Alaska Cage Review

[SugarFairy123]

First of all this is just my opinion and others might think differently ! :)
I would definitely recommend this cage because you can find it on ww.zooplus.co.uk for a very cheap price (I got mine for 32 pounds ) and they are having sales all the time . There is also 10% off on your first order from the website and ,if you live in the UK , free delivery on orders over 29 pounds which are great offers ! And very quick delivery , I got mine in 4 working days !:)
Now about the cage the cage is massive for its value and its rough measurements are 84 cm by 48.5 cm by 44 cm (L times W times H ) and the measurements are over the RSPCA recommended minimum . It came very securely packaged and I didn't surprisingly get any bent bars . :) It took my parents and I about 10 minutes to put up , however if you are doing this alone it will be quite tricky and might take you a long time ..( Pliers are needed for this ) The bars are easily bendable by humans however , hamsters of any breed , in my opinion won't be able to escape . It includes two extremely large front and top doors which I can probably fit my head through and is very handy for switching things around and having access to your little fella . The cage is quite high and if your hammy is a climber like mine I would suggest buying some hammocks incase he falls .The little platform is quite flimsy and the hidden house that come with it is probably too small for fully grown Syrians same with the slide / ladder which also comes with it . So here are some overall pros and cons for the cage : :):):)

Pros :Easy access , roomy , plenty of room to climb , high base for burrowing , good ventilation

Cons : Hard to put together , bendy bars , flimsy platform , too small hide house / ladder

So that's about it ! Hope this helped you and if you have any questions I would love to answer them . Thanks for reading and BYE !!! :D:D:D;)

[Pebbles82]

Great review FF! Deep substrate should help prevent the height being an issue - I actually heap ours up in the middle a bit, where it can't fall out of the bars round the edges. Rat sputniks are good cage accessories because they hang quite low.

[Bertiebobbins]

I have one of these stored away, which is another plus point- the cage part folds down flat for easy storage. The big front door is another definite plus, there are very few good sized cages on the market in the UK which have this feature.

I found that the bars on the Alaska aren't the best quality, a couple of the ones on mine came away and they are easy to bend by accident. The house is just silly (honestly I think my big ham is bigger than the house is lol!) but the shelf was useful and so easy to clean.

Overall though it's fantastic value for money, and made for a happy hamster! If you can't stretch to the Barney at around £50 this is an excellent alternative for the price.

[Pebbles82]

That's good to know, that it can fold flat. I didn't know that - means it could be useful for a travel cage if going on holiday (ie take it with you flat and erect it when you get there!). Very useful to know! Thanks.

Sounds like there is a need to be careful not to bend the bars - I'm sure it will last your hammy well FF, but as Bertie says, if you ever wanted to upgrade the Barney is a good choice. On the other hand the Alaska has the nice big front door!

If you're not keen on the shelf, this place sell shelves in all different shapes and sizes that screw to the bars.

Solid Pine Corner shelf - Small Medium Large from mouse to guinea pig size | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solid-Pine-Corner-shelf-Small-Medium-Large-from-mouse-to-guinea-pig-size-/291584716062?var=&hash=item43e3cdad1e:m:mL55RN38jLCmRdbEL-H2Ocg)

If you click on their 'other items' tab you can find all the different shelves.

I opted for a large wood house with a flat roof and use that as a shelf. The one we currently have is really big though and takes up a lot of floor space in the cage - but on the other hand it also provides a good sized level/shelf and there is space for a huge nest inside it. Before that I had a big house that wasn't quite as big - and Charlie moved his wee corner inside the house when he had more space, so I put his potty inside it one corner. Now the rest of the cage stays dry and I just empty his potty - which is why I changed the house for one with a lift off roof as it means I can leave the house in the cage, partly buried in the substrate (as it is quite tall) and so his nest doesn't collapse (this is what happened with his old house - I had to lift it up to check his hoard or empty the potty and then his nest used to collapse) - also it makes it much easier to check on him and his hoard and to empty the potty. Because it has quite a large doorway I put a bendy tunnel over the front which makes it dark inside (and encouraged him to use the house as he went straight down the tunnel!) and it also gives access to the roof.

This is the house - Ferplast make the sin houses in a few different sizes. I ordered the guinea pig one first but it isn't that big really - it would make a good sized hamster house but I found the rabbit one fitted his potty tray inside well.

It's the same size as the Trixie Leif Labyrinth house, which I would have liked but the entrances and compartments are a bit on the small side for a Syrian and ours is a large syrian - so I got something the same size but with just one big compartment. Also the Ferplast house I have is much taller than the labyrinth house, so it sits on the bottom of the cage and I pile the substrate up round the outside, and put some inside on the base. With a lower big or heavy house on top of the substrate they could tunnel underneath it and it might fall on them.


I did a cage tour video recently showing the new house and set up if you're interested!

This is the house in the video

Sin 4646 Wood House Rabbit (http://www.portonaquapet.co.uk/-M40762?gclid=Cj0KEQiAm-CyBRDx65nBhcmVtbIBEiQA7zm8lcspdBH_27vfzrCpW-pXMYLjTparR7aPUqQ-pS6ntgsaAhL18P8HAQ)

Charlie's cage tour video - November 2015 - his cage is a couple of centimetres less wide than the Alaska and a bit lower as well, but similar size overall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXzfbE6wQQk

[cypher]

That's good to know, that it can fold flat. I didn't know that - means it could be useful for a travel cage if going on holiday (ie take it with you flat and erect it when you get there!). Very useful to know! Thanks.

I found that as SF said you do need pliers to put the top together, some of the little hooks need prising open a bit to fit properly & most need closing with pliers to keep the top firmly in place, if you don't do that it can bend in a bit at the corners leaving a little gap a small ham might be able to sneak through.
It's not a problem to do, even for one person but given that the bars are a bit on the flimsy side I'm not sure you could do it too often without something breaking though.

Overall I really do like this cage, the benefits of the doors really outweigh the need to be a bit careful not to bend or break anything!

[SugarFairy123]

Oh that''s right I also forget to mention that the cage is easy to take apart for storage and like I said , since the cage is very high it will definitely fit a 12 inch wheel ;)

[kits]

I have this cage too and am really happy with it :) I didn't need pliers in the end and it just fitted together nicely. Height wise as long as you have substrate in the bottom I wouldn't worry too much. The plastic base is good quality plastic and fits together well with the mesh top. Also as has been mentioned before the doors are a good size and one can let your hamster climb out onto the floor which I find useful for playtime/taming.

Only downside is that the supplied ramp is a bit useless and too slippy for either of the two hamsters I've kept in the Alaska cage but I've added my own wooden ramps to resolve this. Oh and the shelf can be a little tricky to take in and out but not any worse than other cages I've owned.

Very good especially for the price!

[BettyM]

On the Alaska, can you remove the plastic shelf completely and add in your own?
In a couple of days Im ordering 3 Alaskas for the hammily, so not sure if I like the shelf yet or not.
Also, is the base a dark red? Im colourblind on certain colours, and to me it looks bright pink on the zooplus website :D

[cypher]

You don't need to use the shelf or anything else that comes in it, I never have, the base definitely isn't pink (I wouldn't be able to live with that lol!) it's more deep dark red, not bright at all.

[BettyM]

You don't need to use the shelf or anything else that comes in it, I never have, the base definitely isn't pink (I wouldn't be able to live with that lol!) it's more deep dark red, not bright at all.

brilliant! thank you! [-o< Id rather just about anything other than pink ;)
Now Im plotting and planning 3 cage layouts!

[flowerfairy]

I took all the plastic things that came with it out. I put a wooden fruit box upside down for Fairy's wheel, sand bowl and food bowl. Works a treat.

Great cage with a nice deep base. I would say its a maroon colour.

[don]

I just wanted to put in my two-penneth regarding the Alaska.

We're new hamster owners, so we don't know any different, but the Alaska is a great cage.

- Nice and deep base, for some deep substrate for burrowing. We have 20 litres of carefresh confetti, then I've also adding in lots of fitch as well.

- A good floor area to fit lots of stuff in.

- Has a good height so you can add hammocks/sputicks etc.

- I've actually made some additional shelves for him to climb on, he loves them and there's still plenty of room.

- Great access with the large front door.

- We don't tend to use the top door much, but it's useful for when you're hanging accessories and you need two hands to get access.

- Not a bad colour. As somebody else as said, it's a maroon type colour.

- Bars seem pretty good, albeit a pair of long-nosed pliers is required when putting the cage together.

- Flat pack. Before we got our Barnaby, we had the cage stored in our porch and we had lots of stuff stored inside. 10l pack of carefresh, the wooden leif cabin (large & I recommend it from zooplus), bag of food, chinchilla sand, water bottle. Basically everything we bought in that initial haul, we had stored inside the flat packed Alaska.

- Good, strong carry handles, and retaining clips. We've got lots inside our cage, and the full cage is pretty heavy. When we've recently moved him into another room for redecorating, then the handles were great for moving the cage.

- Plenty of room for a big wheel. I've mentioned on other threads that I have the large 12 inch wooden karlie wonderland wheel. I've removed the base from the wheel, and then mounted the wheel to the back of the cage, to make it more stable. It looks great, and he likes to burrow underneath his wheel at the back of the cage..

[don]

A couple of pics of my DIY shelves inside my Alaska. This was taken before he moved in, so there wasn't much carefresh in there.

[herbi7]

I used this cage for willow, i thought it was great and the easy large access meant I didn't have to sit patiently waiting for her to come out,she was much more comfortable bounding down the open door into my hands. It's easy to hang accessories because of the big doors too. It was a good size for her to run up and down her levels and in and out of her hammocks and I fitted a 12 inch silent spinner in too although I had to make sure she hadn't piled up her bedding underneath it to stop it spinning. It's also reasonably light to carry, willow and I had adventures going away to my parents caravan and she travelled happily inside it and it fitted exactly in the back of my little car (vw polo) on the back seat.

[FreddyAndMe]

I love this cage! I can fit Freddy's 28cm wheel through the doors easily, so if your hamster wees on the wheel you don't have to dismantle it to get the wheel out. It is also a modest colour so it doesn't shout out at you from across the room if you get me. Only problem is the bars on mine are pretty bad - the top door is quite bent, one bar is bent and one of the corner hooks is soldered shut so I can't hook it all together at all. This isn't really a problem though because the bends are in places you don't look at and I find it works well without assembling the corners properly.

Another major pro is the base is smooth with rounded corners so it is a breeze to wipe down, unlike the P@H 'large' wire cage which has raised squares on the bottom and 'corner corners', i.e. square corners, so kitchen roll and wipes are useless on it.

[SugarFairy123]

Yeah this is is a fairly good cage isn't it ? For it's price it is anyway..;)