Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Navigation
Front Page
Forum
Gallery
Wiki

Ads by Google


Go Back   Hamster Central > Hamster Central Forum Topics > Housing

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-08-2016, 09:12 AM   #1
milothehamster
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Finland
Posts: 31
Question Detolf cage questions

So I'm getting a Detolf tomorrow which I'm super excited for! But I do have a few questions.

How many liters of bedding would the detolf need?

Would an 11 inch wheel fit in the cage?

What measurements should the lid be?

Is it easy to clean?

Anyway thank you!
__________________
Child Of Milo
milothehamster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2016, 09:18 AM   #2
AmityvilleHams
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 4,545
Default Re: Detolf cage questions

An 11 inch wheel would be a tight fit,especially with deeper substrate.If you make a small corner for the wheel area and fence it off to keep it shallow that can work,but it will still take up a good chunk of the depth of the Detolf as the Detolf is very long but quite narrow.

Not sure the exact amount you'd need,but try and keep no less than half the Detolf filled at around 6 inches if not more.

Any cage can be easy to clean,but tank style cages in general can be harder to clean due to the poor access though they're usually not hard to clean if you're used to tank style cages or once you've gotten used to the access!
AmityvilleHams is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2016, 09:54 AM   #3
milothehamster
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Finland
Posts: 31
Default Re: Detolf cage questions

Thank you!
__________________
Child Of Milo
milothehamster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2016, 12:48 PM   #4
spacebyte
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 136
Default Re: Detolf cage questions

Luna has a 29cm wheel in her detolf. It's in an area straight on the glass bottom. still a gap between it and the lid, and she can run fine It doesn't take up that much room in the cage to be honest!

No idea with how many liters of bedding. I have one end of the cage full almost up to the lid, and the other end only an inch or two (and then the wheel). I get the 10kg bag of fitch for £17, and it's lasted a long time- you don't need to replace the whole substrate when you clean out- I spot clean every few days and take out a 1/4 or a 1/3 every few weeks, replace it with fresh stuff and kinda 'mix' it.
spacebyte is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2016, 12:57 PM   #5
milothehamster
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Finland
Posts: 31
Default Re: Detolf cage questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by spacebyte View Post
Luna has a 29cm wheel in her detolf. It's in an area straight on the glass bottom. still a gap between it and the lid, and she can run fine It doesn't take up that much room in the cage to be honest!

No idea with how many liters of bedding. I have one end of the cage full almost up to the lid, and the other end only an inch or two (and then the wheel). I get the 10kg bag of fitch for £17, and it's lasted a long time- you don't need to replace the whole substrate when you clean out- I spot clean every few days and take out a 1/4 or a 1/3 every few weeks, replace it with fresh stuff and kinda 'mix' it.
I was thinking of getting the 30l pack of carefresh ultra? I guess it's good for him! I have the Alaska cage at the moment but I had a bar chewing problem so we got a Detolf
__________________
Child Of Milo
milothehamster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2016, 02:27 PM   #6
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: Detolf cage questions

Hi there. What other bedding options are there other than carefresh where you are? Buying something in bulk would work out better as it will need a lot of bedding. I buy 10kg bags of Fitch and I reckon you'd need half of one of those - I use about a quarter of a bag to fill the 100cm Barney base. Which is say 4 to 5kg - not sure how that works out in litres though! Hemp in bulk might be an option if it's available. You'll have plenty and it will work out cheaper. Zooplus sell Hugro hemp to ship to Finland

Hugro-hamppukuivike | zooplus.fi

I think it depends which wheel you get. An 11" wodent wheel will fit. I think a 29cm Karlie Wonderland wheel fits. In both cases it will need to stand on the glass base to fit, so a lot of people have the wheel at one end and have that as a separate small section with low substrate, then deeper substrate in the rest of the cage. Some people have the wheel end as a sand area. I think the 27cm wodent wheel is the easiest option - if you can get wodent wheels. I know rodipet in germany sell them.

Or another option I've seen with the 29cm karlie wonderland wheel is take the base off and screw it to the end wall of the detolf - that way it sits a bit higher above the substrate. But not a lot higher.

Erin's hamsters has a video on cleaning a detolf I wouldn't think you would need to do full cage cleans very often, especially if you have the substrate quite deep as then you can spot clean mainly and only need to do full cleans every 2 or 3 months maybe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo44ombbC6k

Erin's Hamsters also has a video on making two cage lids, but I believe someone said the dimensions weren't quite right!

Basically most people make two lids - it's easier to lift off a smaller lid than one big one. You need to measure inside the detolf when it's put together. Measure the width/depth inside, just above the inner bars (ie from front to back). You need four pieces that size. Then measure the full length of the detolf inside and divide into two. You then need four pieces of wood (two lengths for each lid). But you need to deduct the width of the shorter pieces of woof from that length. Eg if the wood you are using for the short lengths is 9cm, then you need to deduct 18cm from the longer sides you've worked out.

Once you have your measurements, you can ask the diy store to cut you 8 pieces of wood. Four long ones, two for each of the lids. And four short ones - for each of the pieces of ends of the lids. I think people use corner brackets to hold them together and just screw them in with screws. You then have two frames. You might need to allow 1mm or 2mm less length on your long pieces so they fit in without being too tight.

You then need some 1cm square mesh - again you can have it cut to size in the hardware store. And this can be stapled to the frame using an ordinary stapler. Personally I would attach the mesh to the outside as I'd worry about sharp edges on the inside.

The lids then fit inside the detolf and rest on the bars. Hence lowering the height of the detolf slightly for a wheel. So the maximum height you would have for a wheel would be the measurement between the glass base and just underneath the metal bars - allowing half a centimetre or so clearance.

This is Erin's video for making the lids, which gives a better visual description than mine above, but do check the measurements yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYzDeSBE1hI
Pebbles82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2016, 05:13 AM   #7
spacebyte
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 136
Default Re: Detolf cage questions

I used Erins tutorial to make the lids for Lunas cage - I would definitely measure your own detolf before making the lids - the measurements on erins videos were quite a bit off on mine. No idea how, but I guess that comes with the building it yourself thing. Even then, once we had finished making the lids they were a wee bit too long to fit on - loosening the screws on either end to 'widen' the cage a cm worked to fit it on though.

I would also recommend calling the DIY shop before going in to have things cut- the local B&Q advertised wood cutting, but when we got there we were told it was only for large pieces of 'sheet' wood, not the kind of small planks we were looking for - luckily my boyfriend had a saw!

Even with the lids on the bars, the 29cm Karlie wheel fits in fine on its original stand- when its placed directly on the glass. It doesn't hit off the lid either, there's maybe just over a cm gap.

I agree with Serendipity that around half a 10kg bag of fitch fills it, but it does last a long time if you use the cage cleaning technique erin also has in her videos (removing a portion of old substrate and 'mixing in' new substrate with old. as well as spot cleaning). I get my fitch directly from fitch, it's much cheaper than amazon, with free delivery that is usually within 48 hours - probably the best option if you're UK based.

Your profile says you're from Finland, so I'd probably go to zooplus- they don't do fitch but they do a lot of hemp bedding, which I think it's pretty safe (similar to auboise) and even the carefresh their tends to be cheaper than the pet shop? 30 liters of carefresh is only 2.2kg, and I know it's compressed and things, but you're still going to need at least two bags if not more to fill the detolf. It's expensive stuff!
spacebyte is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2016, 05:40 AM   #8
pinkneon
Pink Glittery Hamsters
 
pinkneon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: UK
Posts: 6,037
Default Re: Detolf cage questions

Oooh the detolf is awesome!! I want one someday ...
For substrate, could you mix the carefresh with something (for example aspen or the hemp?) That way they'd both last a bit longer maybe?
pinkneon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2016, 09:11 AM   #9
milothehamster
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Finland
Posts: 31
Default Re: Detolf cage questions

56l of carefresh mixed with some of his old bedding for a familiar scent :P That should be good for now
__________________
Child Of Milo
milothehamster is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
cage, detolf, measurements, questions, wheel

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.43 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Copyright © 2003-2022, Hobby Solutions
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 08:55 PM.