Which cage to buy?

[Saza]

Hello All,

My fiancé and I bought a Syrian hamster on Thursday. She is his first ever hamster, I've had hamsters before but it's been years so I'm a bit of our practice. We bought a cage from Pets at Home with a tunnel on the side. April has decided to make her bed in there and stores all of her food in there however she does come out to go to the toilet (woohoo). She barely comes out the tunnel though. I understand she is just new to use and is probably very nervous but I don't like her being in there. Yesterday we decided to clean the tunnel out so we used the wee stopper and blocked it off. Well she totally freaked out, was scratching and biting at the stopper, she ended up biting me but I think she got more of a fright than I did. Once we eventually got the tunnel back in she shot in there and didn't come out all night, she's also started biting the air holes in the tunnel. I'm really worried about her wee teeth. This morning the tunnel ended up coming off again!! I'm so worried she's going to fall and hurt herself. Pets at home have said they will exchange the cage as it isn't suitable, however I've no idea what to go for. I've been looking and like the look of hamster heaven but can people tell me what cages they have and what they would recommend? I don't think I want another one with tunnels, as much as she loves them we can't interact with her and get her used to us as she doesn't ever come out.

Thank you 😃

[CMB]

Hamster heaven is ok, but take the tubes away before the hamster goes in it. If you get that.

Slavic ruffy 2 rat cage looks ok but I don't know what size it is.

Zoo plus website has 100cm x 50cm cages. Which work out well for Syrians, as they need large houses, wheels and tubes (cardboard) etc. Check the bar spacing size on cages to help prevent scrapes.

You might look at other rat cages, but if you get a tall cage you have to set it up carefully as hamsters climb up and possible across the roof bars, but just drop down and could hurt themselves.

Have a look in the lets see your cages thread to see some examples of cages and ways to set them up with houses, toys, toilets etc.

[CMB]

They can take a while to settle in. Feed and water them. Don't clean to much. Just the wee corner mainly.

Put plain toilet tissue in your sleeve for a while then tear it into strips and put a pile in the cage. Your hamster should gather it to build a nest. It gives them something to do and gets them used to your scent.

[Pebbles82]

Hello and welcome. Great that Pets at Home are giving you a refund because most of their cages are too small! Cages without external tubes are better for the reason you've found - that hamsters tend to nest in them and block them up with bedding. You can get tubes and tunnels as toys for the floor of the cage or for inside the cage which are better, and they will usually nest in a house if you provide a good sized one.

Zooplus has one of the best selection of hamster cages - they are a good size for a Syrian hamster and reasonably priced. But you can only get them online and it could take 5 to 7 days to arrive. So if you can wait that long then the Barney and Alaska are good cages.

I'd recommend getting the Barney. It might seem big but it's a great cage for a Syrian hamster and you won't be wanting to upgrade in the future with that cage It's less than £50 as well. I bought it recently for our Syrian, upgrading him from an 80cm cage, which seemed big but wasn't quite big enough once I had a syrian sized wheel and house in it.

The Barney also comes with a good sized house for a Syrian and a shelf and the wheel is about 8" so would do for starters, but really they need an 11" or 12" wheel. So it could be good to order the wheel at the same time as the cage from zooplus and save on postage that way (the 28cm trixie wheel is the one they sell).

Barney Pet Cage | Great deals at zooplus!

Have a look at some of the reviews and photos of set ups for it on the zooplus link.

The Alexander cage is also a great cage but costs a bit more - but it does come with 3 houses and 3 shelves.

If you need something quicker then Amazon sell some cages but limited choice and not so cheap - but they do do next day delivery.

These would all be suitable

Ferplast Maxi Duna Multy Guinea Pig and Rabbit Cage, 99 x 51.5 x 36 cm, Grey: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

Hamster Sky (similar to Hamster Heaven but has one shelf instead of two and most people end up needing to take one of them out to fit a wheel in. Best to block off and remove the external tubes). This is about the smallest size cage you would want for a Syrian hamster.

Savic Hamster Sky Navy Blue Hamster Cage 80 X 50 X 50 Cm: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

The Savic Ruffy is not a bad price but only has a top door which can make access tricky

Savic Ruffy 2 Navy Blue Rat And Ferret Cage 80 X 50 X 38 Cm: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

Also as CMB says, best not to clean anything for the first two weeks while they are settling in. If Pets at Home will let you wait a week to take the cage back then I'd get the barney cage It comes with everything except substrate and you can add a few toys like a cardboard kitchen roll tube or ceramic mug on its side and they quite like egg boxes as well - so you don't have to buy lots of toys for it straight away if you don't want to. For now I would take the tubes off and block the tube holes off with something (if possible) and then give her a big pile of torn up white toilet paper to make a nest with somewhere in the cage.

I found Erin's Hamsters cage cleaning tips really helped me work out a cleaning thing that worked for our nervy syrian and avoided stress for him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww

[Saza]

Thanks for the replies

We ended up ordering the Barney cage, I can't wait for it to come Definately not going to be putting a tube in there. I will put loads of toys in there for her to play with so she forgets about her tube. Pets at Home are fine to wait a week or so until the cage gets here and has been coated with plasti-kote since it isn't suitable. They have been pretty good about it. I think it's a bit strange a pet shop don't offer cages that are the reccommend size for Syrians.

We tried to block off her tunnel last night so we could clean the tunnel out and she took a flaky, she really wasn't happy. Biting and scratching the blocker and she ended up biting me, she didn't draw blood or anything but she really got a fright. I feel so sorry for her. I have tried to inspect her fur to see if I can see anything due to the scratching but I can't get close enough. Her eyes are fine and she does seem to be eating and drinking. Her toilet habits are also fine, poos look normal and she is peeing in one corner of her cage.

She did pee on on the table yesterday, through her tube, when I put the hoover on, poor thing must have gotten such a fright.

She seems to leave her tube to have a drink or whatver and when she goes back in she's scratching at her back (scent glands I think) and rolling over in the tube. I don't know if she is uncomfy and scratching or trying to get her scent back in the tube.

I'd like to try blocking off her tube again tonight and leaving her for a couple of hours and see if she gets used to not being in her tube. I really don't like her in there all the time since we can't interact with her and get her used to our scent.

I've also noticed I've been quite itchy since we got her, my legs and arms normally. Can I be alergic to woodshavings or something like that?

[AmityvilleHams]

Anyone(including pets!)can be allergic to anything.In fact it is more common than you'd think to hear of hamsters who are allergic even to aspen,despite being the safest wood substrate you can get.Most hamsters who are allergic end up being very itchy so that would explain a lot of the itching,and for you at least are most likely experiencing some form of a reaction as well.

Good options instead of wood shavings are paper based substrate like Carefresh,and hemp based substrate.Some people think that hemp has a very odd scent,so it might be best to just go with paper based substrate.

[Rsclio197]

If you have space check out the Ikea detolf cabinet. It's just 40 pound and easy to construct also much bigger than any hamster cage you'll see for sale.

Oh I've just seen you ordered a barney cage!

Good luck with your ham I wish you many happy time her. As everyone said just let her settle at her own pace. Lots of toilet paper as they love it! Its actually fairly normal for hams to sleep in the tunnels during their settling days, I think... it's not great though and I'm sure she'll set up a proper nest elsewhere once she feels safe, settled and she feels the cage is hers.

[AmityvilleHams]

If you can go bigger than a Detolf,go bigger!It will most definitely be appreciated

[Lala Noma]

I think the Barney is a great cage... Detolf is cool, but it is very long and narrow... Of course, it is a question of liking, but I prefer the Barney

[AmityvilleHams]

The Barney is pretty good,on the shallow side but it can be worked with!Bigger is always better though.