Behaviour of golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) - Vetsuisse ...

GroomingAll hamsters were observed grooming. Forty-six out of 60 hamsters showedgrooming in the sand bath. A minimum of 0.02 % of total observed time and amaximum of 13.74 % of total observed time was spent on this behaviour. Nosignificant differences were observed between grooming in the sand bath andgrooming in other localities. Although the area of the sand bath was only 2 % of thearea of the largest cage, hamsters in the biggest cages spent more than 12 % ofgrooming in the sand bath. In the smallest cages 19 % of grooming was performed inthe sand bath while the area of the sand bath was 11 % of the cage area. But therewere no significant differences between cage sizes (GLM-ANOVAs: P > 0.1).There were no significant differences in the duration of running or restingamong the four cage sizes.LocationHamsters stayed most of the observed time inside the running wheel (Fig. 5). Theremaining time was spent in the open space, at the wire, in the food bowl or in thesand bath. Mostly positive correlations were found between the time that was spentin the locations shown in figure 5, showing that the hamsters used the whole cageand its structures (data not shown). The running wheel usage though was negativelycorrelated (P < 0.007) with the usage of these various locations.16