My IKEA EXPEDIT enclosure! :)

[LucyNorbs]

Have a look at my 5 story IKEA hack. It was a big job but worth it as Malcolm LOVES it! It also has the IKEA KNUFF magazine hack which is the platform on the middle floor. Bottom box is soon to be a bury box but we haven't got round to it just yet. Let me know what you think!

Lucy and Malcolm

:)

[hamsterhelper]

Pics please :) xx

[LucyNorbs]

Pics please :) xx

Sorry its there now :)

[hamsterhelper]

Ohhh! It's huge! I love it! Do you think you could do a tutorial on how to do it or even the method and what items you used to make it? I would love to make one! HamsterHelper :)

[BrainGirl]

Wow, that's awesome!

[Sanctuary]

That is awesome :D

[SinNyx]

Wow, amazing! Lucky ham :)

[ANGELBABIES]

Truly inspirational

[icklemunch]

Wow!! You have one very lucky hammie :)

[LucyNorbs]

Wow, that's awesome!

Ohhh! It's huge! I love it! Do you think you could do a tutorial on how to do it or even the method and what items you used to make it? I would love to make one! HamsterHelper :)

Sure! I'll record a video soon as it's far to much to type!! It honestly wasn't to bad just have to keep going at it!

[hamsterhelper]

Thanks! I would love to make one and love how you have allows the hammy to go down the squares with the ladder! :)

[Hamsters4eva x]

Wow it's amazing! Your hamster is very lucky!!!! :D

[Tutu]

Lovely. My hamster and I are officially jel /:/

[LucyNorbs]

Please take a look at my new video of my EXPEDIT hack. Took us about a month to make! Let us know what you think of it... Malcolm loves it!

Homemade Hamster Cage, IKEA Expedit Hamster Cage Hack - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxmnp5KKQdE)

[Kiki_3173]

What a fantastic IKEA Hack!! :-). Malcolm really looks to love the space. I loved seeing him break out into a run from one level to another:-)

[Sanctuary]

Awesome :D

[The Hamster's family]

OMG !!!!!!!!!!! Guess what I just asked my OH... ;)

Would be perfect for The Minis !! I (read HE) would make it one levels but long ones for 3 groups ! It would rule !!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for giving me ideas !!

You guys did an AMAZING JOB !! Congratulations !!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously !!

[iwasbornwright]

Oh my goodness I'm speechless!!

What an amazing home Malcolm has!!!

I'd love to do something like that for Wolverine but I just don't have the money, space or time :(


Excellent stuff- well done!

[Clairealex]

This is awesome. So impressive! Wish I was even a little bit handy haha.

Malcolm is one lucky boy!

[souffle]

What a great cage - can I ask are the lights inside it and if they are do they make it warm? Do you keep them on or turn them off at night?

[LucyNorbs]

What a great cage - can I ask are the lights inside it and if they are do they make it warm? Do you keep them on or turn them off at night?

They are LED lights - they don't produce any heat! It's great but yes always turn them off at night or day time when we aren't in there.

[LucyNorbs]

Take a look at Malcolm's new home and let us know what you think!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxmnp5KKQdE

[Wexland]

That is amazing! I would love to be able to make something like that. I am not creative though sadly.

[ham-star]

WOW! What an awesome set-up! It's an actual hammie-palace! :D

How much did the whole thing cost to buy and make? (if you don't mind me asking?)

[katyy]

Thats amazing! Good job :)

[Kiki_3173]

I will be working on a DIY Lack cage in the spring. I was wondering how you assembled the plexiglass doors. What supplies did you use?

[LucyNorbs]

That is amazing! I would love to be able to make something like that. I am not creative though sadly.

Don't worry you don't need to be too creative you just need to find inspiration thats what I did! There are so many good homemade cages around on the internet, few on IKEA Hackers and here on HC. Just find some inspiration! I honeslty thought it would be really hard but actually I researched alot and found the whole process lots of fun :)

Give yourself a chance and you might suprise yourself like I did!

[LucyNorbs]

WOW! What an awesome set-up! It's an actual hammie-palace! :D

How much did the whole thing cost to buy and make? (if you don't mind me asking?)

I will be working on a DIY Lack cage in the spring. I was wondering how you assembled the plexiglass doors. What supplies did you use?

The actual bookshelf cost £50 of Gumtree... it is the biggest you can get but they are £175 new! We have just moved home and needed a storage unit anyway. The next most expensive thing was the perspex as we had to get quite a bit and that cost us £40-50 and then the lights were £30. But from then on we literally made everything, all the ladders, the platform, etc. I'd say over all we spent in totall aroung £150-200. But I think if we had a lot more patients we could have done it for a lot cheaper. We literally just went to B&Q for the bits we needed and I think we could have saved a bit of money there.

However what does make me feel a lot better is that I bought 2 years ago a 3 story cage for my Hammy and it was £75. My new enclosure we made yes cost us double but its at least triple the size and we have our own storage within it AND it looks great as a feature for the room. You really get a thrill watching them being able to run around properly. Malcolm loves it.


******************************

Kiki to assemle the doors we used a saw to cut the glass but make sure you get help with that as it does tend to shatter so having someone to hold it down is great! The perspex we have is 4mm thick. Then we bought aluminium double U channels from B&Q that were 6mm wide. These are exactly what you want if you want sliding doors. For the little doors we used magnetic hinges. Make sure you file the glass down well so that its not sharp but more so you dont get them stuck!

When installing the U channels and you screw them make sure you drill a bigger hole than the screw head in the aluminium so that when the doors are in, the screw sits flush so you can slide over it with ease other wise it will catch.

Hope this helps! Ask away if you need anything else,


Lucy & Malcolm

[basilthehammy]

OMG! that is amazing!

[Kiki_3173]

Kiki to assemle the doors we used a saw to cut the glass but make sure you get help with that as it does tend to shatter so having someone to hold it down is great! The perspex we have is 4mm thick. Then we bought aluminium double U channels from B&Q that were 6mm wide. These are exactly what you want if you want sliding doors. For the little doors we used magnetic hinges. Make sure you file the glass down well so that its not sharp but more so you dont get them stuck!

When installing the U channels and you screw them make sure you drill a bigger hole than the screw head in the aluminium so that when the doors are in, the screw sits flush so you can slide over it with ease other wise it will catch.

Hope this helps! Ask away if you need anything else,

Lucy & Malcolm

Do the U channels look something like the attached pic?

Also, what are your thoughts on using plexiglass for the doors instead of glass? I haven't priced them out yet, but thought it might be cheaper.

[LucyNorbs]

Do the U channels look something like the attached pic?

Also, what are your thoughts on using plexiglass for the doors instead of glass? I haven't priced them out yet, but thought it might be cheaper.

I would say that Perspex (its plastic) is best option. It looks amazing! The glass is so clear you have to check you've closed the doors a million times.

They are exactly it. We bought the Alumium U channels just to prevent any chewing or wearing of the plastic. Where are you building in it? In an Expedit aswel?

[LucyNorbs]

Hello people!

I've had a few requests for a video of my expedit hack and its here! Hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think. Malcolm is the star of the whole thing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxmnp5KKQdE

[Kiki_3173]

That's a great idea to use the metal U channels! Darwin isn't much of a chewer, so it sometimes escapes me to think about things like that.

I'm making my hack cage out of 2 IKEA Lack coffee tables (I unfortunately don't have the space for a Detolf or Expedit). I already have made a Billy Extension cage for my Chinese, so I've designed the Lack to hold the Billy on top of it.

[LucyNorbs]

That's a great idea to use the metal U channels! Darwin isn't much of a chewer, so it sometimes escapes me to think about things like that.

I'm making my hack cage out of 2 IKEA Lack coffee tables (I unfortunately don't have the space for a Detolf or Expedit). I already have made a Billy Extension cage for my Chinese, so I've designed the Lack to hold the Billy on top of it.

Thats wicked! Look forward to seeing some pics! For ladders and stuff we used these pine strips. They are perfect and safe for hamsters as they are dired properly! The ridges are perfect for little ladders. I think they cost £3.90 for 2 meters of it! Such good value for money. Just chop it up into pieces then stick them together at the back with pva. Honeslty its brilliant stuff for the money!

http://reviews.diy.com/2191-en_gb/9275036/reviews.htm

[Bec]

Malcolm is lovely and lucky to have all that space! Video is amazing, did it take you long to create and how do you find the cleaning?

Looks very happy and spoilt, as our little ones should be :D

[LucyNorbs]

Malcolm is lovely and lucky to have all that space! Video is amazing, did it take you long to create and how do you find the cleaning?

Looks very happy and spoilt, as our little ones should be :D

Hey thanks! He is a lucky boy but he's worth it as he makes use of every little bit he loves it! It took about two weeks in total to finish but we did have time off work. Cleaning is fine - he is potty trained and he tends to do is poo's in corners. He's good like that.

Apollo has the nicest face. His ears are gorgeous!

[LucyNorbs]

Good luck with it all!

[Bec]

Hey thanks! He is a lucky boy but he's worth it as he makes use of every little bit he loves it! It took about two weeks in total to finish but we did have time off work. Cleaning is fine - he is potty trained and he tends to do is poo's in corners. He's good like that.

Apollo has the nicest face. His ears are gorgeous!

Aww thanks, he is a little darling! And potty trained too, he tends to just stick to one corner which is great!

Sounds like those 2 weeks of hard work have paid off, malcolm is very lucky to have all that space to explore and play! Might be worth you posting on the thread...let's see your cages ( I think its called), this is where members have posted their current cage set up and share ideas.

[Kiki_3173]

Thats wicked! Look forward to seeing some pics! For ladders and stuff we used these pine strips. They are perfect and safe for hamsters as they are dired properly! The ridges are perfect for little ladders. I think they cost £3.90 for 2 meters of it! Such good value for money. Just chop it up into pieces then stick them together at the back with pva. Honeslty its brilliant stuff for the money!

B&Q - Richard Burbidge Decorative Profile Moulding FB463 Pine (L)2400 x (W)28 x (T)4mm customer reviews - product reviews - read top consumer ratings (http://reviews.diy.com/2191-en_gb/9275036/reviews.htm)

I wonder if I could find those pine strips here in the US??? I will have levels in his cage. I guess I could use bendy bridges too...I finally gave in & ordered some from the UK;-)

Here is a mock up of it. At first I wanted the black/brown color that IKEA has, but I've since changed my mind to the birch color. It won't be such a drastic difference between the Lack & the Billy cages. A member of another forum I'm on drew it up for me in Google sketch. It certainly won't be the awesome space that Malcom has, but it will be bigger than his bin cage:-). I am going to lower the base shelf of the bottom Lack table so that I can fit storage baskets for their hammy supplies underneath.

I was going to wait until my spring break (I'm a teacher), but I'm so excited I don't think I can wait until then:-) lol

[LucyNorbs]

Aww thanks, he is a little darling! And potty trained too, he tends to just stick to one corner which is great!

Sounds like those 2 weeks of hard work have paid off, malcolm is very lucky to have all that space to explore and play! Might be worth you posting on the thread...let's see your cages ( I think its called), this is where members have posted their current cage set up and share ideas.

Yeah it was an instense 2 weeks! Was definitely worth it though as you can tell he is happy! I already posted the video. I might try the pic as I don't think people saw it. thanks!

[LucyNorbs]

I wonder if I could find those pine strips here in the US??? I will have levels in his cage. I guess I could use bendy bridges too...I finally gave in & ordered some from the UK;-)

Here is a mock up of it. At first I wanted the black/brown color that IKEA has, but I've since changed my mind to the birch color. It won't be such a drastic difference between the Lack & the Billy cages. A member of another forum I'm on drew it up for me in Google sketch. It certainly won't be the awesome space that Malcom has, but it will be bigger than his bin cage:-). I am going to lower the base shelf of the bottom Lack table so that I can fit storage baskets for their hammy supplies underneath.

I was going to wait until my spring break (I'm a teacher), but I'm so excited I don't think I can wait until then:-) lol


Im sure you will be able to find something similar! Just look under doweling and decrotive wood etc. It looks great! Don't worry I've had plenty of pets over the years and none of them had this space. It was because we had a room big enough after all the years. One day you might be able to! But anything bigger than those tiny cages is great I think. Looks like it will look great in the room too!

[Kiki_3173]

Im sure you will be able to find something similar! Just look under doweling and decrotive wood etc. It looks great! Don't worry I've had plenty of pets over the years and none of them had this space. It was because we had a room big enough after all the years. One day you might be able to! But anything bigger than those tiny cages is great I think. Looks like it will look great in the room too!

Thanks for the search ideas for the wood. :-)

Yes, a Detolf or an Expedit are on my wish list when I get the space. The room in the mock up is not at all my living room...I wish I had that kind of space! lol. It was just a basic room that Google Sketch had when she did the mockup.

Darwin is in a 110qt bin cage at the moment...certainly not the space I wish. I could give him, but he loves his bin cage. The Lack will give him some more space than he has currently.