New DIY Cage

TheEternalDream · 03-04-2016, 08:44 AM

Hello everyone,

I'm a pretty new hamster owner and did one of the worst things any new hamster owner can do. Take advice from people in pet shops. So ofcourse we bought a cage that is too small for our little dwarf (about 50x30). Me and my sister have decided we were going to build our own cage and I would love some ideas from some of you experienced hamster owners.

Right now we are thinking a 80 x 50 cage with glass at the front so we can look at our hammy dig and play whenever he's awake. we're not sure yet about the hight but we would prefer not to have a lid and still have some good digging space for little tappie.

velma · 03-04-2016, 01:43 PM

Hi. Welcome to the forum. I've never made a DIY cage but it sounds a fun project. I'll look forward to seeing the finished result. (And don't worry, we've all made the cage mistake at one point

)

Pebbles82 · 03-05-2016, 06:20 AM

I'm not good on diy lol. There are lots of ideas for diy cages though. Some people make bin cages, but it can be hard to find a bin big enough and then they don't work out much cheaper than the Alaska cage if you find a good sized bin sometimes.

Personally I'd suggest making it bigger than 80cm if you are making a diy cage - 80cm by 50cm is the minimum RSPCA recommended size (approx). I did the same - bought something too small, then upgraded to an 80 x 50 cage but always felt it didn't have enough floor space once there was a wheel, house and toys in there. I've just upgraded our Syrian to 100cm cage now and it makes a lot of difference - he has a couple of extra shelves now as well as all the extra floor space under the shelf.

One of the easiest diy projects that makes a great hamster habitat, is the Ikea Detolf Hack, and it isn't expensive either. It depends if you have the space for it though as it's about 163 cm long. It's a glass cabinet turned on it's back and you leave the door off and just make two lids out of strips of wood and some mesh.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ha...i2CwYQ_AUIBigB

The cabinet only costs £40, but it could do to stand on something really - it fits on two of the kallax units or a couple of £5 Ikea Lack tables if you didn't have anything to stand it on.

You can also get a good sized cage for about £34

Zooplus sell some good sized, reasonably priced hamster cages

The Alaska is 84cm wide and a popular cage

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

The Barney is a good 100cm cage (I just bought it

) and is currently only £44.99 with free delivery. It's a great cage for a hamster and comes with a good big house, shelf and ladder.

Barney Pet Cage | Great deals at zooplus!

So whether you go diy or cage, I would suggest aiming for 100cm width by 50cm deep. In Germany the minimum cage size is 100cm by 50cm and I reckon it's about right.

cypher · 03-05-2016, 07:15 AM

Welcome to the forum

Look forward to seeing what you decide to make & how it turns out!
Not much to add to what's been said except I would seriously think about making a lid if you do a bin cage or tank type DIY, many people haven't & lived to regret it, you'd be amazed at how clever a ham, even a little dwarf, can be at escaping!

CMB · 03-05-2016, 01:36 PM

An IKEA Billy extension and glass shelf Han make a hamster cage/tank.

See the link to Erinshamsters you tube on how to make it.

DIY Hamster Cage | Ikea Billy Cage - YouTube

TheEternalDream · 03-06-2016, 12:16 PM

Thank you all for your responses, we thought about the Ikea deltof but it mainly would just be way to big for our house so it's not really an option and to us one Ikea billy cabinet would be a tad too small.

We'll try to go up a little bit from the 80x50 size and get in some shelves for our little russhian to climb since she does love that a ton.

I will definately keep you all posted on our new cage, it'll take a while before we get it done but we'll get there