Cat Hamster House, Biomimicry Burrow Easy Clean

The safest place for a hamster is inside the cat. This is a hamster house shaped like my real cat Bagheera in the middle of a yawn, with the burrow design of a real hamster home hidden inside.

BIOMIMICRY: WHAT NATURE DOES, WHAT THIS COPIES

Wild hamsters do not sleep in a box. They dig burrows with a nest chamber, a separate food stash, and more than one opening. Burrowing animals such as prairie dogs also use a low opening plus a high opening, so air can move through the tunnel without a fan. This house translates that into a printed object:

• Low entrance and high exits: the yawning mouth is the low entrance, and the two ear tips are raised chimney vents (a 6 mm bore from the nest roof to each ear tip), so warm air can rise out while fresh air comes in through the mouth.

• Nest chamber: a domed room, about 66 mm wide and 60 mm tall, big enough for a pair of dwarf hamsters to curl up.

• Food stash step: a low wall with a doorway at the back of the nest, like the separate food chamber of a real burrow.

• Sloped entrance: the tongue is a gripped ramp down to the desk, like the sloped mouth of a burrow.

This is a design inspired by burrow structure. I did not run airflow tests, so please read the vents as passive ventilation help, not a measured result.

THE JOKE

Everyone knows hamsters are afraid of cats. So I built the one place no cat would ever check: inside the cat. The face is Bagheera, caught mid "I am not tired".

EASY TO CLEAN

• Two parts: the head lifts straight off the base tray. No screws, no tools. A hidden plug on the tray keeps the head in place.

• Smooth inside, no tiny crevices. Wipe the tray and nest with warm water and mild soap, rinse well, air dry.

• PETG is recommended (it washes well and takes a bit of chewing).

PRINT NOTES

• Size assembled: about 150 x 145 x 149 mm. Fits the A1 mini as two plates.

• Printer/profile: Bambu Lab A1 mini, 0.4 nozzle, PETG, Textured PEI plate.

• Plate 1, head: 0.16 mm, 11 h 1 m, 163 g, tree supports from the plate, brim. It is sliced cut face down.

• Plate 2, tray: 0.16 mm, 4 h 10 m, 77 g, tree supports under the ramp. Both plates print without AMS.

• Total about 15 h 11 m and 240 g of PETG.

• The head is a 2.4 mm hollow shell on purpose (open at the bottom, closed by the tray plug).

HAMSTER SAFETY (please read)

• This is a concept design and I have NOT printed or tested it with live hamsters yet. Check it yourself before use.

• Dwarf hamsters can squeeze through gaps of about 1 cm, so keep the head seated on the tray. The ear vents are only 6 mm.

• Hamsters chew. Inspect the house often and replace it if it gets chewed.

• Not a toy for cats. Do not paint the inside.

ABOUT THIS MODEL

Designed with AI assistance (Tripo AI) from a photo of my cat, then prepared for printing by me: hollowed, split into two parts, vents and stash step added, sliced. The pictures are concept renders (painted look), not photos of a finished print.