# Gerbils/hamster Detolf



## Mark Inglis (Feb 20, 2019)

Soon I will be getting an Ikea Detolf for small pets. The thing is I can’t decide between a Syrian hamster or gerbils. They are just both so cute. I was wondering whether I could split the Detolf and keep a Syrian in one half and 2 gerbils in the other. Is this a good idea or not. I have heard it work with two hamsters but never hamster and gerbils. What are all your opinions?


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## Smolmaus (Oct 3, 2019)

The detolf isn't big enough that it can be split in half. It's 163x39cm in floor space so say 80x39 in half which isn't really big enough for any hamster. The generally accepted *minimum* cage size is 80x50cm. I know some people who have done it when they have had a pair of dwarf hamsters who have had to be split up but that was just from a lack of other options. It's never an ideal solution.

I have a male syrian in my detolf at the minute and it works as he is an older boy and not hugely active. It wasn't big enough to keep my syrian girls happy at all. I'm not a gerbil-person but I do know they need bedding depth for burrowing and one very big criticism of the detolf is that it's hard to get enough bedding depth in there for a syrian, nevermind a gerbil pair.

In short, no. Don't split it. Wait for advice from a gerbil-keeper on whether it's suitable for them but I would say for a syrian hamster it would need to be a male. Or a dwarf hamster could be very happy in there.


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