Skyline Small Pet Terrarium Marrakesh - Page 3

BeautyandtheBeast · 03-23-2016, 01:02 AM

I thought that I'd be able to minimise stress by doing what you said with the substrate and toys etc. I know that it's going to be stressful for them no matter what but I did think that three months was a reasonable amount of time to wait. There seems to be quite a lot of people who upgrade their hamster cages on here - The difference is that I know that I'm going to be upgrading. I guess the question is; am I going to be causing my hamster unnesecary stress when I could just wait.. I was very excited to go and choose one on Friday but I don't know if I'm being a bit selfish by doing this

AmityvilleHams · 03-23-2016, 01:06 AM

If you want the least stress possible,wait.If you think you can make a stress-free transition no questions asked,possibly get the hamster now.It's a personal choice ultimately but waiting would have the least stress involved.

BeautyandtheBeast · 03-23-2016, 01:18 AM

Thank you for your advice everyone - I have two days so I'm going to give it a lot of thought and will let you know my decision

AmityvilleHams · 03-23-2016, 01:20 AM

I'm always glad to help,especially if it means potentially helping a hamster to be happier and live a better life as well as helping future owners be even happier with their future pet!

Pebbles82 · 03-23-2016, 01:55 AM

Hi again. The Hamster Heaven is a great cage. If it's set up right you might never need to upgrade. I think people end up upgrading because their first cage is too small usually. I only upgraded our Syrian from his hamster heaven equivalent because he was so big and needed a really big wheel which didn't fit in the cage very well. I do think starting out with a 100cm cage is better. But if you have a hamster heaven a Syrian could be very happy in there, unless you end up with a really big one like we did! It really was the need for a 30cm wheel that made me decide Charlie's cage wasn't big enough. With a standard 27cm wheel the Hamster Heaven is fine, but you'd need a different house and probably to take one of the platforms out and get it set up so it doesn't need much tinkering with afterwards.

I'm in two minds over the deep substrate thing now - I was quite a fan of it after reading a lot of the German forums but came to the conclusion there are pros and cons to all kinds of cages. Although you are limited to depth of substrate with a cage, there are other forms of enrichment with a cage that you can't have with a tank, with roof runs, hanging toys and so one and I even got to wondering if the reason hamsters dug tunnels in deep substrate was because they needed to be under something and had no roof toys! If they have a good house there is less need to dig tunnels and burrows.

At one point I put about 20cm of substrate in our cage and gave our hamster a smaller house (long story). He dug tunnels and a burrow and used the small house as a 'roof' for when he came out of his tunnel. He didn't seem happy at all - his ears were down all the time - when he came out he didn't like being exposed from above and it turned into a stinky mess. Whereas when he was in his large house, he would clean it out himself sometimes and chuck out old substrate through the door.

Which is why, in the end I bought another cage. I think the ideal would be a cage with a 40cm base then they have both options, and I think 6" of substrate in a cage is good. But the key thing is enrichment - variety, different levels, tunnels and toys and a good house for them to build a good nest and feel safe and dark inside it.

So if you set the Hamster Heaven up right it could be a great cage. There are plenty of people with 80cm cages for a Syrian. Do you have the wheel and other things for the cage already? If so then you could either get your hamster now and decide to keep the Hamster Heaven. Or get something bigger and wait to get the Hamster. But to be honest I think the deep substrate thing, if it is going to be an option needs quite a tall tank and at least 30cm of substrate and then you need to start having stilts on things to hold them up.

There is research that says that digging tunnels reduces stress levels in hamsters. But there are also reports that enriched cages with lots of toys make hamsters happier and reduce stress levels. You wouldn't get much more than 20cm of Substrate in the marrakesch or there'd be no headroom left and you can get 15cm of substrate in a hamster heaven.

I don't know how long you've had the Hamster Heaven or if it's too late to change it. If you can change it then it could be an option to get a refund, get something else and wait to get a hamster.

But I don't see any reason why you can't get your hammy on Friday and the Hamster Heaven being a perfectly good cage for your hamsters lifetime, especially if you have the option for plenty of out of cage time and/or a playpen. It's a great cage with a lovely front opening door which is good for access, but personally I would remove one of the plastic shelves and get a decent sized house and a syrian sized wheel at least

. Some people start with a bare cage and set it up from there.

Whichever you do it's best to have the cage set up before putting the hammy in. You could leave it as it is and just get a different wheel and it would be fine.

AmityvilleHams · 03-23-2016, 02:15 AM

I think the biggest problem is that most things on the market geared towards hamsters just don't suit every single need of theirs perfectly.Sure,there are some good sized cages,but they just don't hold much substrate.Tanks don't allow for as much stimulation either,which is why I didn't get a tank plus wire cages and other DIY cages offer far better ventilation.I think the best option for a hamster cage is to just make one,considering there is no cage on the market that suits every single need.Mine will be plexiglass and melamine with mesh sides though,so it's the best of both worlds really!

Pebbles82 · 03-23-2016, 02:29 AM

Lol - I know - I went round the houses trying to do the deep substrate thing and everything is a compromise. I am really happy with our cage and our hamster seems to be too and I do think the ventilation and access is important too.

I think the key thing is 'enrichment' - even with 6" of substrate they like rearranging it

3" is a bit shallow to be comfortable. Creating a little 'route' can be good so they can access toys easily and get from one thing to another. Ours loves his rat sputnik with a layer of cosy hemp mat in it. I think hamsters vary as well, some are more confident than others, but my observation with our Syrian is - they like to be 'under' something, so things hanging from the roof give them cover, tunnels give them cover and houses give them cover and shelves. I actually think the design of the hamster heaven is quite clever - those shelves do make things accessible and do give them a route as well as the floorspace and the penthouse seems popular for nesting but I think the tubes can get blocked up which causes a few issues. I think it's Jen has the Sky which is similar to the Hamster heaven without the penthouse and she took the tubes out and found this house fitted either next to or under one of the shelves.

https://www.rodipet.de/shop/haeuser/...us-dalani.html

Amazon sell a similar sized house by Ferplast that is just one open room, or labyrinth houses fit under the shelves I think. Sometimes hamsters just build a nest under the shelf. You'd just need a Syrian sized wheel really.

Some people have a separate digging bin for playtime. I tried ours in a bag full of deep substrate and he didn't like it lol.

BeautyandtheBeast · 03-23-2016, 03:02 AM

I already have the Hamster Heaven cage, I bought it online at Pets at Home as it was the best price I could find. I wanted it to be here before I got my hamster so I ordered it a few weeks ago. It is a gorgeous cage, I love it, I'm just concerned about the size. Yes, it fits all of the requirements for housing a Syrian but in my experience (I know that not every hamster will be the same) I have had very large hamsters. I think that no matter what I decide there's going to be people who agree and disagree with my choices. Everyone has very different opinions. I think that I'll save the money for a new hamster home anyway, at least then I have the option to upgrade if I need to - otherwise it's a bit of extra money to spend on other nice things

Pebbles82 · 03-23-2016, 03:18 AM

I think the Hamster Heaven will be great for your hammy

Maybe this time you won't have a giant one lol! You can maximise the cage for set up. If your hammy fits a 27cm wodent wheel you can hang them from the top of the cage and that means they have the floor area under the wheel as well. Unfortunately ours was a bit too big for the 27cm wodent wheel and the 30cm wobust was huge depthwise and filled the cage height-wise. Otherwise I think the cage size would be fine

. I'm sure your hammy will be very happy in there. Do you have a wheel already? I can definitely recommend the rat sized sputniks as extra toys. The HH comes with a hamster sized one I think - which is fine - but the rat sized ones are a better size for them, especially if you put a bit of bedding in the bottom of it - and they hang a bit lower too. I have both sizes. I cut a circle of hemp mat to go in the bottom of Charlie's sputnik and he loves it because it's nice and cosy

. I think you're right - see how it goes and see how big your hammy is!

BeautyandtheBeast · 03-23-2016, 03:32 AM

I have the Wodent Wheel Jr, 8", but I've just had a look online and the height says 23.5 cm. I'm panicking now that I've bought the wrong one, haha. I love the sputnik, and thank you, I will definitely look into the rat sized one. Just a quick question; have you tried your hamsters will willow sticks/Whimzee dog chews? My past hamsters have never taken much interest in the typical wooden chews for hamsters. I've heard some good reviews about both of these