Platform/Shelf Advice

[Vespertine]

I'm getting another dwarf hamster soon and thinking of adding a shelf/platform of some kind to it's bin cage but i'm worried that it will fall from it or jump and hurt itself.
- What height do you think is the maximum the shelf could go?
- Any suggestions for ways to stop them falling?

[Renlikescake]

You could make it so theres a wall arount the edge of the platform so they don't fall and then leave a gap for a ramp or ladder for them to climb to it.
I also don't recommend that you make the platform higer than 15 cm as if a ham fell from higher than than tey could hurt themselves.
Hope this helps

[AmityvilleHams]

It depends on substrate depth as well as species.For a dwarf,15 cm is good however if you had for example 15 cm substrate and the platform was level with the substrate you could go higher.For example,15 cm substrate with a 10-15 cm platform would probably work fine Not too high though,for very tall cages full levels are a much better idea than small platforms.

[Pebbles82]

It isn't so much falling off the platform, as what they land on As long as your hammy can only land on nice deep substrate it should be ok. So put any hard toys or floor items further away, or under the shelf. The deeper the substrate/bedding the better as it doesn't just cushion falls, but allows them to have natural behaviours like burrowing and digging tunnels. If you can manage 6" or more it would be good. You don't actually use more substrate overall by having it deeper - have linked Erin's Hamsters cage cleaning tips which explains why that is!

This platform is quite cheap and I've seen it in a few tank style cages. It's quite tall at 21cm high, but with 15cm of substrate underneath/next to it, the drop isn't high at all. You could use a bendy stick bridge as a ramp maybe.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Natu...living+shelter