Welcome to this DIY tutorial! These cylindrical, barred toys are most often used for hamsters and rabbits, but is also suitable for gerbils, mice, rats, and other little pets. You can put wooden beads, treats, or food inside and your pet will have to chew and fling to get the prize from the toy. It’s very mentally stimulating and helps wear down your pet’s teeth. Let’s get into it!

For this project I used:

• Cardboard
• A hot glue gun
• A ruler
• 3-4 12 inch bamboo skewers
• Wire cutters
• A craft knife
• A drawing compass
• A dark marker

You can substitute some of the items, such as:

• Wire cutters/Scissors
• Craft knife/Scissors
• Drawing compass/Circle template
• Dark marker/Another writing utensil

Using your compass or circular template, cut out two circles of cardboard, with a diameter of about 3 inches.

Cut your skewers into 8-12 pieces, 3 inches long. The more pieces you have the closer the bars will be to each other, vice versa.

Heat up your glue gun, and glue the bars upright onto a cardboard circle (the biggest understatement of the year; this takes patience). If you keep the glue gun moderately cool (unplugged whenever possible) then it dries faster.

Put your wooden bead, treat, or food inside the toy.

Dob glue on the ends of the sticks, then stick the other cardboard circle on top. I recommend turning it over and adding extra glue, for good measure.

Voila! This DIY is complete! I hope your pets enjoy this toy 😁

If you’re interested in more hamster-related content be sure to like this post and follow the blog, and I’ll be back on Tuesday with more small pet care, DIYs, recipes, cage setups, stories and more, have a ham-tastic day!