Alaska Cage review.

[hellobg]

Hello everyone! I'd like to review the Alaska Hamster Cage.

I've bought mine off Zooplus, it came in a box protected and well sealed.

The Alaska Hamster Cage is 84Lx48.5Wx44H cm, It comes with a plastic platform, a plastice polar bear/cat hide out with a slide for the platform.

https://imgur.com/hdrTHCl
The wirings on the Alaska Cage isn't that durable so stacking a cage ontop of it might break it, the bars are rather soft and bendable, with enough strength that is. The Alaska Cage has two large doors, one on the front and one the top. There are 6 clips that came with the cage to hold the cage.

If you'd like to buy this Cage, here is the link.
Small Pet Cages – Alaska Hamster Cage: Great deals at zooplus.ie! (http://www.zooplus.com/shop/rodents/cages/hamster_mouse_cages/hamster_cages/284289)

Positive points:
- A very spaceous cage for Syrians, Dwarves and Chinese.
- The perfect starter cage for being rather a cheap cage.
- The base is deep allowing for a large amount of substrate to be used.
- Provides a platform and a hideout
- You can also attach things such as Water Bottles and Platforms being a barred cage.
- Has a handle for moving the cage around.

Negative points:
- The bar spacing is 0.9 cm or 1 cm, making it less useable for Roborovski Dwarves as they might easily squeeze through.
- The cage is rather high.
- Bars are very weak.

Overall, the Alaska Cage might be the perfect starter cage.
Here's a picture of mine https://imgur.com/a/M3aGLlN

[Pebbles82]

Excellent review :-) May I just had that the hideout/cat house isn't really suitable for a Syrian as the holes are bit small and there is a risk of getting stuck, but it is easily removed :-)

And I have to say the cage looks really nice on your photo. The effective height can be reduced by having the substrate deeper but for a dwarf hamster it may need more shelves or other items to prevent fall risks as well - depending on how it is set up.

[cypher]

It is a good cage but as you pointed out it is high so unless great care is taken with the way the cage is set up with additional shelves or ledges (even with the base full of substrate) it's not suitable for Russian hams due to the danger of falls, it could be made safe but needs thought.
The height isn't such a problem with Chinese as they are much more agile & a lot of the height can be used for hammocks as they don't tend to chew fabric.
Again as you pointed out the bars are a bit bendy & I found that could be a problem with water bottles fixed to the bars & prefer to use either water bottle stands or bowls with this cage.

[hellobg]

Excellent review :-) May I just had that the hideout/cat house isn't really suitable for a Syrian as the holes are bit small and there is a risk of getting stuck, but it is easily removed :-)

And I have to say the cage looks really nice on your photo. The effective height can be reduced by having the substrate deeper but for a dwarf hamster it may need more shelves or other items to prevent fall risks as well - depending on how it is set up.
Thanks, I did however get the Kerry now with deeper substrate, and I will be doing a review and short story soon.
As for the cat/bear house, I suppose it is a risky use for Syrians.

[Jadetooth]

I did a lot of reading about different cages with help from this forum.

My conclusion
Basically, if you want to give the hamster at least 80*50 floor space (minimum size), but want to save space in your house, then the two light cage style bar options are Alaska and Hamster Heaven. Hamster heaven has downside of tubes where they can get stuck, so this was the cage for me. Haven't been disappointed at all.

If you're prepared to get an e.g. 100*50cm cage there are several more cage style options (Barney and Alexander being main ones I found) but I wanted to get as small as possible within recommended sizes as I have many other pets.

[Stick]

I have had the Alaska cage for 2 years for my Syrian hamster George and it has been perfect for him. I also bought from Zooplus and was really happy with the price and packaging. I removed the platform / slide and house and replaced with a more spacious grey platform from a Ferplast cage. I use a wooden nest box which is much larger and better for Syrians, and a log ramp attached to the bars so he can get up to the platform. It's easy to attach treats, water bottle and wheel to the bars. I think for the price this is a really nice cage, it has secure doors and is very easy to keep clean as the base is smooth. I've had cages such as the Ferplast cage which is a brilliant size (it was actually meant for ferrets but just right for rats), but it has a criss-cross pattern on the base which makes it harder to scrub clean. As I live in a tiny house I had to go for the minimum size cage, but the Alaska cage is great for a Syrian hamster and my little man seems perfectly happy in it.