Hello and welcome to this week’s post! I recently purchased a few different sizes of popsicle sticks from my local dollar store, and I was very eager to create something with them.

After some thought I designed this house, with a second story and a removable lid for easier cleaning. The stilts are for submerging in substrate to prevent the house from moving or crushing a burrowing hamster.

‘For Dwarf Hamsters,’ is not a suggestion; this DIY is not a suitable size for Syrian/Chinese hamsters.

You’ll Need:

• A hot glue gun
• Hot glue sticks
• Craft knife
• Scissors
• 12″ skewers
• Wire cutters (makes cutting skewers easier)
• Toothpicks
• 2″ mini popsicle sticks
• 4 1/2″ regular popsicle sticks
• 5 1/2″ coffee stirrers
• 6″ medium popsicle sticks
• 8″ large popsicle sticks

First we’ll make the second floor and start the roof. Make two platforms. Use 6″ medium popsicle sticks as supports for the 4 1/2″ regular popsicle sticks. Leave one regular stick off the end of one platform.

Using scissors, cut through five sticks about 2-3″ apart to make a hole (doorway) in the platform you left a stick off of.

Glue a regular stick at the end of the platform to create a perfect square hole in the platform.

Glue a mini popsicle stick on the underside of the platform alongside the door (for support).

The two platforms should look like this (the support sticks will be inward-facing, so they won’t be seen once the house is done).

Repeat this process, but use large sticks instead of medium for the supports to make the platforms longer (taller, when stood up).

Your two larger platforms should look like this. These are the front/back walls.

Now make two giant platforms with medium sticks for supports and large sticks for the surface area. These will be the sides.

Next, make a ramp to access the second floor. Glue mini sticks across two coffee stirrers to make a long platform.

Flip the long ramp-to-be over. Using your scissors, trim the sharp tips off several toothpicks and glue them to the ramp for treads.

Remember the platform that’s identical to the second-story floor platform? That’s the lid (roof), but it needs some adjustments to keep it from falling off.

Trim the rounded ends off three medium-sizes sticks. Glue them on the underside of the platform, 1-2 inches apart.

Cut two pieces of skewer about 2″ long. Glue them vertically on the middle medium stick on the outer edge of the platform.

Using a craft knife, cut a medium stick in half (lengthwise). Glue the halves across the protruding ends of the three trimmed medium sticks.

Time for assembly! Take your two pieces with holes (doors), and one large platform. Glue them together as shown above.

Glue the back wall across from the front door.

Glue the ramp in so it leads to the second-story doorway.

Glue the second large platform across from the installed one to complete the walls.

Adjust the lid onto the house. To keep it secure, glue a few regular sticks around the lid ends as shown above (left/front, right/back). To remove the lid, lift/slide it back.

When closed, the roof/lid should look like this, with a sleek and modern vibe.

Open up the roof and fill any gaps with sticks and/or glue to prevent caught limbs. You can also paint the interior with a hamster-safe varnish, such as Mod Podge, to make the house last longer if you’d like.

And finally, cut the sharp-ends from four skewers and glue them along the corners of the house. There should be a few inches sticking down still.

And that wraps up this week’s post. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial; if you recreated this for your Dwarf Hamster please comment below to share your experience and results!

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!