HAMHATTAN = Dwarf Hamster City

[battlewagon]

Hi everyone, I live in Manhattan so that's why I named this Dwarf Hamster City HAMHATTAN. I recently bought 4 female baby dwarf hamsters and they all live in HAMHATTAN. The 4 dwarves are very social, they sleep together, and they groom each other. They also like to play fight. There are 2 Crittertrail wheels, 2 Super Pet flying saucers, 2 food dishes, and 2 Habitrail Ovo water bottles. There are tons and tons of towers, 12+ levels, and even a Habitrail Sky Restaurant. Well, here is HAMHATTAN!!! Let me know what you think.

P.S. The highest point in HAMHATTAN almost touches my ceiling. Last but not least, HAMHATTAN is 100% safe, secure, and stable. It's super easy to disassemble and put back together. It is time consuming to clean though.

[HorseyMandz]

Wow, that's pretty eyecatching ! May not be the most suitable cage though

[battlewagon]

Originally Posted by HorseyMandz

May not be the most suitable cage though

how come you say that?

[evel_lin]

wow that certainly is a huge set up.

I think most people on here though would not recommend that style of cage as hamsters are better suited to cages with a large floor space. Also I see you've got 4 hamsters in there so there is a risk that they could become territorial over a level or space and fight. With keeping pairs or groups it is always advised to have just the one level and enough wheels etc. for each hamster which I see you've already done.

[vanilla-yazoo]

modular cages are not always the best, as they can become stuffy, they can block the tubes with bedding and the condensation can become moldy, most hamsters prefer a flat layout, with a large floor, where they can enjoy lots of space.

it is a very impressive cage, and very colourful! but maybe adding a large bin cage to it for an area for a large wheel and other such toys will be welcomed by the hamster.

you also say its for dwarf hams, having more then 1 level, and having multiple area's they can claim as their territory can be provoking a fall out, the odd ones will always be happy, but most pairs or groups do need splitting in the end due to bad fights and bullying.
unfortunatly most pet cages are not great for what they are designed for!

[Axeria]

Woooow! What an amazingly huge setup! Absolutely the right way to use those kind of cages if you insist on using them

But i must agree with the rest, not the most suitable cages for groups or an lonely hamster im afraid, they look fancy and impressive but IMHO it is not the best im afraid... I am mostly conserned bout ventilation and as people have pointed out the fact that you have four hamsters in there which could end in a right bloody mess

How long do you use when cleaning all the pieces? ^^,

[squishyhammy]

What type of draws are they?

[Queen Of The High Teas]

WOW, that is seriously impressive! It must have taken ages to make and cost a fortune too, those kits aren't exactly cheap! Hammy's not going to get bored in there though, if he leaves his bed it'll take him a year to find it again!!

I agree though, 4 in there might not work out, then again with that much stuff they could well be too occupied or too tired to think of fighting. And yeah, if you want to use critter/habitrail this is how to do it. Don't envy you at clean out time though.

[kyrilliondaemon]

I hate to say it but I think you got very much taken in by the pet shops. With dwarf hams in that you'll need to be very, very careful and in all honesty I don't feel modular cages give the best space for the floor area - our syrian used to live in a modular setup with full sized cages as modules and the best decision we ever made for her was to scrap the lot and replace it with a rabbit hutch. It was a good cage, but the rabbit hutch is slightly less floorspace and still a much better cage for her.
Unfortunately stuff like that is sold to make money, not to make happy hamsters.

We keep pairs/groups and to be honest while if you're very lucky it may work in a cage like that... I kinda feel you're risking the hams lives by keeping them in there together to be honest

This was Scamps old setup, I think this is the last pic I got before we stopped using it

[battlewagon]

Meh, flat cages are boring. When I was a kid, I had a male teddy bear hamster and a female teddy bear hamster in a flat cage and although they got along very well and never fought, I felt very sad for them because it was pretty obvious that they were bored to death. We didn't have money for all the fancy expansion sets or SAM tubes. And I always fantasized about what it would be like to have one of those crazy huge setups that SAM used to display in their boxes. When I go to the pet store and I see the hamsters in those gallon cages, I feel sorry for them because their cages are dull, boring, and predictable. There's no excitement even with a wheel, an igloo, a flying saucer, and a water bottle. A rather mundane existence.

Thankfully, my 4 female dwarves get along and are social. They sleep together and that makes me very happy. I carefully picked them out at the pet store. I chose the nicest ones that didn't bite. There were 2 dwarves at the store that bit me (it didn't hurt) but I deduced that they were probably dominant, aggressive, and alpha females.

I haven't gotten around to naming all of the dwarves. Only one has been named. She is Hyper because she has the energy of 2 dwarf hamsters. She loves to play on the hamster wheels and she climbs the vertical tubes like a monkey. She races on the horizontal tubes. She's super cute. The 4 dwarves appear to be very happy in HAMHATTAN and the whole point of HAMHATTAN is to offer them as much stimulation and space as possible.

In the future when I get my own apartment, I will either buy a massive table or have a custom table built which will allow me to expand HAMHATTAN horizontally. I'd like to add more stuff to it such as 2 Habitrail Ovo Lofts, 1 Habitrail Dwarf Hamster Habitat, 1 Habitrail Ovo Pink Home, and at least 1 Crittertrail playpen.