Help me please!😥

[superhammygirl]

yup
that is his cage.
he got it stuck in the bit at the top.

his paw has stopped swelling and has gone down a little but he is still not 0putting any weight on it.
If it doesn't get any better I may take him to the vets.

[souffle]

I think you should have him seen. If the blood supply has been limited or the nerves damaged it may need attention. The vet could also check for breaks and give him some anti-inflammatory painkillers to bring down the swelling. If the foot hurts he may start chewing at it and he could get an infection.
I'd take some pictures and draw this to the attention of the manufacturers of the cage.

[Pebbles82]

I agree about taking him to the vets. Sadly that cage isn't good for Hamsters really and it isn't cheap either! If you haven't had it long you could ask for a refund, especially now your hamster has an injured foot. I would show the photos to the place that sold you the cage as well.

It is too tall really and there are fall risks with the way it is laid out. That can be got round but then the floor area isn't that big either. For now you could take the levels out so he can't climb and fall and put a house on the substrate at the bottom for him along with his food, water and toys etc and he'll be fine like that for now.

Sorry - think you already did this! But do take him to the vets or he may lose his leg. It will give you some reassurance as well as to how he is doing.

Zooplus has some good, inexpensive cages for Syrians - the Alaska is a good basic cage. Again it needs a house on the base - the little white one is no good and the holes are too small but it's easy to remove

The floor area is a good size and it's not too tall. And has a big front opening door so easy for accessing things and taming.

Alaska Hamster Cage | Free P&P on orders £29+ at zooplus!

It might look a bit plain but you can add his toys and a few colourful things to make it individual If you do get a cage from Zooplus, it works out cheaper to order a syrian sized wheel from there at the same time as it will be postage free along with the cage. This is a popular one - 28cm size

Trixie Small Pet Exercise Wheel | Free P&P on orders £29+ at zooplus!

Both together is less than £40 and if you get a refund on the Rosewood cage you may be in profit - sort of!

[superhammygirl]

what is not to good about it?
(just because I don't want to make the same mistake again)
is it to small?
I did replace the wheel with a bigger one and the hand incident is the only one he has ever had.

[Pebbles82]

It's not your fault Hamsters do better with lower height and more floor area. If they climb they often just drop and can injure themselves. The problem with it really is the floor area is very small at 50cm by 36cm. It's generally considered that the old RSPCA minimum of 80cm by 50cm (or more) is a suitable size for a Syrian hamster.

The height of the cage at 47cm is quite tall. It is only 1 or 2 cm taller than the Barney cage - but the difference is the barney cage has a deep base to fill with substrate, which can effectively reduce some of that height. With a tall height and shallow base, it's not ideal.

The way the shelves are set up means there are a lot of gaps to fall through from the top and hit things on the way down. Hamsters can climb to the top and even monkey bar across the roof - and they tend to just drop - they aren't good climbers really. They are more ground-dwelling and diggers.

The house at the top isn't really good for normal behaviours. Normal behaviours are to bury food under their nest so a house on top of the substrate is better. Plus they tend to have a toilet area near the cage and it's a long way down to go for a pee! So they may just do it in the house instead.

It is annoying - I have been there myself, having bought a 3 tier rotostak thingy for our first hamster. And it was a wrench upgrading him to a better cage in some ways because the design of the rotostak was really quite clever, the little bottle holders etc. Unfortunately it was just totally unsuitable for a hamster to live in.

Their cage is their environment really and within that they need a nice darkplace to nest and retire to - then space to come out and forage and do things and mess about with piles of substrate (normal behaviours).

There is nothing wrong with having platforms - it's good to have a platform, but the set up needs to be safe and work for the hamster. It's not the worst cage but it's not a good one, even though it looks nice

I believe it is quite easy to escape from as well with hamster's having opened the doors quite easily - although that is solvable.

Sorry - I don't mean to be rude about your cage. Unfortunately pet shops just sell cages for profit and there is no real safety or suitability legislation. So we poor owners end up making expensive mistakes sometimes.

There are quite a few good cages - the Hamster Heaven, Barney, Alaska and Alexander on Zooplus and various other Savic and Ferplast cages. But an awful lot of unsuitable ones sold that are easier to find sometimes.

[Pebbles82]

So for example with a bigger floor area and a platform and cage that isn't too high, your hamster has all that space to run around, or to sit in different places and the more floor space the more opportunity to enrich their environment and make it interesting for them and allow natural behaviours so they're happier.

Enrichment includes:

1) Depth of substrate (at least 4 to 6 inches deep - some people go a lot deeper)
2) A good sized house or hide that is dark inside
3) A different level (eg a shelf or platform)
4) Toys such as tunnels and hidey places
5) Variety of places to sit/go to

That kind of thing.

There is nothing wrong with the house in your cage, but it is better if it's open underneath and on the substrate and not at the top of the cage. Plus better if it doesn't trap paws!

If you have a look at some of the reviews for the Barney and Alexander and Alaska on Zooplus,people realise how much better they are for the hammy. Size of cage relates to floorspace really rather than volume - so a cage might look big - but is actually small and too high.

Hamster Cages | great selection at zooplus

[superhammygirl]

ok thanks

[Pebbles82]

How is his foot doing? Did you manage to get a vet appointment? Quite a lot of people come on here having been sold a cage (many the Rosewood one) or something that doesn't work. Some have been successful at getting refunds from Pets at Home, even after it's been used, saying it's not suitable. Not sure about other places.

[superhammygirl]

his foot has got better so no need to go to the vets
although he is still not putting weight on it but I think that'll pass.