New hamster - which cage?

[TheArctopus]

Originally Posted by bethan

Excellent information - thanks very much. Daughter now knows she is getting a hamster (just not when!) as we thought it would be nice for her to 'prepare' the cage. Today she bought a little wooden house, the sawdust, bedding and a corner toilet! She's thinking of replacing the platform for a smaller one - and then maybe getting two plus more stuff for the hamster to play with/in. Wheel - it was on a stand but the axel is broken, so will try and repair that temporarily and look for a wodent. My only criticism so far, is how fiddly the plastic yellow squares (tubes attach to) can be - have broken a bit off one already, but Savic seem to be good about replacements - just wonder when she does put the tubes in how hard it will be to take them off to clean. Hoping to pick up hamster tomorrow - she doesn't know! I think I'm as excited as she is!

Ive heard Savic are good about replacements, I think it was Souffle told me they will replace the axle on the roly wheels if it breaks, but since I went through about 3-4 roly wheel axles from different wheels I never bothered finding out because it would be an endless cycle.

The yellow square sections are a bit flimsy yeah, but if you support them from underneath while attaching the external tubes then hold the external tube steady while connecting the internal tubes you shouldnt have much bother. The savic tubes to me (ive not found out for sure) feel a bit like if you keep taking them apart they will end up really loose and not clip together properly as oposed to some brands (what brand is it that makes those puzzle playground accessories? because those tubes are infuriatingly difficult to connect at times, no chance of them coming loose). Thats why I recommend getting the extra 90 degree bend and just turning it up to stop access when you want, means you dont have to take them apart so much. I've never had much trouble with cleaning tubes in situ, I just put the cage in the bath and poor a kettel full of water through the tubes and use a baby bottle cleaner to get into them where neccessary. My hamsters never seemed to urinate in the tubes though so they didnt get very dirty, just the odd bit of food, some might wee in the tubes though, lol. If the tubes do come loose, not like it costs much to replace them though.




Good luck with your hamster(s), Im sure they will love the cage, my Terrence loved his. What sort of hamster are you getting, I dont know if you said or whether I didnt read properly. Sorry if you already said.

[bethan]

Thanks again for the information. We picked up the hamster yesterday - a Syrian girl who has been named Lottie by my daughter. She was very lively exploring her cage for over an hour yesterday, but then off to her house for a long sleep. Still sleeping now much to my daughter's frustration!

[TheArctopus]

Give it a few days and then you could start to "train" her to wake up in the evenings. It was some good advice I read here about a year ago, if you wake the hamster up by gently taping the cage and then feeding it at say 5pm every day, then it will start to get up around that time. Meaning it will be awake when your family are around.