. 3 has slightly better visibility for doors, and for the sides of display cages and observation pens. Many builders use No. 2 for doors and sides, and No. 3 or 4 for self-cleaning area of floors. For economy in buying, some obtain either No. 3 or 4, and use one size for all purposes. Some feel that No. 3 Is too open for their floor preferences. In hot, sultry weather, hamsters like to stretch out and rest on the hardware cloth, For that and other reasons, the oldest and largest American mass production hamstery at low altitude, near the Atlantic coast, has for years used 8 (wide) by 10 by 21-inch pens constructed of one inch boards, except for doors and entire floors which are of No. 6 hdw. cl. for ventilation and self-cleaning advantages. Considering needs peculiar to all sections of the country, floors of part wire and part wood, as in Chapters 22 and 23, are generally satisfactory to caretakers and favor highest productivity of hamsters.