Can anyone advise me on this hammy house pls?

[Superhamster92]

Hi
I have seen a beautiful hamster home on eBay, but would really appreciate advice please? I can't post the link, not very tech savvy. It's listed as "XXL Hamster Cage Small Animal Mouse Home Rat Box Animals Stall Pet". It's made by oskar-design.

Will Fluffle chew it, or will plenty of enrichment give him something else to chew? And it says in the listing to treat the wood as it is untreated. Can anyone recommend a safe wood treatment please?

Thanks in advance

Carmen and Ian

[cypher]

Here's the link for you.

Chewing can be a problem with wooden cages, also you would need to paint it inside to protect from pee using a safe paint, Plastikote water based paint is best for painting any wooden cages/houses/shelves/wheels etc.
With this sort of cage there is a danger of falls & it doesn't really make the best use of space, they generally do better with one large area rather than a smaller area with levels, you can always add in some shelves, ledges or climbing toys with a more basic cage depending on what your hamster enjoys.
With one large area with a deep base you can give a good deep layer of substrate to dig & nest in & have a lot more space for toys etc.
Zooplus is about the best place to look for cages, the most popular are the barney, alexander & alaska all of which give plenty of scope for enrichment.
Hope that helps.

[Superhamster92]

Thank you so much for your advice. I will look on zooplus now.

[Pygmypuff]

Absolutely going to have to recommend a cage to you if you're looking at around the £40 mark... The Detolf!

The Detolf is a hamster cage made from an Ikea glass cabinet turned on it's side. It measures a massive 163cm in length and around 40cm in width; it is one of the biggest cages/tanks around. It cost exactly £40, not including the lid which you will need to make. I made mine from wire and the glass panels that already came with the Detolf and I got the wire from my local hardware store for around £5, so at all together £45 it is the absolute cheapest cage you will find for that size!

Here is a photo of mine all set up

IMG_20160820_180015491.jpg

Would highly, highly recommend it!

[AmityvilleHams]

Another Ikea option would be 4 Billy units or 4 Lack side tables!Either option is just as easy as a Detolf,since all you're doing for any of them would be adding mesh.The Lack tables just need substrate borders,and you can also line the inside floors with nonadhesive contact paper,but it would be easier in some ways than a Detolf since you'd not have to worry about finding ways to attach bottles and other annoying situations that the Detolf gets you into.Either of these options would be larger than a Detolf,which make them a better choice for Syrians but when it comes to a dwarf hamster the Detolf would be perfect