I think so - they have different pros and cons. I really wanted the 100cm Alexander for a long time, when the Barney was only 80cm, but then they made the Barney bigger so that's 100cm now. The main difference is, although the Alexander is a little bit taller and has the racetrack shelf set up (which is great), the Barney is a bit easier to fit a syrian sized wheel in and less issues with blocking drops from a height. I would say the Barney is a bit easier to set up and have more options for roof toys and wheel place, but the Alexander is a lovely cage too. To fit a 27 to 29cm wheel in the Alexander you would either need to have one of the shelves very high, or leave the centre one out and put the wheel between the two long shelves. Or as some people do, just have one shelf and the wheel at the other end - if you do that you may as well have the Barney as the only gain is extra height and then it's too tall and needs careful setting up to avoid falls from a height. It's a tricky one - I love the look of the Alexander - but would probably buy the Barney! Because I think I could make best use of floor space and depth of substrate in the Barney (ie by hanging the wheel from the top so it doesn't take up floor space, or standing it on a low platform so there is still substrate underneath it.
If I was setting up an Alexander I would want to keep the racetrack effect with the three shelves so would have one of them higher up, the centre one sloping down to the lower one and have the wheel under the higher one. This would mean having the wheel on the base of the cage and low substrate in that area, and 'fencing off' that area to have deeper substrate in the rest of the cage. So you would lose a bit of deep substrate area, but on the other hand you gain all the extra level up top. Having said that, it is quite a fall from the top of the cage (sometimes they climb to the roof and hang on upside down!) through the gap in the centre and could land on the ladder and hurt themselves, so there is a need for a grass hammock or an extra shelf and maybe a tube up the centre instead of a ladder, to prevent falls. Then the bottom part of the cage can be a bit more inaccessible just using the small front doors.
But there are plenty of people with Alexander cages who love them! If you're creative at set ups it could be a good option. I think the Barney has almost superceded the Alexander though - I think there is only about 4 cm difference in height (the height of 50cm for the Alexander isn't quite accurate - someone gave me the internal measurements once). The Barney is 45cm high (43cm internally). And there are various places you could put the wheel or shelf. There are still some height issues with the Barney though, so substrate needs to be deep and any hard things on the substrate (eg ceramic dishes or bendy bridges) need something over them really - a sputnik or hammock or shelf. So if you like the Alexander I would go for it and just be aware of limited placement for the wheel and the need for possibly another shelf.
The set up on this page gives an idea of what I mean. This owner has added an extra shelf to prevent falls but there is no space for the wheel height with them all level so she has a flying saucer - flying saucers are good but I think it's generally thought a standard wheel is better, with a flying saucer as an extra, as they tend to run better in wheels without a curved back.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/sh...-advice-please
This set up shows how far the drop is if left in the standard layout - and onto a hard ladder or house.
http://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/c....154798/page-2
Willow Wisp's set up below is good but they did a bit of diy to make a different shaped shelf to go over the top of the wheel
Alexander Cage and 28cm Trixie Wheel.....
I think, being not very good at working out layouts and liking things simple, I would go for a Barney. It's a bit cheaper and easier to set up
And is also 100cm.
There's a good review of the Alexander here and I think it is fair to say it was the favourite cage of many - before the 100cm Barney appeared this year.
http://mischiefhams.weebly.com/alexa...ge-review.html
The other pros of the Barney are
1) Access is a bit easier - the same two front doors but the floor of the cage is more accessible through the top.
2) It's not too high and not too low.
3) It comes with a really good sized house for a Syrian
4) The wheel is about 8" as opposed to the usual 6" - you'd still need a bigger wheel but it would do for a week or so if you didn't have a wheel sorted - although it would probably be noisy!
5) Less wood to plastikote
6) More variety and options for set up
And as Bertie says, you could use the £20 difference towards toys like sputniks and tubes for the cage, a hamster potty - or towards the cost of the wheel - the accessories can add up a bit.
Which of these cages? Need help!!!
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