Bored hamster

Question
My hamster has an aquaeruim and I make her cool little houses all the time,she doese like to dig, but what if she gets dirty digging through the soil?Do I give her a bath, or let her handle it?
         Brittany-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Hi, My pet is behaving like she is bored.I don't know what to do.I take her out alot,I make her new toys all the time, and some of her brothers come over some times.I don't know what else to do!
Answer -
Dear Brittany,
thank you for your question.
how big is her cage? A good cage for a Syrian hamster should be at least 3 ft long, 1 ft wide and 2 ft high, with second storeys. For dwarf hamsters it should be 3 ft long and 1 ft high and wide.

You can offer her tufts of grass, food wrapped in paper, leaves and branches from hardwood like hazel or beech, scatter the food in her cage instead of using a food bowl, bead pieces of fruit and vegetable on a string to make it harder for her to get her food, make houses from egg containers, rearrange parts of the cage frequently and last but not least give her a big container with wood shavings or soil (not fertilized) to dig in. Maybe an old fish tank that's connected to her cage with a tube, so that she can go there whenever she wants.

The problem with hamsters is that they have a huge desire to dig and run. The ideal hamster cage is a huge container filled with substrate where the hamster can dig his tunnels and a cage on top to climb and run. They don't play much, like rats or mice do (hamsters are not as intelligent as those). Those plastic cages with tubes are a bad idea because they are usually too small and the breath of the hamster condenses in the tubes, which can lead to respiratory infections.

Letting a hamster meet other hamsters is not a good idea. You might end up with a pregnant hamster. This may sound cute, but it's very hard to find good homes for up to 10 or 12 little hamsters. Apart from that, hamsters are strictly solitary animals and meeting other hamsters is just stress for them, even if it does not look like it.

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer

Answer
I apologize if you did get this message before, but I have problems with the AllExperts site and I didn't get a "message send"-notice before.
Hi,
sorry, it took a day longer, Sunday was chaotic for me :)
Here's a picture of a cage used in the study, with a closeup on the hamster's nest:
http://www.arcor.de/palb/alben/80/94180/400_3539643166643536.jpg

And this is how it is suggested a cage might look like that give the hamsters oppotunities both to dig, run and climb:
http://www.arcor.de/palb/alben/80/94180/400_6239633266316431.jpg

I'll take the pics offline in two weeks since they are copied from a magazine.
I hope they give you some ideas how to arrange the cage of your hamster.
Jennifer