Robo-Hamster Cottage

Event Year: 2022
Event Location: Virtual
Competition: Critter Comfort Cottage
Division: 6-8
School: Carwise Middle
Team Size:

TEAM NAME: Mecha hamsters
SCHOOL NAME: Joseph L. Carwise Middle



Featured Photo:

The objective of this STEM project is to design and build a comfortable living space for some sort of critter.

Critter chosen: Roborovskiy hamster

Roborovskiy hamsters info

size: about 2 inches long
color: sand colored with white markings above their eyes
habitat: desert regions
originated from: central Asia
perfered humidity: 40%60%
prefered temperature: 75°-85°F
diet: grains, vegetables, fruit, plants, and insects (in small quantities)
breathing rate: 34-114 bpm
pulse: 250-500 bpm
weight: 0.71 – 0.88 oz

• Clearwater Beach Sand
• blue hamster tube
• yellow hamster tube (3)
• Greek Gods Yourt container
• Snapple tea container
• Acai drink container
• hot glue
• pipe cleaners (10)
• hamster bottle
• orange folder
• small brown hamster wheel
• pineapple chalk
• assorted hamster food
• soil
• clover seeds
• tape
• hamster plate
• brown plastic container bottom
• metal wire top of cage
• assorted bottle caps (5)
• non-toxic foam spray
• cardboard
• sparkling ice water bottle
  
  

Materials Used

Recycled Parts

• blue hamster tube
• yellow hamster tube (3)
• Greek Gods Yougrt container
• Snapple tea container
• Acai drink container
• hamster bottle
• orange folder
• small brown hamster wheel
• pineapple chalk
• soil
• brown plastic container bottom
• assorted bottle caps (5)
• cardboard
• sparkling ice water bottle

Bought Parts

• clover seeds
• non-toxic foam spray

Building Process

• 1st step taken: connect brown plastic container bottom to metal wire top of cage
• 2nd step taken: put blue tube into opening in metal wire top of cage
• 3rd step taken: secure blue tube with pipe cleaners
• 4th step taken: cover up the remaining opening in cage with pipe cleaners and piece of orange folder
• 5th step taken: cut up folder and put the strips of folder around the cage for darkness in the cage
• 6th step taken: connect yellow tubes to the blue tube
• 7th step taken: cut top of acai bottle
• 8th step taken: cut a rectangular hole in acai and Snapple bottle
• 9th step taken: cut of top of acai bottle
• 10th step taken: filter the sand with the siff and use it as bedding
• 11th step taken: hot glue acai bottle and snapple bottle together
• 12th step taken: make sure the bottle structure is stable by hot gluing bottle caps and top of acai bottle on the bottom of the snapple bottle
• 13th step taken: cut bottom part of greek gods yogurt container
• 14th step taken: put pineapple chalk into bottle cage
• 15th step taken: put hamster wheel, bottle and food holder into brown bottom cage
• 16th step taken: grow clover plant
• 17th step taken: put clover plant into bottle cage
• 18th step taken: connect two cages together
• 19th step taken: fix major issues

Gallery

Critter Test

We think the habitat preformed well when the critter (Roborovski Hamster) was introduced. The hamster could successfully navigate throughout the whole habitat. It not only ate, but also showed higher interest towards the clovers than the branded food we had also put in there. The sand also seemed to be satisfactory, as it showed no signs of the sand bothering the critter, and the sand soaked up the critter’s waste. The habitat also successfully stored the hamster and kept it from escaping for 10 hours through the night, when it is most active.

Special Features

• Clover plant- resident of the cottage can enjoy fresh food straight from it’s garden.
• Sand bedding- since Robo-hamster’s natural habitat is a dessert the hamster can enjoy a familiar setting
• Dark part of cottage- since Robo-hamsters are nocturnal creatures the resident of the cottage can enjoy semi darkness

Advertisement video:

Insight video:

Challenges encountered during building:

• While building we discovered that there were a lot of sharp shells in the sand from clearwater, so we filtered through the sand to make it purer
• another challenge we encountered was in growing the plant because it died couple of times, so we had to start over with growing the plant.
• A final challenge we encountered was that the hamster was able to escape through a hole in the cage which we had to patch up.

intended for indoor use

Team members

Name: Rita B
Grade: 7th

Name: Matias G
Grade: 7th

Name: Mya F
Grade: 6th

Resources

https://hamsterhideout.com
https://feedingnature.com
https://hamstercare.com
https://www.hamster.com
https://www.petco.com
https://animals.mom.com
EXACTO knife
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