Habitrail cages for dwarfs. Opinions?

[gizmo]

What are your opinions on two habitrail cages(space station and safari) connected for a dwarf? I am only going to get one russian dwarf, but would love to get two but people have said they would probably end up fighting, was wondering what you guys think. FYI: I already have the cages, may get a bin in the future, but for now I want to try out these cages.

[Holly]

I think your plan of only putting one dwarf into the connected cages is better than putting two or more in them - keeping more than one dwarf together takes a lot of effort to prevent fighting and the best way to do this is to (among other things) give them a very large open plan cage. Connecting cages are a very bad idea because the dominant hamster tends to "colonise" parts of the cage which leads to fighting.

I'm not sure how big your two connecting Habitrails are but be aware that dwarf hamsters don't do well in "dwarf cages" just because they are small. They are very active and need as much space as you can manage. The other thing to think about is the tubes - they generally don't climb well (except Chinese) and find vertical tubes almost impossible. One way round this is to connect the cages side by side.

Good luck with your new hamsters.

[gizmo]

Yep. The plan is to just use like one tube to connect the two cages side by side and if I feel it's not enough room, I'll look into purchasing a bin.

[Justine]

I would use this setup for one dwarf only for the reasons holly has stated above.

About eight years ago I had two habitrail units with a smaller add-on for a syrian, but thinking about it now it was definetly too small. I would see about getting a bin added onto the setup, as dwarfs are not any less deserving of space than a syrian is, and I now couldn't use that setup alone for a syrian.

[gizmo]

I'm sorry, but the cages and a bin together would take up way too much space. I will be living in an apartment with a roommate where-as my room is extremely small, thus it's enough that the syrian I am planning on also getting will be living in the dining room. (I have a bigger cage for it.) I am going to try to squeeze the two cages for the dwarf in my room which will be taking up enough space as is. Thank you for your suggestion though.

[Christine Yule]

I use Habitrail and Space station for most of my hamsters(Syrians, Campbells and Roborovskiis). But I find that bins are easier for my Russian Campbell Dwarves since they need so much attention throughout the day. It is easy to take them out of the bin and play with them for a few minutes several times a day. I do keep some of my Dwarves in the Habitrail cages too though, but just one Dwarf per cage with the added end unit for extra space. I find that they love to climb the bars swing around like little monkeys. Actually I find that the wheel and inside platforms are too small for Syrians anyway. They are better suited for the Dwarves.

Personally, I think that two Habitrail cages connected by a tube would be fine for two Dwarves as long as they are filled with lots of toys and houses. If they do end up not getting along, you can just remove the tube and they will be separate. But it sounds like you are going to be pinched for space in your room and you might decide to just have the one Dwarf in the one cage.

Hamstermama

[gizmo]

Thanks for the info. I'm actually not going to use that wheel seeing as it has those holes in it where the dwarfs could get their foot stuck, I'm gonna pick up a silent spinner instead so it's safer.

[Christine Yule]

Thanks for the info. I'm actually not going to use that wheel seeing as it has those holes in it where the dwarfs could get their foot stuck, I'm gonna pick up a silent spinner instead so it's safer.

I know what you mean by the holes. I put masking tape over the holes. One strip of masking tape on the inside of the wheel and one strip of tape on the outside of the wheel. I change the tape when I wash the wheel. It's a bit of work but it saves me from buying extra wheels.

BUT those silent spinners are fabulous! Peace and quiet! :D

Hamstermama

[gizmo]

Yeah, I also think a silent spinner will be easier to use when I first get the hamster(s) since it/they will be so tiny.