The hamster comes first.
This page is a promise in plain words. If a rule here ever has to bend, the chain bends, not the hamster.
The hamster has not moved in yet. This policy is written first, so that its home is built to it.
The short version
- It runs only when it wants to. Nothing rewards, pushes or tricks it into running more.
- It is never woken for work. Empty rounds are normal.
- Food and water are always there and are never used as a lever.
- Mining and filming stop whenever care needs them to.
Its home
- One hamster, living alone, as hamsters do.
- An unbroken floor of at least 100 by 50 cm, with bedding deep enough to dig real burrows.
- A wheel with a solid running surface, large enough that its back stays straight while it runs.
- A sand bath, a hide with several chambers, and things to chew and climb.
- A quiet room kept between 20 and 26 degrees Celsius, out of direct sun.
Night and day
Hamsters sleep through most of the day and wake at dusk. The project follows that clock, never the other way round.
- The camera sees in infrared. No lights are switched on at night for a prettier stream.
- It is not handled, moved or disturbed to make content.
- Long quiet stretches on the stream mean it is asleep, and that is fine.
The wheel and the counter
- The counter is a small magnet on the back of the wheel and a sensor next to it. Neither touches the hamster and neither changes how the wheel turns.
- The magnet is sealed and fixed where it cannot be reached or chewed.
- Cables stay outside the enclosure, or inside a sleeve that cannot be chewed through.
- No motor, no brake and no generator is ever attached to the wheel.
Health
- Food, water, bedding and behaviour are checked every day, and its weight is checked regularly.
- A vet who treats small animals is found before the hamster arrives, not after something goes wrong.
- At any sign of illness or injury the stream goes dark and mining stops. We say so here, plainly.
When the chain waits
A chain that depends on a living animal has to be comfortable standing still. It will stand still often: during the day, during a power cut, during a vet visit, or because the hamster felt like doing something else.
Hamsters live two to three years. When ours grows old it keeps its home and its wheel, and it runs as much or as little as it likes. What the project does after that will be decided in the open, and never by asking more of an old animal.
What we will never do
- Hold back food or water, or use treats to make it run.
- Wake it up, or keep lights on at night.
- Keep streaming or mining through a health problem.
- Breed it, lend it, sell it or raffle it for the project.
Hold us to it
The night camera will be public. If you ever see something that worries you, tell us on X. We would rather hear it early.