Syrian Requirements RSPCA - Page 4

Pebbles82 · 03-01-2015, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thin Lizzy

I agree with you about the RSPCA - that they should have a no kill policy across the board. I was really shocked to read that in the 80's they killed to save money. That saddens me.

Sorry! Maybe too much information. Someone made a documentary about 'cheaper' methods of euthanasia not being humane enough and the Chairman earning a massive salary - and that forced things to change. It was a long time ago now and after losing a lot of credibility they improved drastically and it's not the same any more I believe. They do try to rehome animals and are good at rescuing badly treated animals. Euthanasia is a tricky topic. I don't know any details of current practice.

Nibbler · 03-01-2015, 01:29 PM

Serendipity: All the hamsters in the experiment had a 20x14x14cm bottomless "shelter" made of plywood. The hams in the 10cm depth group used that as their bed and some
of the deeper group hams started digging their tunnel down from inside the shelter.
The floor space of the cage was only 45x57cm so not good but probably not far off the dimension of a standard pet shop 'large' (ha!) cages.

Really the only practical way of having that sort of setup with a good floor space and accessibility as well would be to have a tank with a cage topper or diy hack a tall rat cage and plexiglass a section in the bottom half or something.

RubyDG · 03-01-2015, 01:46 PM

At one stage I looked into getting my husband to build a DIY aquarium and they're not that hard to do if you're a bit on the handy side, actually cheaper than some setups - it was just cheaper and easier to buy second hand tanks. I think for something for a hamster the trick would be to go for acrylic rather than glass, plenty sturdy enough and not even remotely as heavy, also cheaper. With a hamster cage you wouldn't even have to worry about it being watertight just solidly put together - something along the same lines as that Living World Eco Habitat, which is lovely but I feel is way overpriced for what it is. You would have to be reasonably handy though and it wouldn't cost nothing. Definitely something I'm looking into again although from a different perspective. I really think the only way to get a good practical setup with that kind of depth is going to be a DIY job - commercial cages just aren't there yet which is why you get so many people opting for something like the Detolf which is fab but I do feel it lacks in height and width. I think some of the cages you can get today are good but so far I've not come across any commercial cage that is perfect, you're always compromising on something.

WinnieTheHam · 03-01-2015, 01:58 PM

I really recommend getting a deep tank - i have a 4ft tank what i fill really deep with substrate. My Male Syrian is no longer lazy, and he does not show any obsessive behaviors such as bar chewing. I have seen him portray normal behaviors, he forages more, he digs a whole load a lot of the time, he seems much more energetic and happy. He even dug his own burrow, it was so cool! He doesn't try to escape either, unless i disturb him by cleaning a few bits in his cage (or maybe it's just because he wants to come out and play haha)

It makes me so happy to see him how he is now and i'd buy more tanks for my future hams too! look on Gumtree, i got my tank for £60 but there is cheaper ones!

Pebbles82 · 03-01-2015, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nibbler

Serendipity: All the hamsters in the experiment had a 20x14x14cm bottomless "shelter" made of plywood. The hams in the 10cm depth group used that as their bed and some
of the deeper group hams started digging their tunnel down from inside the shelter.
The floor space of the cage was only 45x57cm so not good but probably not far off the dimension of a standard pet shop 'large' (ha!) cages.

Really the only practical way of having that sort of setup with a good floor space and accessibility as well would be to have a tank with a cage topper or diy hack a tall rat cage and plexiglass a section in the bottom half or something.

Thanks for that Nibbler - glad someone read it all properly - I obviously didn't read it thoroughly lol! Winnie your tank sounds great - I never seem to see anything like that when I'm looking - maybe they get snapped up!

Ruby - I agree that the Living World eco habitat is overpriced - especially when the lid needs meshing aargh! Charlie would be out of there in a shot, especially with deep substrate. I think the large one 120 x 80 cm with deep substrate would be great, but with 30cm substrate a ham would be close enough to the top to get out. I think the Falco is good though - like a tank with a topper - but not as big as the large eco habitat or Winnie's 4 foot tank.

I guess if you had deep substrate you'd need a very light house - like a cardboard box, or it could fall on them if they dug under it.

RubyDG · 03-01-2015, 04:08 PM

What I've picked up from the German forums is that everything's pretty much on stilts!

cypher · 03-02-2015, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

I guess if you had deep substrate you'd need a very light house - like a cardboard box, or it could fall on them if they dug under it.

That probably depends on the substrate, Zephyr loves to burrow under her wooden house but it still seems to sit on the fitch without any danger to her, it worried me at first but haven't had any problems.

Pebbles82 · 03-04-2015, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubyDG

What I've picked up from the German forums is that everything's pretty much on stilts!

Yes I saw that. There was a link to a maker of Hamster houses and platforms on one of the German forums and all the houses and platforms were on long stilts to raise them above deep substrate. I guess as long as a house wasn't too heavy it wouldn't do much harm if it got subsidence lol - for a syrian anyway.