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Pebbles82 · 03-11-2018, 04:42 PM

As you already have a Barney I don't think it would be that difficult to make it perfect for a dwarf hamster. The bar spacing won't be an issue as it has 7mm bar spacing. There are a couple of areas where it's more like 1cm (eg gaps where the top door closes but you can put a peg on the door to keep it closed) and gaps where the front doors clip closed at the top - I have a row of cable ties along the top bar on the front doors where the spacing is bigger - but it should be fine anyway - some people keep dwarf hamsters in cages with 1cm spacing.

The safety issue would be the height of the Barney and risk of injuries from falls - but that just means setting up carefully to avoid that risk.

Even with the base completely filled with substrate, it is quite tall. I would be tempted to either have a full level in it - or extra shelves to make a kind of racetrack of shelves (like in the Alexander) and then have something blocking the roof over where the gap is between the shelves.

Using taller toys can help as well like large cork tunnels which sit high up when on top of the substrate so they reduce the height to be fallen onto if your hammy happened to monkey bar across the roof.

But once set up it would be great for a dwarf hammy - loads of space and things to do and places to go.

03-11-2018, 04:42 PM
Pebbles82 Hamster Antics Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 23,533	Re: Barney Cage For a dwarf? As you already have a Barney I don't think it would be that difficult to make it perfect for a dwarf hamster. The bar spacing won't be an issue as it has 7mm bar spacing. There are a couple of areas where it's more like 1cm (eg gaps where the top door closes but you can put a peg on the door to keep it closed) and gaps where the front doors clip closed at the top - I have a row of cable ties along the top bar on the front doors where the spacing is bigger - but it should be fine anyway - some people keep dwarf hamsters in cages with 1cm spacing. The safety issue would be the height of the Barney and risk of injuries from falls - but that just means setting up carefully to avoid that risk. Even with the base completely filled with substrate, it is quite tall. I would be tempted to either have a full level in it - or extra shelves to make a kind of racetrack of shelves (like in the Alexander) and then have something blocking the roof over where the gap is between the shelves. Using taller toys can help as well like large cork tunnels which sit high up when on top of the substrate so they reduce the height to be fallen onto if your hammy happened to monkey bar across the roof. But once set up it would be great for a dwarf hammy - loads of space and things to do and places to go.