Climbing Rotastak Tubes and Making Friends

[alpacassei]

Originally Posted by chloelclarke

He has a very large set up with 2 large rooms along with lots of smaller parts, and when I’m at home and he is awake he plays in a large plastic storage container that I have turned into an obstacle course.

Why dont you turn the storage box into his cage? Its super easy, you’ll need to either cut a hole in the lid and mesh it or drill A LOT of air holes in it. He’ll be much happier in one larger space than lots of smaller cages connected.

While in general the recommended minimum size for a dwarf hamster is between 70x 40cm and 80 x 50cm. For a robo will be okay 60x40cm if you cant afford a larger cage.

If you cant find a large enough storage bin, here’s some sffordable cages:

Mini Duna (60x40cm), its my go to starter cage for robos or any Russian hamsters that prefer a smaller space. https://www.portonaquapet.co.uk/shop...ssories-M15675 ( on sale for £27)

I dont usually recommend P@H cages but their large wire cage is 60x40cm and only £25! http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pe...cage?orderBy=1


For bin cages (if yuor current bin is too small)

80x40cm, this ones quite deep so there’d be A LOT of room for burrowing in deep substrate. £10 Buy Argos Home 100 Litre Curved Plastic Storage Box and Lid | Plastic storage boxes and units | Argos

You can also have a look in wilko and ikea since they often sell boxes super cheap

[chloelclarke]

Originally Posted by alpacassei

Why dont you turn the storage box into his cage? Its super easy, you’ll need to either cut a hole in the lid and mesh it or drill A LOT of air holes in it. He’ll be much happier in one larger space than lots of smaller cages connected.

While in general the recommended minimum size for a dwarf hamster is between 70x 40cm and 80 x 50cm. For a robo will be okay 60x40cm if you cant afford a larger cage.

If you cant find a large enough storage bin, here’s some sffordable cages:

Mini Duna (60x40cm), its my go to starter cage for robos or any Russian hamsters that prefer a smaller space. https://www.portonaquapet.co.uk/shop...ssories-M15675 ( on sale for £27)

I dont usually recommend P@H cages but their large wire cage is 60x40cm and only £25! http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pe...cage?orderBy=1


For bin cages (if yuor current bin is too small)

80x40cm, this ones quite deep so there’d be A LOT of room for burrowing in deep substrate. £10 Buy Argos Home 100 Litre Curved Plastic Storage Box and Lid | Plastic storage boxes and units | Argos

You can also have a look in wilko and ikea since they often sell boxes super cheap

Thanks for the advice! Honestly I’m very confident in the set up he has, it’s bigger than the minimum requirements you’ve stated and he seems to like running between the two large rooms. I looked at the links you provided and it’s definitely bigger than those!
I may consider turning a storage container into a cage at some point however I literally don’t own any of the tools needed so would need to borrow them! Thanks for taking the time to send me some links, I really appreciate it!

[mangoandmimi]

Robos are not good at climbing and although some manage alright, others don’t and can be quite clumsy. For that reason I don’t think upstairs attachments are very suitable for them especially with more vertical tubes. If you’re going to expand the cage best do it lengthways.

[chloelclarke]

Originally Posted by mangoandmimi

Robos are not good at climbing and although some manage alright, others don’t and can be quite clumsy. For that reason I don’t think upstairs attachments are very suitable for them especially with more vertical tubes. If you’re going to expand the cage best do it lengthways.

He does seem like a pretty clumsy lil guy, much like me! I think I’ll just give him some wee ramps and things to climb over Etc instead! Thanks

[flowerfairy]

I would love to see pics of his set up. It does sound as if he has enough space. Arent roborovskis wonderful! Those pictures of Ron had me swooning. He is soooo cute!

[chloelclarke]

Originally Posted by flowerfairy

I would love to see pics of his set up. It does sound as if he has enough space. Arent roborovskis wonderful! Those pictures of Ron had me swooning. He is soooo cute!

He’s such a sweetheart! Although he is currently keeping me awake with his munching 😂 Don’t worry I’ll be adding pictures soon once the rest of the toys I’ve ordered him arrive and I re-jig things a little!

[alpacassei]

My robo was up all night giving his desert area a makeover! Robos are so cute!!

I cant wait to see all his new toys and set up! I bet he’s gonna love it

I have to say, I’m very curious about which cages your using since I’ve never seen rorastak cages that big before, its really great if theyve started making larger cages now though!

[chloelclarke]

Just so people can stop telling me his cage is too small, he now has a new one! �� and it's definitely big enough!

[Pebbles82]

Hi there I'm sure you've got the message that Rotostaks aren't considered suitable for hammies on here! (I made the same mistake when I got our last hamster).

Glad he has something else. In terms of size it goes on floorspace of one unit. Adding the size of all the units together doesn't count (I kidded myself it did when I had one). Although robos are tiny they do need plenty of space to run around - they are very active and fast. So they need the floorspace.

The other main issue with the Rotostak for a robo is - robos have fur under the feet and can't climb vertical tubes. Not easily anyway and they risk falling down them again. They are much better with everything at ground level in a bigger floor area with maybe a shallow ramp up to a shelf.

I know it can be difficult getting cages by mail order to Northern Ireland - postage and delivery etc. If you were looking for something permanent then a bin cage, as suggested above, is a cheap option (Ikea sell the 78cm samla bin for about £10 and that's about the right size). Or another cheap option is the Duna Multy mentioned above - it's about £33 from Porton Aquapet. Some pet shops may also have the Zoozone 1 in stock which is very similar to the Duna Multy - a bit cheaper. The bar spacing on top is too big so it needs a piece of mesh attaching to the bars but that's easier than making a bin cage.

Don't worry - many of us have started out with a cage that was too small or just not suitable. I loved the rotostak - it was such a clever design - but unfortunately not suitable for a pet to live in! Even the largest unit is too small (particularly depthwise) and the ventilation is terrible. I ended up binning mine and losing a load of money.

[Pebbles82]

If he's in a new cage now then I'm sure he'd be very happy with just loads of substrate (our robo digs tunnels and burrows in it) and hidey places like tissue boxes in the cage, and a wheel - plus chews and food and water of course! At least 3 to 4" of substrate - ideally more if they can dig tunnels. It may sound like a lot but you end up using less in the long run because with more substrate in to start with you only need to "spot clean" - weekly full cleanouts just stress hammies and arent really necessary - you can easily go a few weeks to a couple of months wihtout changing the substrate when it's deeper and even then you can re-use the clean half