Detolf?? To move or not to move that is the question?

[WelshHammi]

So I have a lovely Syrian called Pickles! I'm wondering if I should upgrade her to a detolf she is in a zoo zone 2 at the moment but she likes to run and was thinking would a detolf be more beneficial I can put her two wheels in as she enjoys her spinner and her giant flying saucer Aswell as running in tunnels etc was just wondering if it would be better if I could move her to as detolf?
Also my cousin is after a hamster so was going to pass on the zoo zone for a good cage!!

[Jennie F]

I will be upgrading my 5 month old to a detolf over the next few weeks. I think if your ham is confident enough and there are plenty of hideouts and things to do, they will love it.

[Drago]

Absolutely you should! Upgrading is always good if you have a confident ham, especially with Syrians It can hold more bedding, toys, and simply has more room. Go for it, please share your setup when you're done!

[JLPrairie]

There's no harm in upgrading. Even if she doesn't show any signs of stress (bar chewing, bar climbing, lack of activity) upgrading is always a good step. Plus, giving the zoo zone to your cousin would be really beneficial, to make sure he doesn't purchase a too-small cage.

[Happy]

Hi friend,

The IKEA Detolf isn't suitable for Syrian hamsters without some modification as its height of only 35 cm obviously doesn't allow for 25 cm of bedding as well as a ~30 cm wheel.

In my opinion, the floorspace of a Detolf is too little for a Syrian and she will probably be unhappy. I personally would never go below 1 m² for a Syrian, especially a female, as they are even more active.

Your current cage has around 0,4 m² of floorspace (on the inside) and the Detolf only has a little over 0,5 m².

However, at least your hamster would have the 150 cm of running space, although a Syrian-sized wheel and house would already occupy a lot of it as a Detolf is barely 38 cm wide.

In any case, you would definitely need an elevated lid, at the very least where the wheel is, like HERE.

Here are some images from Google that show a Detolf with 20 cm bedding and a lid over the entire length of the Detolf.

As I said, in my opinion all the work put into a Detolf would not be worth it. If you research online, you will find that you could easily build your hamster a much bigger home with the same amount of money and effort spent on a Detolf.

Good luck and have a good day!

[chesca_27]

The Detolf would work excellently if your hamster is confident enough. I would love to see photos of the final set up !

You could section off a part of the cage with bendy bridges to allow space for a deeper substrate and a big enough wheel. This is what I do with Larry-Jasper's cage.

[Jennie F]

I upgraded my cage to a detolf yesterday and I'm so happy I decided to go for the detolf instead a normal cage. Loads of room for my girl to roam and dig. She is still settling in, but I would definately recommend upgrading x