What about lighting

[Moni72mm]

I’ve been following a YouTuber that put an LED light strip under the cage cover but I haven’t seen any others.

Oreo’s in a spare bedroom so theirs sunshine during the day but since it’s winter in Canada we don’t have light for more than 10 hours a day at the moment. We turn on the ceiling lights when we are there to feed him but otherwise its dark and since they don’t see in the dark was wondering if it might be a good idea.

 

[Maz]

What would the purpose of the led light be for? Although I can see you're saying that you don't have much daylight in Canada. To be honest I wouldn't worry about it. Hamsters seem to adjust with the seasons and if it's dark you have lights on in the house. So if he's in a bedroom, just have a light on a timer in there maybe? You can get smart bulbs for overhead lights you can set on a timer or turn on and off from your phone We have a couple. Good for when away to prevent burglars as well.

 

[Moni72mm]

yes there’s already a smart bulb in that room and I was wondering if he’d like it on for a period of time during the night. I was curious if they would like to have soft lights when they are roaming at night since they don’t see in the dark. In nature there’d be times when the moon is out.

I guess all the lighting i’ve seen in pictures or YouTube is for the humans not the hamsters. Poor little guy roaming around in the dark.

 

[Maz]

They prefer complete darkness at night for their biorhythms Ideally lights come on and off at the same times daily, so maybe light between 9am and 11pm and then darkness.

Hamsters don't see very well at the best of times but their eyes are more in tune with darkness due to the nature of their eyes. The eye structure is fascinating. They're hard wired to roam and forage and run long distances after dark.

And yes sometimes people put lights on enclosures for their own benefit rather than the hamster's!

 

[Maz]

Hamsters have about 97% rods in their eyes and a small percentage of cones, meaning they have excellent low light vision but can't see colour. Although there are theories they can see blue or green. The low number of cones means they are quite near-sighted. They actually see better in the dark than in the light. They mainly rely on sense of smell and hearing and the vision is adapted for detecting movement and dawn and dusk lighting. As they're actually crepuscular (dawn and dusk) rather than nocturnal. Although do seem to be mostly nocturnal as pets.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Navigating underground seems to have developed their senses at the expense of vision. What you don't use, you lose. I think hamsters use ultrasound quite a lot to to sound out spaces. Feeling vibrations underground is also important, so the nervous system dedicated to their whiskers may have taken over some of the brain space that sight may have used as they evolved.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Hamsters have about 97% rods in their eyes and a small percentage of cones, meaning they have excellent low light vision but can't see colour. Although there are theories they can see blue or green. The low number of cones means they are quite near-sighted. They actually see better in the dark than in the light. They mainly rely on sense of smell and hearing and the vision is adapted for detecting movement and dawn and dusk lighting. As they're actually crepuscular (dawn and dusk) rather than nocturnal. Although do seem to be mostly nocturnal as pets.

It is fascinating