Syrian cage height

Poekie · 10-25-2018, 01:54 PM

I really want to make a hamster cage from a billy bookcase from Ikea, but I don’t know if it will be high enough for a syrian.

The bookcase is 40 cm high (depth), and will have a lid, but is it high enough so that there will be enough substrate without the hamster almost touching the lid when they walk? And won’t toys be really close to the lid?

cypher · 10-26-2018, 06:15 AM

I don't think 40cm is really high enough for a syrian, you could just do it but it would mean having very little substrate in the area where the wheel stands as you may well need a 12" wheel ideally on a shelf of some sort to keep it stable which leaves very little room for substrate which needs to be a minimum of 15-20cm, preferably more.

SKB_Hamsters · 10-26-2018, 06:49 AM

I agree with cypher 40cm isn't really high enough for a Syrian cage - as this height would be very restricting as 11/12" wheel would only fit inside if substrate was really shallow about 5cm.
Whereas with my DIY IKEA STUVA cage, the cage height is 50cm this enables me to give my Syrian, Liquorice, 15cm of substrate where her 11/12" wheels are. Plus I have the wheels on stands therefore this enables her to be able to burrow beneath.

What BILLY cage are you planning on building? As if you were going for a larger design then you could have an area of deep substrate at one end and shallow at the other for the wheel to go - Plus you also have the option to build a raised lid to give you that extra room. Also just to mention if you were planning on a single unit BILLY cage (using the BILLY Extensions) then this would be on the small size for a Syrian.

Hammyloui · 10-26-2018, 07:05 AM

i guess you could have an area of shallow bedding progressing into deeper bedding as SKB said. It all depends on the type of lid you're planning to build. Are you building the cage from a single BILLY unit as that would be far to small for a Syrian anyways?x

Poekie · 10-26-2018, 07:29 AM

Thank you for your replies!

I'm planning on making a billy cage that is 202 by 80 by 40 cm. This would most likely be made as 1 cage, but might be divided into 2 cages. So a shallow bit at the wheel would definitely be possible.

How do you build a raised lid? I've never heard of that idea before.

Hammyloui · 10-26-2018, 08:22 AM

you could also attach a wheel by demounting it from the stand and attaching it to the side of your cage by drilling in a hole.
For having a raised hood I guess you could add an extra strip of wood around the perimeter of the cage and attach that to the cage, then build a flat lid as normal (using mesh etc..) or you could build a domed / boxed-shaped lid if you wanted to use a lot more substrate with the wheel. bare in mind this would be quite heavy and may be inconvenient to access your cage. if you search up on Pinterest or google images im sure there are some examples xox.

SKB_Hamsters · 10-26-2018, 08:32 AM

That would be a really good size cage for a Syrian - I would recommend keeping it as one cage. But having a small divider to provide a area of deep substrate and shallow area for a wheel would be a good.

Its hard to describe a raised lid, but I will try my best as tried to find some photo but they don't show what I mean clearly enough. But basically you will build a frame work out of wood (for a Syrian has acrylic panels around the edges) which will increase the height of the cage and your lid will sit on top. But with the size of the cage you are planning it may be difficult to do this securely, so I would instead have an area of shallow bedding in the cage for the wheel to go.

Poekie · 10-26-2018, 11:10 AM

Thank you for your replies!

Pebbles82 · 10-26-2018, 03:44 PM

40cm high isn't too bad - it's about the same height as the Hamster heaven - which admittedly is one of the lower cages. So you'd have room for a similar amount of substrate as in a cage - 6" deep or so. And if it's long enough you could have a deeper digging end as mentioned above.

So would this be like the bookcase laid on it's back? SKB I would love to know more about how you made your Stuva cage! I've been interested in the Stuva stuff for cages for a while - it seemed the ideal size.