Dwarf Hamster death - 4 months old

Question
My daughter aged 12 got a hamster for christmas.  A dwarf.  Tiny Ted she called him.  We usually move him out of her bedroom at night due oto bar chewing, unfortunately when  I went to bring him back to her room this morning I found him hanging from the bars with his head wedged between the last bar and the lid.  Thank god I was able to take him down before she saw him.  She is completely devastated and still crying. We burried him in the garden. She really looked after him and handled him every day sometimes several times a day.  I told her she can get another one in time when she feels up to it but she said she will never use a bars cage again,  can anyone recommend an alternative. Devasted mammy for devastated daughter!.

Answer
Hi,
thank you for your question.
I'm really sorry this happened to you.
You can use a tank instead of a cage, actually those are better for dwarf hamsters since the hamster cannot escape at all and it can't chew on any cage bars. You do need a mesh wire lid in case the hamster manages to climb up to the top of the tank and the tank shouldn't be higher than wide to ensure proper ventilation.
In a tank, you can also fill in a much higher layer of bedding for the hamster to dig in. I would recommend a 30 gallon tank at least, even though they are so small, hamsters need a lot of room to run and dig to be happy.
Rubbermaid boxes or Ikea storage boxes (there's one in 34 gallon size) are good hamster homes, too.

It's also possible and fairly easy to build a hamster cage yourself, either from scratch or by converting a piece of furniture. Here are some homemade hamster homes:
http://www.tierische-eigenheime.de.tl/Gehege.htm
and here are some ideas for a tank with a homemade cage on top (for gerbils, but it works just as well for hamsters)
http://www.rennmauswalldorf.de/WImagesW/Aquaaufsatz3.jpg
http://wiki.mausebande.com/_detail/rennmaus/aqua2.jpg?id=rennmaus%3Aaqua&DokuWik...
http://wiki.mausebande.com/_detail/rennmaus/aqua.jpg?id=rennmaus%3Aaqua&DokuWiki...
and both homemade cages (from Ikea storage racks) and converted tanks
http://www.hockeyphreak.de/doku.php/tiere/maeuse/behausungen

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer