fancy bear hamsters

Question
Hi! My son got 2 fancy bear hamsters as a birthday present. We want to take good care of them, so I have a couple of questions. We give fresh water everyday in a water bottle with bearing at the bottom, but the hamsters don't seem to drink very much. Is this normal? Also we received cedar chips with the gift and I read cedar is poisonous to hamsters, is this true? One more question, the cage my son received isn't very large , it has a wheel and tunnel but that's it. Is this big enough? We bought another small cage to connect to the first , will this be okay?   Thank you so much for your time, any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

Answer
"fancy bear" is a fake pet store name, what you really have are 2 SYRIAN hamsters, which should not be living together. Do a google search and you'll find that Syrians are very territorial as they mature and will fight each other. Please buy a second tank asap and keep them separate the rest of their lives. Many owners seem to think their hamster never drinks but this is simply untrue. Hamsters are desert animals and don't drink that much to begin with. They are most active at night, when you're sleeping. THAT is when they are likely doing the drinking. Aspen and recycled paper bedding are the only type of bedding to be used. Since I have no idea the dimensions of your cage I can't say if it's good or bad. A full grown hamster should be kept in a 20 gallon long aquarium, or compatible size enclosure. Aquariums are ideal, since plastic and wire cages will get chewed up. Also plastic is hard to clean. What you have now may be fine for one immature hamster, but likely you'll need a bigger cage once it's full grown. Even if you didn't want the hamsters as a present, it's now your job to take the very best care of them possible, and give them the proper large, separate homes they deserve.