Review- Alaska Hamster Cage

[missmccookies]

I've been away for a while, life's been very busy, but now Carlos' new cage is finally here and she's moved out of the tiny little mini duna one
We ordered the Alaska cage form Zooplus, which is on sale just now, and I also picked her up a Karlie wheel (the 20cm one) in the sale.
The wheel arrived from Germany in three days, and a cage came along with it. Unfortunately it was a guinea pig cage! The zooplus website says something about paying to send it back to Germany, but when we phoned the helpline they organised for a courier to come pick it up, so that was okay. It took a week for the cage we had ordered to arrive (because it didn't go anywhere on the weekend, and parcelforce decided Glasgow was in Wales and sent it to a Wales depot instead of a Scotland one.) But it got here eventually!
It is a big cage, but not too wide, so it easily fits on the same sideboard as the mini duna did. The base tray also reaches quite high up, so we haven't had any woodshavings kicked out onto the carpet.
I found it difficult to assemble. The hooks to hold the wire part together didn't slip on very easily, I had to use a pair of scissors to widen them enough to fit the bar. It was also hard to get the second floor in, it kept getting stuck at an angle (But maybe I should have put it in before I attached the wire top?)
Carlos really loves this cage. It has a darker corner for her to hide in and make a nest, and there is plenty of room for all her toys. She's gotten used to the slide and comes up the the top floor, though she doesn't seem to bother with the little house thing. (Which is not as creepy as it looks on zooplus) She keeps climbing up the sides of the cage though, and it is quite a tall cage, so I'm going to have to go pick up a few hammocks after school tomorrow to try and stop her from falling from too great a height.
The cage doesn't come with a bottle, which was great for us as Carlos has a habit of chewing on the spouts (She recently broke a tooth on the mini duna bottle). But the bars are quite narrow. I tested the duna bottle and there was no way the spout would fit through the bars, so if your hamster drinks from a bottle rather than a bowl, you may have to find one with a smaller spout.
Maybe a slightly waffle-y review, but we are all very excited! I will post pictures sometime soon

[evel_lin]

Thanks for the review I've got one of these on it's way to me. My OH is hoping to be able to make some wooden shelves and put them in a bit like the Alexander's shelves. Will bear in mind possibly needing to get some hammocks though

[Vectis Hamstery]

I have recently got one of these too for my soon-to-be-arriving group of fancy mice. I agree that it is on the taller side for a hamster so bear that in mind when furnishing the cage as mentioned above. I didn't find the shelf difficult, but have had plenty of practice with Cambridge shelves in the past! The hooks on mine too were stiff but a pair of long-nosed pliers helped things along. Some of the gaps round the edges are a little wide so I'll be wiring those shut so as not to have any escapees.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Peep lives in one now and he has hammocks We also used pliers when constructing it lol
The classic water bottles work ok with them, they bend the bars slightly but not enough for Peep (a hybrid dwarf) to have any hope of escape so thats ok with us.

[xxHoudinixx]

am getting it for christmas so like hearing ppl who have got its views on it, makes me more excited! xx

[shiny]

I ordered one of these on Monday for my new Syrian Bubble & it is in transit from Germany now - can't wait

[njwilde]

Yes, I got one for Eleanor three weeks ago and she loves it. She still bites bars though, not excessively as she gets sidetracked very often but especially when she s on heat she seems to bite more. but at least I don't have a bad conscience anymore as I think the cage is a good size for a Syrian (its similar to an Alexander) and there s so much space in there for all her toys and she loooooves the slide.

Does anyone's house fall off the first floor though, too? Eleanor seems to drag it aroudn when she is inside and fell off it with the house, poor thing so she she has now gotten tired of rearranging and made a proper nice nest in the corner under the black sheet.

I think the cage is great value for money but I do admit the putting together was not exactly "Vorsprung durch Technik"

[kyrilliondaemon]

Originally Posted by njwilde

(its similar to an Alexander)

Er... 4/5 of the size isn't quite the same as the alexander...

[evel_lin]

I got mine yesterday and was actually a bit disappointed with it. I think I've been spoiled by the Alexander cage! I'm going to be returning it anyway as there is a huge gap where one of the horizontal bars is missing! Will pay the extra for another Alexander


DSC06108 by evel_lin, on Flickr

[shiny]

I got my Alaska this week, 3 days delivered all the way from Germany - I was most impressed how fast this was.

We found that to put it together properly, pliers were useful to get the corners of the cage securely attached, it took about 10 minutes to get it all assembled. The cage is good quality but does not feel quite as sturdy as the Hamster Heaven, it is way cheaper though so I guess that's the compromise you make for this price.

The Alaska is taller than the HH & fits the Karlie 29cm wheel easily even with a really deep layer of Megazorb as substrate. I have added a couple of hammocks though as I was a bit worried about Bubble dropping from so high up but hamsters don't seem too worried by this!

The shelf that comes with the Alaska is a good size but I think the diameter of the openings for the slide & the little house are fairly small. They are ok for Bubble who is not a very big Syrian (about 135g) but they would be too small for my other Syrian Teddy who is a bigger boy (around 190g). The house is totally cute, it has ears & whiskers & the doors make the eyes. It looks a bit like something from Studio Ghibli .

The base is really deep so you can get a really good layer of substrate in. There are two big doors front & top of the cage which give easy access.

Overall, I am really pleased with this cage & would recommend it to anybody looking for a big cage without a huge price tag, Bubble certainly loves it