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Old 01-04-2008, 03:33 PM   #1
pophammy
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Default Fop Criceto Bernie Deluxe ~ Cage Review

This cage is a tank-style cage and measures roughly 60x37x28cm. It is large enough for a Dwarf hamster or a baby Syrian. We would not recommend this for a fully grown adult Syrian however, though it is better than some of the Rotastak style/small barred cages on sale.



It is a sturdy well built cage, with a bottom tray of coloured plastic and a clear plastic clip-on lid with a sliding bar panel. Access to the hamster is easy, either through the bars or by removing the lid.



Inside the cage there is a removable plastic platform with ramps leading to the top of the ‘flying house’. They are quite steep and a Dwarf hamster may struggle to get up but our Winter White manages. The ramp is attached to the main tray by removable plastic studs and is quite secure. There are two ladders leading one to the ramp and one to the flying house. They are slatted but our hamster has not had any problem with this, and loves sleeping and nesting in the flying house! I would not recommend this cage for bar chewing hamsters however as they could stand on the flying house top and reach the bars, though our Dwarfs have never done this (we do not find they chew the bars).



The cage comes with a wheel attached to the ramp by a spindle, however this wheel is too small for a Syrian, and can be rattly. We have removed this, and use a ‘Silent Spinner’ wheel instead, however we found this slid around the cage with use, and so have found a way of keeping it in place using a cork, an elastic band and the small hole in the cage which was meant for the water bottle (See pic).



We found that the water bottle hole provided was too high for a Dwarf hamster to reach, so we drilled out our own hole in the base in the middle of one of the long sides. We also drilled out two holes to thread a piece of elastic through.





There is space to fit several toys in this cage ~ we have an igloo house, a sandbath and a climbing stone on the upper level. The cage comes with a large food dish, but we do not use it (ours was originally from a pair who had to be scatter fed and we find they enjoy foraging for food by digging around).



This cage cost £22.99 from a local pet store. I have seen it occasionally on Ebay but I am sure with searching ‘Criceto Bernie Deluxe’ you could find it online (I have seen loads on German Ebay!).



All in all I think this cage is very well designed and also well priced. It is a good size for Dwarf and small Syrian hamsters and is nice and attractive. The accessories are easily usable and the hamsters seem very happy living here. It is easily cleaned and the hamsters are accessed easily which is important during taming. I think this is generally a very good cage for hamsters!

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Old 01-04-2008, 04:41 PM   #2
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We've got this cage too PH and agree with what you said. The 'high house' and slopes can also be fitted the other way round to make a low house for bar chewers too - bonus!

One thing I have noticed (we may have had ours longer than yours - we put the pups in it once separated) is that the plastic top is quite brittle and the 'hinges' holding the wire roof in were not very strong - and a couple broke off recently rendering the cage escapable! But that may just be the one we had I guess.
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Old 01-04-2008, 04:51 PM   #3
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We never knew you could turn the house over Spud's mum! We will have to try that. Will keep an eye on the cage lid clips. When open ours sits against a wall upright so I think that reduces the strain on the hinges. Yes the lid is brittle and you do have to be careful with this.
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Old 01-05-2008, 12:10 AM   #4
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It looks really good - yet another tank cage that's on the small side for Syrians (though, as you say, I'd prefer to see them in this than Rotastak/Crittertrail or some of the other rubbish, small wire cages). Perfect for dwarfies though and it looks good too

When you drill your water bottle holes on the bases of your cages, Souffle/Pophammy, have you ever had problems with the plastic cracking etc? I'm not keen on Molly's water bottle in the Furry Life thingummy cage and would like to do the same but I'm worried about wrecking it.
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Old 01-05-2008, 02:35 AM   #5
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We have not cracked one yet but it is always risky. We use a wood, drill bit of large diameter for the spout hole. Do not have the drill on hammer setting, just normal and dont push too hard. The base plastic is usually quite flexible. You sometimes have to run it around the hole to make it a little larger to get the spout angle right. The top can be more brittle and you may either already have holes there, can attach to the wire grill with elastic, use sticky velcro or drill our small holes using the same method but a fine drill bit for cord elastic. It can't be too hard if Souffle can do it!!!!
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Old 10-14-2008, 12:44 PM   #6
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Default Re: Fop Criceto Bernie Deluxe ~ Cage Review

Hi everyone, managed to get one of these cages a few weeks back for Gizmo. I know its not the largest cage in the world, but Giz seems to enjoy himself well enough. We have tried flipping the yellow run over and i have to say i (and Giz) prefer the house hanging from above. I find it easier to get Giz out if he runs up on top of his house (especially if i get him into his ball... which he loves more than me). As for the water bottle issue, we got a taller mouse bottle and used 2 wires tied together to hold it in place. Has worked well for us. Bye for now!
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Old 10-17-2008, 03:57 PM   #7
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Default Re: Fop Criceto Bernie Deluxe ~ Cage Review

I bought a Bernie Deluxe thanks to this review and Pika loves it, he currently has his house from below though as he struggled with the slatted steps. I also find he struggles with the smooth sloping platform too - is there anything I can put on them to help him walk up and down wihtout him sliding head first into his house?

water bottle wise I've actually attached mine from the inside, on the bigger upper platform there are some small holes which ive attached the wires to so its approx the same height if it was drilled in anywya.
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Old 06-01-2009, 09:18 AM   #8
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Default hamster cage review brilliant

hi i can't remember the name of the cage but my hamster loves im still not sure if its to small for him as hes quite big.
anyway back to the cage :

pros:
:brillant quite alot of space
:cosy bedding area
:easy to catch an untame hamster
:cheap £26

cons:
:can get really hot in there
nly one opening
---------------------------------------

but my oscar love the cages but as i said im not sure if its too small for him give me your opinion by the way pics were tooken outside ofter i cleaned him out>

pictures:





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Old 06-01-2009, 10:48 AM   #9
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Default Re: hamster cage review brilliant

i had this cage once and it was really much too small for my Syrian. It would've been ok for a single dwarf. There's a new imac cage out at the moment, which is almost identical to a cambridge, for £26. I'll have to take a photo next time i'm in the shop!
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Old 06-01-2009, 12:26 PM   #10
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Default Re: hamster cage review brilliant

It's a FOP Bernie deluxe and it has been reviewed here
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2555
I will merge your comments into this shortly
I'd say it is not big enough for a syrian but our dwarfies love them. We have had a baby syrian in one up till about 3-4 months.
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