Niteangel Acrylic Corner Sandbath

Jan 19

Written By Rachel

If you listen to my podcast (or keep up with all my going-ons) you already know about Lester, the Roborovski hamster I have living in a Christmas tree bin.

He’s a sweet little guy with lovely, light brown spots. He came in his Christmas tree bin from the young woman who rescued him (but then had to go off to college and couldn’t bring him with), and I’ve been slowly upgrading his digs ever since.

Overall, I think his set up is not too shabby. I wish he had more vertical-digging room, but he’s got a lot of hides & points of interest in his bin that I feel happy with. One of them is this lovely, corner sandbath from Niteangel.

Full disclosure, Niteangel actually gifted this to me (along with the corner platform you can see off to the left, some gorgeous dried flowers, fluffy paper bedding & yummy freeze dried snacks).

I decided to use this sandbath for Lester because I felt it would work well nestled into his bedding and had a nice shape to it. You could put it in a corner, but I liked that the corner shape created a new space for him to hang out behind (where I placed a glass jar for him to cozy up with a Whimzee in).

Niteangel Animal Sand-Bath Box: - Acrylic Critter's Sand Bath Shower Room & Digging Sand Container for Hamsters Mice Lemming Gerbils or Other Small Pets (Triangle, Birch-Wood)

Niteangel

I like to use an item for a bit before I write a review and now that it’s been a month (or two!) I feel fully prepared to tell you all about why I love this corner sandbath!

It’s shape

Most of my other sandbaths are rectangular. Rectangles are a nice, practical shape that fits into a rectangle hamster cage set-up in a nice way. But, you know when your hamster enclosure just feels boxy and linear? Adding a few round items to the mix can help change the flow, and I honestly think your hamster feels the difference. That’s how I feel about this triangular shaped sand bath - round on one side, flat on the others, it really adds a nice flow to the enclosure and looks beautiful!

the lid

If you have hamsters you know how messy they can be… particularly with a sand bath or digging area. I love that this sand bath has a lid! It allows the sand bath to be more of a digging area for Lester to go wild in, and I don’t have to worry about him kicking the sand all over. I also think this gives him a nice, cozy feeling while he’s in it, which is particularly nice for shy hamsters, like robos tend to be.

the acrylic base

For many years I used Pyrex containers I got for low, low prices at Goodwill stores for my hamsters. They work great and I still highly recommend using Pyrex for sandbaths (I actually still use them, particularly in my playpens) , but Pyrex can be heavy, particularly when it’s filled with sand, and I always worry I’ll slip an drop the sand bath when I got to remove it for cleaning.

This triangle sandbath from Niteangel has a super light, yet very sturdy feeling base that is so easy to hold onto. Last time I cleaned Lester’s sand it was easy to wash the sandbath and it came out looking sparkling clean!

In summary…

There are lots of great options when it comes to sand baths for your hamster. You could use a big plastic refidgerator bin as I do for my dwarf hamster, Dexter. Or, you could get a nice, acrylic tray as I do for many of my other hamsters. Pyrex works great. So do the many options from Niteangel or Bucatstate. Exotic Nutrition (home of the Silent Runner) now has some great sand bath options too!

You can’t go wrong as long as you keep a few things in mind:

accessibility: can your hamster get in and out of the sand bath with ease?
size: is this sand bath large enough for your hamster? Remember, bigger is always better. You can always provide more than one sand bath if you’re not sure.

Which sand to use?

Sand-wise, I use Reptisand (link to Amazon: https://amzn.to/4awfMvy ) . I use it because I’ve just always used it. When I started with hamster-ing back in 2020, one of the few, safe & easily attainable options was Reptisand. And, because I wash my sand, I don’t tend to run out of it very quickly. BUT! You now have other options from brands like Niteangel & Bucatstate.

A note on picking what type of sand to use for your hamsters: Stick to plain old sand. Not calcium sand. Not “potty” or clumping sand. No “bathing dust”… just regular, old sand! That’s all hamsters want and need! :)