Am I the only person here who likes Rotastack?

nooboo · 09-05-2005, 12:00 PM

I sometimes wonder if I am the only person who likes Rotastak!! their carriers have a hole each end securly stoppered which you could get hamsters out from and a nice secure top hatch (though when I had to take the hamsters on a 4 hours train I did selotape the sides of the hatch a bit through personal fear) they have nice carry handles... what is so wrong with Rotastak that I am unaware of?

Emma · 09-05-2005, 12:13 PM

I dislike rotastak as a brand because....

*Tubes are too small for decent sized hamsters, wheels are definitely too small for most hamsters

*Cages are generally too small and too expensive, to get a decent sized home for your pet you have to spend a lot

*I find the cages fiddly to clean, and not too secure when faced with a houdini hamster

*They make fancy cages like the pink and jungle and scary castle themes, which just encourage children to pester their parents to spend money, which I dislike.

So I guess they're not too bad if you have a smaller hamster and don't mind spending the money and the gimmickyness, but I prefer other types of cage. Some people complain that Rotastak cages are poorly ventilated too, which can lead to build up of ammonia (causing respiratory/eye problems), and allegedly condensation leading to fungal growth in toilet areas/food stores (although obviously hygiene comes into play here too!!!)

Lol.....I don't hate them or anything just prefer other cages!

nooboo · 09-05-2005, 12:20 PM

well... this is where I wonder if mine are small, because the wheel is the right size, no arching at all, (they each have two external wheels) they are no where near getting stuck in tunnels, I guess it does take some time to clean them all out. As for cost, I have 6 kidney shaped ones, 23 rounds, 7 attics, 4 burrow basments, and more tubing like the spagetti junction than I know what to do with, and 4 carriers. It cost me just under £70, yes it was eBay, and yes I then spent two days cleaning out cages 4 times over.

does this mean my hamsters are stunted or something??

Emma · 09-05-2005, 12:45 PM

Woah that's a lot of Rotastak! With a set of one kidney shaped unit and one round unit with an attic costing around £60 new just imagine how much all that would be!

I meant the wheels that were fixed in the round units...it's been a while since I had Rotastak, they didn't make those external wheels when I had them.

A lot of hamsters from pet shops tend to be poorly bred and do tend to be smaller, they're probably not stunted as such just not well-bred....doesn't stop them being lovely hammies in their own rights though.

nooboo · 09-05-2005, 01:41 PM

you should see it all set up, well most of it is and shared between 3 hamsters, need a 4th just to balance it right :P (just have to talk partner into it now )

one of them is noticably tiny, the other two seem of an ok size, guess we will soon see with the weighing

the external wheels are great especially the two I have with speedos - Si clocked up 6 miles over the last two days, I am very proud of him, especially considering how much time he spent in his ball on the floor

Demondog · 09-25-2005, 05:50 AM

I don't like Rotastak either, but my hamster does.

He came from a pet shop that was closing down in a small glass tank. I got him a large wire cage as soon as I could, but he was always frantic in it. I've put him in a 2nd hand Rotastak and he's a lot calmer. Go figure.

PS hi, I'm new.

nooboo · 09-25-2005, 06:35 AM

heh, well at the moment I have found that I can't figure out the best set up for Roborovski with it. But the syrians adore it, the one time they were in wire cages (when we went to Dave's mums for a week and a bit ) they seemed bored and grumpy, though could have been the change of scene

p.s. welcome, hope you like it here

SnuggleHam · 09-25-2005, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demondog

I don't like Rotastak either, but my hamster does.

He came from a pet shop that was closing down in a small glass tank. I got him a large wire cage as soon as I could, but he was always frantic in it. I've put him in a 2nd hand Rotastak and he's a lot calmer. Go figure.

PS hi, I'm new.

Welcome Demondog, don't be shy about posting an Introduction, of course you don't have to, but you could tell us more about yourself and your hamsters!

**babyboos** · 09-26-2005, 06:07 AM

Hi Demondog nice to see another fellow Scot

I think the main consideration is not whether we like the Rotastak but whether our little ones do really. With any enclosure we do need to look at them critically in terms of size of tubes, ventialtion etc. I like the addition of the garden attachment - it is a large open-wired attic like unit - to the Rotastak range, and the small ladders, but I have just seen so many hamtsers frantically gnawing away at the tiny bars around the top of the ciurcular units, and large Syrians with backs nearly bent double in the external wheels. I do think Rotastak of now is a vaste improvement on the old red and clear round units of the past, and the additon of some of the traingular units offers a lot more ventilation.

Demondog · 09-28-2005, 08:26 AM

Thanks for the welcome.

I will get round to posting an Introduction, honest...

My Syrian does gnaw at the tiny bars of his Rotastak, but his gnawing was worse in the bigger wire cage, and he ran around like a nutter in it as well. Crazy beastie.