How to make a rat cage safe for a hamster?

[Hammy992]

Hey all,

So after 7 months in his Alexander cage my ham Custard has completely obliterated the plastic in one corner of his cage. The hole is so big that substrate pours out of it and if it was not blocked off he could walk straight through it.

I decided to see if I could get another cage without having to order online and managed to find a rat cage at my local pet shop. It's a Savic Freddy 2 Max https://www.amazon.co.uk/Savic-Fredd.../dp/B003VYIPAO which measures 80x50x80 so it's shorter but taller than his old cage. The one I bought came with 2 platforms with ramps, drink bottle, litter tray and a fleece-lined hammock.
I ordered 2 more corner platforms off amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Pet-Suppl...Rat/B003XLFNEQ so that I can stagger the levels to reduce the amount of drop space between floors.

I also bought this hanging tunnel http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pe...iant?orderBy=1 and have a couple of these levels from his old cage Lookout Ledge | Pets At Home. He has an XL Sputnik as well.

Basically I'm struggling to cover all the gaps to make sure there are no areas that he can jump or fall through and hurt himself. I know people have successfully used taller cages for hams before but I confess I'm not particularly creative when it comes to hanging space cage layout. Also the one downside to this cage is that it only has one large door on the front that opens out and down, so that makes hanging stuff from the top so much harder.

I know usually floor space trumps height for hams but Custard loves to climb things and although comfortable with the Alexander seemed bored with it, hence the constant destruction of his cage. He didn't play much either; when he wasn't on his wheel or chewing the cage he just sat in various spots and groomed himself. I admit he seems to hate this cage but it's completely different to anything he's been in before so I don't blame him for being mad at me. I am hoping that once he's had time to settle and has interesting things to explore he will enjoy it a lot more.

If anyone has any ideas on how to hang things at different levels to make the empty space safer please share them here. If you have pics of anything you've done that would also be helpful.

Thanks for reading!

[Flamestriker]

My Sponge chewed his way out of the plastic base of an Alexander, so I moved him in to a converted Zoozone2.

Fluffy is in A zoozone2, and he snuggles in to the substrate so much that he doesn't want to come out!

[Pebbles82]

80cm is very tall for a cage. I don't think extra shelves will be enough to be honest - it would need a full level. Even then if the full level was half way up, 40cm is still quite a drop from the top onto a hard shelf so you might still need to use some of the shelves in the top half and have the top half set up so he has something soft to land on if he climbs.

Sorry to hear about your Alexander - is it beyond repair? I know some people have managed to do repairs. It's a much better size cage than the rat cage and sometimes all the extras to make a tall cage safe add up so much it can be cheaper just to get a different cage.

Although hammies like to climb they're not good at getting down again and tend to just drop or jump like lemmings and can get serious injuries.

I think personally I wouldn't go for an 80cm tall rat cage. Have you actually got it yet? Savic cages do tend to have much sturdier bases than the Skyline cages like the Alexander. But if your hammy has chewed through a base once, then maybe a glass tank style cage might be better.

Or a Zoozone 2 or Duna maxi (although they have plastic bases they are tough ones).

Would you have space for a detolf?!!! Only £40 - lots of space, no height issues and it's glass.

[Hammy992]

Unfortunately I have already bought the cage and a bunch of accessories for it. I had considered both glass tanks and all metal cages, but both seemed to have their downsides. Metal would rust when wet or peed on, and sizeable glass tanks are not only crazy expensive but they are so heavy; as we are lodging where we are it wouldn't be good if we had to move. The cage must be in our room so no space for a detolf although I would love one. And my other main concern about glass apart from weight is that I've read that destructive hams will still chew the sealant holding the tank together.

There were a couple of glass tanks that had cage toppers which I loved but all the places that delivered them had such poor reviews; people saying they were packaged badly and almost every person that ordered reported the tanks arrived smashed or cracked and had to be re-sent. Plus they were very expensive (around £180 if I recall correctly).

I still have the Alexander but I would say it is beyond normal repair, the hole is the entire height of the base running into part of the floor and about 7cm across. Patching the hole has never stopped him and no matter what toys or chews I gave him it made no difference. He just chews it all. When the hole was smaller I put a large knotted rope hammock in front of the hole; woke up at 4am to see a massive pile of shredded fibres and a hamster sized hole in the hammock.

He has a very short attention span for toys; even an elaborate maze setup outside of the cage kept him entertained for all of 5 minutes before he lost all interest and started scrambling for the edge of the bed.

All four shelves for the Freddy cage are 39x55cm so they are actually quite large;when you stagger them they overlap just enough so that a fall between them to the cage bottom should not happen. In terms of climbing the bars I figured that by adding enough things to the cage bars it would eliminate any areas where he would be able to get all the way to the top and drop down. The only danger zone then would be a gap right in the middle of the cage but I had hoped a hammock or 2 would be able to solve that.

Am I being too optimistic? He just seemed so bored in the Alexander I was trying to get something where he would actually want to play and explore his cage :/

[AmityvilleHams]

You could certainly try the Freddy,but just because it has levels doesn't mean your hamster will stop being bored.Floor space is far better than levels,so the better option would be actually upgrading to a larger cage in terms of floor space.

You could try and mesh a large rabbit cage,but that is a personal choice you either do or don't make.It won't look very nice,but at the end of the day you either end up with a cage that your hamster is bored in or one that your hamster thrives in.It isn't at all impossible for even a square meter to be too small for some hamsters,but such a size is worth looking into!

If you choose to mesh a rabbit cage,use gloves and make sure to file every possible sharp edge as a safety precaution.Meshing a cage can be dangerous if you don't take reasonable precautions,and even then accidents happen!

[CMB]

Hammy992 has already bought the cage and accessories so there isn't any use in saying a new bigger cage is needed.

Once the cage arrives some photos could be added so people can offer advice on setting up the cage better if needed.

[Hammy992]

Yes I will post some photos in the next couple of days. I am gathering a few more things together on Monday hopefully and once everything is in place I will put pictures up from a few different angles so that people can point out any spots I've missed. I realise that there is no way to 100% eliminate all the dangers but if all the main things are covered I'm hoping it will be safe enough for him to play in

[Quicksilver]

Hi Hammy992. Our syrian boy lives in a Savic Ruffy2 -which I believe is meant to be for rats (too small) but meets minimum requirements of 80cm x50 cm (height 50cm). We bought it from a small family run pet store. We use Savic corner shelves with ramp or sometimes use Pets At Home large wooden shelves that can be attached to wire cages. We also use the the large Savic plastic tube or hammock that you can hang which helps so little one can run between shelves without falling.
I really like Savic cages I think they are very sturdy and well made and the base is very deep. Downside is the opening lid is on the top of cage.
When the time comes to upgrade the cage I really would like to buy the new Savic Plaza which is 100cm in length as it looks amazing-I saw the thread on HC!
Custard sounds like a tough little hammy to chew through an Alexander base! They look lovely cages though and are spacious. I'm interested to see the set up in the Savic Freddy. Keep us posted.

[Mollie]

I had a high-maintenance hamster - he was my first Syrian and I often think it's a miracle we had any more after him TBH!

I tried a bigger cage - first a Hamster Heaven, then the bottom half of a Ferplast Duetto (very large aviary type cage) with appropriate accessories to make it safe. But he still wasn't happy!!

He ended up in a tank because it was the safest option for him though not my personal preference. At least I knew he couldn't escape / hurt himself with bar gnawing etc. He got tons of free range time too. All I'm saying is some hamsters just seem to get bored / be harder to please than others! I've had lots of Syrian hammies since Herbert but although some were harder to please none were ever as difficult as him lol. I loved him though.

Regarding furnishing the cage as you now have it - I found the rope 'cargo net' toys plus rat sized tubes the safest way to furnish a bigger cage. Admittedly I have only used the 62cm high Freddy for a hamster though but this is what I used.

[AmityvilleHams]

Cargo net toys for rats?I believe those are often made of cotton anyways and either way they have decent gaps in them which means falls are still possible so they aren't good Anything cotton should be completely out of reach to small pets,including such rope toys.Hammocks can be a good option instead though,but nothing with a fuzzy lining to it.Fleece is the only safe fabric,but if a hamster is a fabric chewer(and most are)fleece shouldn't be used at all.There are some nice grass,sisal,etc hammocks which are a good option as well,but wood shelves would be much better