Pennine Xtenda 2

[Pouchy]

Before I begin reviewing I must admit to being a fan of modular systems - the concept is good endeavouring to mimick the way hamsters live in the wild - it's the execution of the concept that is the problem.
Having said that lets begin with:
What's in the box? ( A heap of plastic tat I can hear you muttering under your breath) The clear plastic top is placed upside down in the base and the various tubes and ball, food dish,waterbottle,wheel, clips and fitments are placed inside it. All quite neat and orderly.
Dimensions : of the main unit 18 ins x 10 ins x 10 ins. It is bigger in floor area than the crittertrails,ferplast, habitrail and rotastak units. 1st problem: this is way to small for any hamster to live in but would be useful on its own as a hospital cage or a holding cage. Two of the units would give a total floor area of 36 x 10 ins which is very usable for the smaller hamsters but still not for a syrian.
Pros:
Fully enclosed so no mess all over the floor.
Tubes have a bigger diameter than other systems.
Its rectangular (oblongular!) so has those all important corners.
Comes with its own rolling balll that doubles as a nesting compartment.
When fitted together seems quite sturdy and stable.
Has paper derived safe bedding pack included.
Water bottle fitment quite cleverly incorporated into the design.
Can be extended for as many units as you want. Stuff the expense
Cons
Too small on its own.
Food dish is too big and covers about 1/3 of floor area.
Wheel only big enough for smaller hammies, a bit narrow and looks like it won't run well in use as has loose spindle fitting so the whole wheel slopes at an angle towards the sides, even moreso with a hamster in it.
The fitment of the arch tubes is not too secure (they can wobble up and down in the fitment which would get worse with use) .A really determined syrian could quite easily escape with a bit of effort.
Plastics, while not as brittle as some other modular systems apart from the clear lid, may crack, so there may be a durability issue over time.
The usual problem of ventilation issues in enclosed systems.
Conclusions
Another missed opportunity by a pet manufacturer to create a truly great modular system but with additional units could make a very nice setup bearing in mind the care needed when handling the units to extend its longevity. Having said this it seems better than most of the other systems on the market at the moment, is slightly cheaper and is made in UK. Cost on ebay is £26 + p+p. Got this one for £13 inc p+p so was £7 which was OK.

And before you start telling me I have no intention of putting any small animal into it until another one turns up cheap to create an effective system.

Picture of it is here:
http://www.hamstercentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=92&title=xtenda&cat=500

[wofunny]

Good review, but i am a fan of big cages and personally would never ever buy this.

Originally Posted by Pouchy

Before I begin reviewing I must admit to being a fan of modular systems - the concept is good endeavouring to mimick the way hamsters live in the wild

Thats not entirely true, it only mimics their underground tunnels for sleeping, but once they are awake they will run around in the open desert.

[mangoandmimi]

Nice i was gonna get one of them for mimi when she was pregnant till i swapped all mine around
just wanted to ask - the dimensions, do they include the massive curve of the tunnel? because that would make a nice big dimension size... just a thought
Seems like a nice cage anyhow i would buy it!!

[Pouchy]

The dimensions are for the main unit only. The manufacturers cheat and put the curves, water bottle attachments etc in the size to make you think the cage is bigger than it actually is.

Everyones a fan of big cages, me included, but with any number of these a very large cage area could be created with sleeping areas, digging areas etc. It probably wouldn't be feasible or economic in the long run due to cost.

No cage can ever be entirely suitable for any creature, including us! - yes we live in cages, they're called houses from which we go out occasionally to forage for food and so on! So let's do away with jails for animals and give 'em their freedom. After all isn't it cruel to put any animal behind bars for our own entertainment? (boo, hiss, shurrup you etc I can hear you all shouting at me...)

[mangoandmimi]

Hmmph it annoys me when all the tubes etc are included - the rotastak and habitrail do that too :/

[Faerydae]

I had this cage and always wondered what it was... I got it for £7 from a car boot sale, unfortunately there were no things to attach the tubes to the cage and nothing to block the holes with either and only 1 clip

[Hope]

Thanks for the review Pouchy, I have to admit to liking these plasitc tank type cages, just a shame that this one is so small! And I have to say that the wheel/ball/ compartment, could cause problems imo, it would be a very attractive nesting area fora ham, but then where would they wheel? Also likey to get very stuffy in there too.

And about your 'isnt it cruel to put any animal behind bars' comment, well yes, intrinsically, I suppose it is, but we have to remember that the hamsters we buy from pet shops or breeders are domesticated to some extent and would never survive if realeased in to their 'natural' habitat in the wild - they are too used too used to the good life, and a never emptying food bowl!! lol! But I think that this is partly the reason why I like the tank style of 'cage' so much, no wires or bars and looks less like a 'cage' I suppose!

[Pouchy]

The ball would not get too stuff as there are 32 slits all around it which might be sufficient for ventilation as well as air going in from the tube. Anyone member the square habitrail loft. That was a real sweatbox. There is a wheel provided tho it isn't big enough for anything but a dwarf.

That comment was put in as a bit of a wind up and not to be taken entirely seriously and as you say the animals in the cages have spent all there lives in them so don't know any different - having to run miles across a freezing cold desert at night to find food keeping a very present eye out for predators who see them as the next dinner. Hamsters only run for miles because food is scarce. If the food source was six feet away from the burrow it wouldn,t run for miles. Would you?

Syrian hamsters are supposedly extinct in the wild. Perhaps we should all set up a breeding programme and head off to Syria and release a few....

[Pouchy]

Just read they aren't extinct - just vulnerable and likely to go extinct but it appears the germans (Stan Boardman accent anyone) have set up a breeding programme with captured wild ones.