Mamble 100 Hamster/Rat cage review

[Abileviosa]

I upgraded my lovely marina from her DIY bin cage/pets at home medium wire cage to this in January. I haven't looked back. My reasons for changing were; the bin cage, despite two mesh panels, got stinky pretty quickly, and the pets at home wire cage had a small hole which was steadily getting bigger every night that my hamster was in it. I will attach pictures of both cages in the comments section. As much as I did love her original housing system I just found it difficult to clean and, well, I wanted to spoil my girl.

I ordered the Mamble 100 from amazon UK for £39.99. it arrived quickly and I was shocked at the size of it, the box it came in was massive and I began to wonder if I even had the room for it ( I did). Putting it together was difficult, it is flat packed and the wire top is fiddly. I did it wrong the first time without realising and ended up closing big gaps with wire, a few weeks later I realised my mistakes, took off the wire and re-built the cage. PERFECT!! Marina, my 15mo Syrian hamster loves her cage. It came with four large rat size tubes, a shelf, a litter tray, a bottle and a food dish. The litter tray currently hands off the cage as another platform/sandbath. The shelf that came with it has a lip all around so can hold bedding.. I cover this with carefresh.

The cage is massive. I easily fit in one of the 12'' Trixie wheels (from amazon, a fab wheel and basically silent) two suspension ladders, a few hammocks, and an array of toys. Also, because of the size and fantastic ventilation of the cage, it rarely smells. I empty out her potty every four or five days (it is a dish of chinchilla sand, and it works wonders for controlling the scent) and clean her cage when it needs cleaning. For cleaning I just lift off the top cage part, empty and disinfect the plastic base and then re fill. Easy! The top wire cart is very heavy and difficult to lift, but I just about manage.

Marina is much happier. I was initially worried because it is such a tall cage, but with well placed hammocks and extra wooden shelves we are doing well so far!! The clips are also quite flimsy, I broke a few but managed to get a replacement from an online pet store. Another point worth mentioning is that a lot of the gaps between bars, especially under the doors, are quite big, over 1cm. Marina hasn't escaped from these, and the only escape we've had so far was when my sister left the cage door open. We found marina sleeping in my wardrobe, in her old bin cage.....

Point is, mamble 100 is fab and for £40, go for it!!

[Pebbles82]

That sounds like a great upgrade! Glad Marina is happy in it. I like cages for the ventilation as well :-) Are you in the Uk? The Barney cage from Zooplus is also a good 100cm cage. Costs a little bit more (usually about £49.99) but is a bit lower as well. It sounds like your set up is a lovely hammy habitat though! Can we see some photos?!

[Abileviosa]

http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy303/abi_jones2/IMG_20160423_192520970_zpstyl5v53s.jpg (http://s802.photobucket.com/user/abi_jones2/media/IMG_20160423_192520970_zpstyl5v53s.jpg.html)

current mamble 100

http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy303/abi_jones2/IMG_20160423_163055_zpsvxfgzbnl.jpg (http://s802.photobucket.com/user/abi_jones2/media/IMG_20160423_163055_zpsvxfgzbnl.jpg.html)

http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy303/abi_jones2/IMG-20151018-WA0009_zpsr5c1mptp.jpeg (http://s802.photobucket.com/user/abi_jones2/media/IMG-20151018-WA0009_zpsr5c1mptp.jpeg.html)

http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy303/abi_jones2/IMG_20150914_113433_zps1q79cwho.jpg (http://s802.photobucket.com/user/abi_jones2/media/IMG_20150914_113433_zps1q79cwho.jpg.html)

This is the old cage she had!!

took me a while to work out how to upload pics, lol !!

[Pebbles82]

It makes a big different doesn't it! Loads more space. I like the idea of the cage mounted litter tray making another platform. You need to be a bit careful with ladders with rungs though. Filled in ones tend to mean a few less accidents. You could easily fill in a runged ladder by sticking a hard piece of cardboard or thin piece of wood to the back though :-) I also worry a bit about chains with rings. Hammies can get their toes caught in them and end up hanging by a leg. It could be an idea to get hold of some sisal string or paper string to use instead of the chains, if you can get some.

[Abileviosa]

It makes a big different doesn't it! Loads more space. I like the idea of the cage mounted litter tray making another platform. You need to be a bit careful with ladders with rungs though. Filled in ones tend to mean a few less accidents. You could easily fill in a runged ladder by sticking a hard piece of cardboard or thin piece of wood to the back though :-) I also worry a bit about chains with rings. Hammies can get their toes caught in them and end up hanging by a leg. It could be an idea to get hold of some sisal string or paper string to use instead of the chains, if you can get some.

I am so glad you have said this because I've been worried about this for the past few weeks and not had a clue how to solve it!!! Will be removing the chains and swapping for string as soon as I get the chance. It's so silly they sell hamster products that are dangerous :( thank you for telling me this :) hopefully she doesn't chew through the rope though!!! Not that I will mind, safety first !

[CMB]

Lots of space for Syrian sized tubes, toys and hideouts. :)Makes for a happy hamster.

[Pebbles82]

I know it's a pain! Yes the string could be chewed through I guess - depends if you have a chewy hamster lol. Normal string wouldn't be safe to chew but string made from sisal is ok and craft shops tend sell paper string which is quite strong. I don't think she would chew it if she has plenty of other things to chew on :-) - you'd just need to keep an eye out for chewing I guess - and unlikely she would purposefully chew all four corners at the same time lol!

This stuff looks good to me - I might get some myself :-)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/East-India-Twisted-Vintage-Wrapping/dp/B0092MO2TM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461491491&sr=8-1&keywords=paper+string

A lot of things sold for hamsters aren't suitable (usually too small) but with having a rat cage you have rat sized things which is great! I have to buy rat sized toys etc for our Syrian.

She should have a nice soft landing if there's plenty of depth of substrate too :-) It looks like a great fun home for her!

[freyashamsters]

Amazing setup! I was considering getting this for Willow but she is a very precarious climber and would probably hurt herself - don't want that happening! ;)
Loving all of the hammocks and the flower garland is just too cute - might have to get one myself :p Marina, you're a lucky girl!

[Abileviosa]

I know it's a pain! Yes the string could be chewed through I guess - depends if you have a chewy hamster lol. Normal string wouldn't be safe to chew but string made from sisal is ok and craft shops tend sell paper string which is quite strong. I don't think she would chew it if she has plenty of other things to chew on :-) - you'd just need to keep an eye out for chewing I guess - and unlikely she would purposefully chew all four corners at the same time lol!

This stuff looks good to me - I might get some myself :-)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/East-India-Twisted-Vintage-Wrapping/dp/B0092MO2TM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461491491&sr=8-1&keywords=paper+string

A lot of things sold for hamsters aren't suitable (usually too small) but with having a rat cage you have rat sized things which is great! I have to buy rat sized toys etc for our Syrian.

She should have a nice soft landing if there's plenty of depth of substrate too :-) It looks like a great fun home for her!

Yeah i already have and use sisal string in the cage, mainly for tying up treats but looks like I've got an even better use now!! I'm a bit worried though that it won't be as sturdy and if she does chew it, it may fall with her in or on the ladder/tubes. I'll have to see if I can't work around it somehow. She is quite a chewer, she's great with the hammocks (they're all still intact) but she still gnaws at the bars if the cage!! No idea why she still does this as she can't be bored !! And she has plenty of chew toys!

She has plenty of deep substrate, I use carefresh and softwood shavings. No problems with these so far!!

[Abileviosa]

Amazing setup! I was considering getting this for Willow but she is a very precarious climber and would probably hurt herself - don't want that happening! ;)
Loving all of the hammocks and the flower garland is just too cute - might have to get one myself :p Marina, you're a lucky girl!


Thank you I'm glad you like it!! I was (and still am sometimes) concerned because marina can be quite the daredevil, I've placed the hammocks and shelves so if she ever drops it will be onto these to break her fall a bit :)
The flower garland is from wilko (if you're from the UK!!) she loves chewing this. I've put it there to hide her little toilet hehe.

[Pebbles82]

That's a nice idea! A flower entrance to the bathroom :D If it helps I have a rat tube fastened to the roof of my cage. One end is resting on a shelf (and the tab on the tube through the bars at the top) and the other end is tied up by two piecesof sisal string. It does move (as a hammock would a bit) but is strong and can easily take the weight of our large Syrian :-) Just used reef knots on the string.

Shame she is chewing the bars a bit - sometimes that can be just because something isn't quite right in the cage (eg if the wheel isn't spinning properly or the water bottle is empty) but if it's a regular thing then maybe not that. You could try putting extra substrate in and scatter feeding and see if that distracts her maybe. I put half the hamster food in his bowl and scatter the other half on the substrate and our hammy gets quite excited at finding bits of food in there.

They can do it after cage cleans as well, so maybe just spot clean and not do too many big cage cleans.

[flowerfairy]

I have the mamble 100 for my fluffy cream hamster Arun. One of the top clips broke of mine and I find the lid very fiddly to get on and off.

I bought an extra shelf (two infact) from a hc person (Oscarsmum) and have a hammock in front of one of them. Just need a platform for the middle bit now. (Diy isnt my best skill).

I kind of wish I had the borneo as I find the access on the mamble so fiddly. Arun LOVES it and spends a lot of time whizzing round up the ladder and over the shelves.

I really like the interesting way you have set yours up.

[lenslady]

I have just ordered this for our tiny little girl. A syrian but a young one. I am excited to get it. Amazing value for money x

[flowerfairy]

I have bought the borneo xl. It is SOOOO much easier to access than the mamble. If the top had been easy to get off it would have been a lot better. I couldnt easily reach into the cage through the two front doors.

I like the space this cage has to offer but found the access just too hard.

[Hannahnana]

Is this cage suitable for dwarfs as well? I have a 5 month old winter white who needs a bigger cage since hers is quite small (zoozone 1) and since this is cheap and large it would be perfect!:mrgreen: