Buliding a new hamster home

[Scarlett Empress]

;)I've been having a bit of a love/hate relationship with Smokey's Savic Ruffy 2 cage - well, veering more towards hate, really...anyway decided this weekend, enough is enough and I would just build something.

Now, before anyone has a go about cage sizes - I simply can't fit anything bigger than 80 x 50 into my room. I have tried and tried to think about this and did think of one way I could fit in a 100cm cage - but in the end, decided not to, as this would be leaving my girl too much in the centre of the room, too exposed to direct sun and drafts - I like the current location of her cage as it's tucked up a corner and seems protected.

So, the new home is approx. 80 x 50, but, that is the internal dimensions - whereas on her current cage, that's measuring to the very edge of the cage base, and as the base slopes in, there's a lot of wasted space in my opinion.

Anyway - here it is so far -
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3750/19009515664_a580870e06_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/uXNJJ5)

I'm going to put castors on it - although Smokey mostly lives in my room, her current cage is on a (wobbly) stand and I wheel her into the living room during the evening, so we can all chat to her and watch her, and get her out to play when she's ready - also she seems to like to watch a bit of telly.

The top panel at the front is going to be hinged and meshed. The side will be meshed, and the back will be perpex/plexiglass.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/377/19625065872_fe0c946d9e_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/vUcAmG)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/286/19009512814_dd8f4c7f21_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/uXNHSW)

The whole roof will lift off and I can put substrate about 15cm deep in here, which is better than in her current cage.

Anyway here's the roof so far...I'm quite proud of my pointy bits! ;)
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/384/19011152233_099dfe261d_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/uXX8dM)

And here's the reason for the pointy bits - I'm going to fix her wheel up a bit higher. I didn't want to make the whole cage too high, but I want her wheel well above the substrate!
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/19444108070_28266dd7c9_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/vCd8UA)

I'm not actually going to put the Silent Spinner in there, she's got a Karlie Wonderlad which I'm going to fix to a wooden strut. So hopefully, that will put an end to the nights where I can hear she's stuffed something under the wheel and it's scraping, and the mornings where I get up and find it full of substrate...

Lots more to do and I haven't worked out all the details yet, sometimes I find it's easier to just get on and work it out as I go along.

[cypher]

That looks amazing so far, my sadly lacking DIY skills would never be up to it lol!

[Pebbles82]

Ditto Cypher! And it really is amazing! I love the idea of the pointy roof for the wheel because that is an issue - taller cages fit the wheel and substrate depth but have height drop issues, lower cages are better for avoiding height drops but no space for both wheel and depth of substrate. You are clever!

[Scarlett Empress]

Thank you cypher! I like doing a bit of DIY - not saying it's all perfectly straight or anything - !

Thank you Serendipity! Yes it's a real problem with cage height - I didn't want to buy a tall cage as Smokey was a bit obsessed with climbing her bars and falling from the roof - she does seem to have mostly grown out of it but there's still the odd occasion...so this seemed a good solution!

Also I want the cage to look nice in my room - to blend in with my furniture and décor, as well as being a good home for Smokey!

[BluerayDarkes]

Could you make more of these? I'm sure if you had time and resources you could make them and sell them.

[Piebald]

That's going to be great! Nice to have a custom job. Well done! Look forward to seeing it progress.

[peasypea]

Wow, that's amazing! Very talented :)

[kelza]

So neat! Can't wait to see it completed!