Alaska cage review, my experiences with it.

[Baron]

For the longest time, I wanted to do my own review of the Alaska.

I am also going to tell the story of Bayou in this thread, considering her life started in an Alaska cage.

At first sight:

It seems a very roomy cage. It comes with a hard level plastic shelf, a white bear house (I found this one creepy, more on that later.) and a white slide.
Mine was black and dark red. It provides a decent amount of substrate and space to put your own spin of things. But...I am not really sure about this one?

It's dimensions are: L 84 x B 48,5 x H 45 cm or in inches about: 33 by 19 by 18 inches. It give a hamster about 4000 cubic cm, so that's about the minimum for all species I think? At least the case in Europe it seems to be.


Price, where to get:

I got it from Zooplus, and in the Netherlands, you pay about 35-40 euro's for this one. This is cheap! Especially considering the price of other cages. Let's take the Ferplast Circus fun hamsters cage. This one is about 60-70 euro's from what I have seen, and way tinier!

Second hand, this cage's fairly easy to find. Here I pay around 25 euro's for a second hand one.


My own experience with this one:

Well, they are mixed!

On one hand I think this is a lovely cage for dwarfs and syrians who have been kept in tiny conditions.

I've kept a rescue dwarf in this cage without any trouble: no bar chewing or other stereotypical behavior. He's since moved on to a home with a cage about this size, and his new owners have confirmed he doesn't exhibit weird behaviours. But...I would be cautious with a syrian hamster in this one.

Bayou's story

See, My Bayou was born in one of these. Her breeder kept her from the litter. She had this cage, with a big wheel and substrate for burrowing but...well I don't know how she was happy in this one! After her first and very large litter, her breeder put her up for adoption. Along came me, Baron, and took her home with me.

Her's can be seen on one the pictures, the other one is just an adorable shot of Bayou herself.

She....wasn't happy in this one. First of all, she had a lot more toys, a multi chambered house, a big wooden wheel, a sandbath and a driftwoodstick, not really sure how it's called in English, sorry!

She climbed, alot. She started bar chewing on day 2. This left me wondering how she did not chew a hole in the cage at her breeder's home. Granted, I don't the breeder really noticed her hamsters behaviour, since they are kept in heated shed right next to the house.

Anyway, she moved to a hamster Plaza, 100 bij 50 cm....nope, she wasn't happy in this one either! Now she live's in a Detolf, can properly burrow and only ever chew's the mesh lid of her cage cover if she want's out/attention.
I'ts a ritual I've come to love, since all the animals here start to get active then.

Final opinion and thoughts:

Am I the only one who's kinda creeped out by the little bear house? In my eyes it seems like there's this teddy bear skull halve just lying there...Or am I just weird:-k:p?

But serious now: I think this cage is fine for dwarfs, especially if you have rescue's or want a cage that's not to pricey and one that is big. You can do alot of fun things with the inside. It's spacious enough for bigger wheels!

For syrian's however, my opinions are kinda mixed. Like with Bayou, it could be your hamster still is not happy. If you have the space I would suggest an Alexander or Barney cage or a tank with this size.

However, alot of breeders seem to be keeping their syrians in this cage, and they seem fine in it. So...I guess it just really depends on your hamsters needs. And if you ever get a rescue syrian that has been kept in a tiny cage, I think this one is fine too. I shall tell a story about that later!

I personally won't be buying this cage and will use the Barney as a go to cage for syrians.

[Pebbles82]

I agree with everything you say there :-) Bayou is gorgeous! I also think it is a minimum for a Syrian really, but it may depend on their personality partly. I also think the Barney or Alexander are better for a Syrian. It isn't just the extra space, it offers more scope for added enrichment and toys to keep Syrians occupied.

I also had a hamster in an 80 x 50 cage and felt the need to upgrade - to a 100cm Barney. And our Syrian, even when elderly with stiff back legs, still used the whole floor space. For some hamsters no cage is big enough!

It's a good starter cage maybe and then see if the hamster is happy or needs upgrading - but then that can mean additional cost to buy a second cage. I agree it seems popular for dwarf hamsters. The Alaska can also be a good holiday cage though as it folds flat so could be transported easily if you go away for a couple of weeks to live or stay somewhere else and need to take your hamster with you.

I always thought of the little white house as a cat! I don't know if it's creepy or not having not seen one in the flesh but I do think it is useless as a house! And not suitable for a syrian as the holes are a bit small and they risk getting jammed.

[Baron]

I agree with with you! Good startercage, and from here on out you can indeed always go bigger if there's the space. Sad to say that the minimum for a syrian here is around 60 bij 40 cm, last time I checked so I keep on seeing alot of hamsters in tiny cages....blegh:(

It does seem a little like a cat Now I took a better look at it!

One thing I forgot to mention are the bars....Hoo boy, when you are cleaning this cage, and you haven't tied them together yet, they are annoying!
They have these hooks and with them you keep the parts hooked together. But they don't want to stay hooked it seems. So keep em tied up!

[cypher]

I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a cat & totally agree it's a very creepy one lol! I was more than happy to bin mine ;)

The problem with the hooks is best solved by simply tightening them with a pair of pliers when you assemble the cage then they stay together no problem.

[Baron]

Yes, If you tighten them, the problem is solved :D

It was....a kinda pointless adidtion in my eyes. I agree with Serendipity7000 about it being useless. Even a young dwarf couldn't really do much with it. Nor did he use it.

[cypher]

Definitely useless, especially on the shelf but then I generally find not all but most cage accessories are pretty useless.

[Baron]

I think the only usefull thing I got by a cage was the plastic platform that came with the hamster Plaza. The second one is the wooden Barney shelf and the houses. The wheel on the other hand? Nope.

[Ilovemyhammy]

Hi, just got the Alaska cage as our ham is now 3 months old and too big for her other cage been going crazy running round climbing up the bars exploring all her new toys. She is loving it so far, I think it is fab value for money, bars a bit flimsy but solid, no problems fit together well. I agree the house is weird really weird, why so small, well if the holes where bigger or just have a door opening instead, it would be miles better. Zoo plus is really good, got loads of wooden toys really cheap. Enjoy your hammies.
:cool:

[Rads]

Ghost lives in an Alaska cage with some customisations, I have added ramps corner shelves etc and taken out the plastic shelf, Ghost likes his habitat, Pip used to live in the same cage before she died suddenly, both of our hammies have enjoyed I like to think their habitat of the Alaska cage.

[flowerfairy]

I have a hybrid dwarf hamster living in the alaska atm. I added another level (made by a talented friend). He seems happy enough. I make sure that he has plenty to do and change the lay out round every once in a while.

I had an elderly syrian in there briefly it seemed rather small once the wheel and house were added.

I threw away the awful creepy plastic house and shelf.

[SimonandSyril]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d3CWdPj0cc Here is a quick tour of my Alaska I have my hybrid dwarf Kylo! I didn't have trouble with the clips on the corners so I guess its a hit or miss. It is considered adequate for a permanent habitat because it is over 80 x 50 cm but I'm not sure if this is outdated information or not (please tell me if it is) I just threw my creepy cat house in my gerbil's cage as I knew they would destroy it in a matter of minutes