Ferplast Mini Duna - Review

[Silver]

It really all depends on each individual ham.

After all I would not like to live in a big house with lots of room as I would feel kind of lost in it on my own.

Some single dwarf hams feel lost & nervous in big cages some hate small cages & wan't all the room they can & then ask for more.

Mini Dunas are good for single dwarfs who do not like a lot of space, who are poorly & you can get to them better & watch them easier, for elderly dwarfs & Syrians, for single baby Syrian hams who for what ever reason need to be on their own there was one breeder asking this question this week & was advised by two experianced breeders to buy a Mini Duna for a while until ham grew more so the ham did not feel so lost with out it's siblings.

Plus they are very cheep on Ebay & the like for putting the ham in while you clean out it's normal cage/tank, to have one huge sand bath, to add on to a bin cage or cage you all ready have

After listing lots of them these last few days I have seen almost brand new Mini Dunas go for 99p the small pet keepers I use to put my ham in while cleaning out costs £5 & is a fraction of the size of a Mini Duna

I think it is a case of looking outside of the "RSPCA recommended size" & look at the ham in question, what will the ham feel at home in, watch the hams body language & you will soon find out

xxx

[kyrilliondaemon]

Originally Posted by XxHamsterzxX

A mini duna is big enough for any hamster.

Not for my syrians its not... Only one of our hams is in a mini duna at the moment and thats just because he's a dwarf and too skittish for a bigger cage to be practical yet.

[CharlieB]

My opinion of this cage is that it is suitable for a hospital cage only. I have previously had a few for my dwarfs and after a couple of weeks they were replaced.

The shelf doesn't line up properly (didn't in any of my 4 anyway) which led to a bad injury. The wheel is not suitable and would need to be replaced, it was noisy and flimsy and I found it too small for my guys. I find it hard to clean properly (The squares on the bottom just collected dirt and made it hard to wipe down) and the bottle holder never stayed on which resorted to me gluing it on one of them. The house in it isn't well ventilated leading to condensation inside - Unhappy hams with me taking it apart daily to air it! Also the ladder connections break easily!

What I did like was the food bowl that came with it as it was useful as a sand bath!

For the price I would suggest a bin cage may be better.

Edit: I find it useful to have about to put a reluctant ham in while trying to get a urine sample!

[olga]

This is a great cage. Sure the wheel is useless but you can find a cheap replacement and there is plenty of space with the shelf for a dwarf to run around.

Hope you do not mind, CharlieB but I smiled when you said about the food pot being used as a sandbath because that is one of the things in my humble opinion that is too small. A dwarf needs something slightly larger to roll in as sand bath.

Never had a problem with the square floor cleaning it and I have cleaned plenty of them. Suckers of water bottle do need checking and making sure they are firmly on but water bottle is good size and strong.
Never had the ladder connection break and find it fine.
I would not use the house with it but the cage itself is a good cage. You can easily get some wooden accessories cheap to use instead of the plastic house.

Accessorize is the name of the game with this cage but the basic cage and shelf are fine.

[CharlieB]

Everyone had there own opinion Olga I like it for my little dwarfys like Riley or Dotty and does suit them. They prefer to have more toys to climb on than a huge sand bath that they don't need (they are tiny dwarfys)

I must of just had bad ones, my ladders broke as I took them off to clean behind them, done it loads without them breaking and then in the space of about a week all 3 broke!

[Petite1]

My Syrian was that bored in a Mini duna she actually bit a hole in the corner to get out, that was before i knew any different on cage sizes for syrians, needless to say now with two in HHs and two in Kios`s with added cages to them they are all happierx

[olga]

Originally Posted by Petite1

My Syrian was that bored in a Mini duna she actually bit a hole in the corner to get out, that was before i knew any different on cage sizes for syrians, needless to say now with two in HHs and two in Kios`s with added cages to them they are all happierx

Oh gosh. Hope you found her easily after the escape.
I can imagine a good sized Syrian would prefer a bigger cage. My Syrian is a very small elderly boy and I have downsized him now to a mini duna as he is not very mobile but before when he was much younger he preferred a bigger cage.

[syrianali]

I personally use the mini duna for baby syrians as their first home..... as they grow bigger they get a bin cage with a 12" wheel, but when they first leave mum I use them and when I first bring a new baby home. As previously said they would also make a good retirement or convalescence home, or maybe if you have a small one with agoraphobia.....
Cages are a long argued subject that I try to avoid, as long as the hamster is happy safe and healthy then I don't see a problem

[Petite1]

Hi Olga yes I did find Peanuts, she wasnt far, hasnt happened since we put her into a bigger cage.

[GhostsInSnow]

Originally Posted by olga

I smiled when you said about the food pot being used as a sandbath because that is one of the things in my humble opinion that is too small. A dwarf needs something slightly larger to roll in as sand bath.

My Robo has plenty of room to roll about in the food dish.
I did, however, find the Duna too small for him. Once he had toys and accessories in there, he had very little running room left. He is now in a ZooZone instead. I hated keeping him in there so I wouldn't dream of keeping my Syrian in one.
Also, I've had 2 dunas in the past as temproary cages for my mice, and obviously for my Robo when he came, and the water bottles on both failed within a week or two and had to be replaced.
I think the only thing a Duna is suitable is as a cage for babies (as was mentioned earlier) or as a hospital/retirement cage.