For the longest time, I wanted to do my own review of the Alaska.
I am also going to tell the story of Bayou in this thread, considering her life started in an Alaska cage.
At first sight:
It seems a very roomy cage. It comes with a hard level plastic shelf, a white bear house (I found this one creepy, more on that later.) and a white slide.
Mine was black and dark red. It provides a decent amount of substrate and space to put your own spin of things. But...I am not really sure about this one?
It's dimensions are: L 84 x B 48,5 x H 45 cm or in inches about: 33 by 19 by 18 inches. It give a hamster about 4000 cubic cm, so that's about the minimum for all species I think? At least the case in Europe it seems to be.
Price, where to get:
I got it from Zooplus, and in the Netherlands, you pay about 35-40 euro's for this one. This is cheap! Especially considering the price of other cages. Let's take the Ferplast Circus fun hamsters cage. This one is about 60-70 euro's from what I have seen, and way tinier!
Second hand, this cage's fairly easy to find. Here I pay around 25 euro's for a second hand one.
My own experience with this one:
Well, they are mixed!
On one hand I think this is a lovely cage for dwarfs and syrians who have been kept in tiny conditions.
I've kept a rescue dwarf in this cage without any trouble: no bar chewing or other stereotypical behavior. He's since moved on to a home with a cage about this size, and his new owners have confirmed he doesn't exhibit weird behaviours. But...I would be cautious with a syrian hamster in this one.
Bayou's story
See, My Bayou was born in one of these. Her breeder kept her from the litter. She had this cage, with a big wheel and substrate for burrowing but...well I don't know how she was happy in this one! After her first and very large litter, her breeder put her up for adoption. Along came me, Baron, and took her home with me.
Her's can be seen on one the pictures, the other one is just an adorable shot of Bayou herself.
She....wasn't happy in this one. First of all, she had a lot more toys, a multi chambered house, a big wooden wheel, a sandbath and a driftwoodstick, not really sure how it's called in English, sorry!
She climbed, alot. She started bar chewing on day 2. This left me wondering how she did not chew a hole in the cage at her breeder's home. Granted, I don't the breeder really noticed her hamsters behaviour, since they are kept in heated shed right next to the house.
Anyway, she moved to a hamster Plaza, 100 bij 50 cm....nope, she wasn't happy in this one either! Now she live's in a Detolf, can properly burrow and only ever chew's the mesh lid of her cage cover if she want's out/attention.
I'ts a ritual I've come to love, since all the animals here start to get active then.
Final opinion and thoughts:
Am I the only one who's kinda creeped out by the little bear house? In my eyes it seems like there's this teddy bear skull halve just lying there...Or am I just weird
?
But serious now: I think this cage is fine for dwarfs, especially if you have rescue's or want a cage that's not to pricey and one that is big. You can do alot of fun things with the inside. It's spacious enough for bigger wheels!
For syrian's however, my opinions are kinda mixed. Like with Bayou, it could be your hamster still is not happy. If you have the space I would suggest an Alexander or Barney cage or a tank with this size.
However, alot of breeders seem to be keeping their syrians in this cage, and they seem fine in it. So...I guess it just really depends on your hamsters needs. And if you ever get a rescue syrian that has been kept in a tiny cage, I think this one is fine too. I shall tell a story about that later!
I personally won't be buying this cage and will use the Barney as a go to cage for syrians.