Let's See Your Cages (May 2016)

[mtinoc2]

Hi, I am new. Nice to meet you all. My name is Maria.

I had a robo and having a long haired syrian is different for me. I am posting a picture of his bare to the bone cage. I made another post about his wheel because it is becoming challenging for me to find a good wheel for him.

He is struggling with the bars because he chews them and climbs them. I have a few chewing toys in the cage, and he prefers the bars!

I know my cage isn't good right now and I would want to know what things you'd all recommend I get or change. His wheel is what I know needs to go.

I would really appreciate your input! And thank you all in advance for your help!

Maria

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[wildpandora]

Originally Posted by freyashamsters

So yesterday was Willow's cage cleaning day. I put really deep substrate in and reduced the amount of toys and it's had a positive affect. She's been a lot more happy and friendly and has stopped chewing her water bottle!!!!

is this an appropriate sized cage for a syrian???

[cypher]

What size is your cage? It's a bit hard to tell in the photos but it looks on the small side?

I would start by completely filling the base of the cage with substrate, try to find a nice wooden house with no base if you can or use a large bendy bridge for a hideout, you might be able to find a free standing shelf or one that clips onto the bars to make an extra little level, you could simply add cardboard tubes or boxes for toys, a nice cork tunnel makes a good hideout & toy too.
If you look at some of the other cages in this thread you should get an idea of the kind of things you can add in & how to make a nice interesting layout for your ham.
Bar chewing can just be caused by a lack of enrichment, scatter feeding & hiding food & treats in various places around the cage can help, the right size wheel will make a difference too, there's also a thread here which has good ideas for helping with bar chewing.

[Wisper]

If you right click on the images then click 'open in new tab' you can see the full photos.
But yes it is a smaller cage than this forum would recommend, welcome to the forum Maria hopefully we can help you out to give your hamster the best home.

[Elliiy]

i agree, the cage itself along with the wheel look a little on the small size for a syrian hamster

[wildpandora]

Unfortunately I have to agree that this cage looks a bit on the small side..

[alipali1]

So me and my partner have finally finished our set up, has anyone got any advice/worries with our set up, i'm loving it so far!

[cypher]

The shelf seems very high, it looks as though there could be a potential for falls there possibly, it would be ok if you put a lot more substrate in, less risk of falls & much better for digging & burrowing.

[alipali1]

The big black line is tape not part of the tank so there is almost 5inches of substrate, or would you suggest even more?
My hamster (on the right) has a much lower shelf, my partner wanted it higher. So far Nani is pretty good at using the bridge so I'll keep an eye out.

[cypher]

It's a bit hard to tell from the photos so it didn't look like 5" of substrate but that should be enough, you could always add more if your hams enjoy burrowing though, I would still lower the high shelf if possible.