Help with Syrian housing?

rowan22 · 01-19-2019, 07:57 AM

Hi there.
I adopted a Syrian hamster yesterday having had her cage for around 2 months . I was not anticipating adopting an adult hamster but we did. Anyway, she is a rather large hamster and we have a tank set up that has a cage attached on top of it - however, I am struggling because I think the ladder leading to the cage part of the tank is too steep and rickety for her. There’s no other place to attach the hooks of the ladder since the tank is glass so there’s only a certain point where it can be attached. The ladder is simply too short for the height of the cage. I’ve looked online for hamster ladders and there are none longer. I’m wondering if there is anything I can do to make it easier and less steep for her to get up?
I can’t attach the photo because it is too large, I tried to resize it but you wouldn’t be able to seen anything if the photo was that small. Basically imagine a fish tank with a small homebuilt cage on the top right hand side, the ladder going from the floor of the tank to the first level of the caged part. It’s a 55cm wooden hamster bendy ladder.

MaryRobinson · 01-19-2019, 04:22 PM

Slightly tricky to visualise but does the tank have enough continuous floor space? If the side cage is just an optional extra, and a ladder-type connection would work, you could make a custom one from wood and half dowel rods or layered Lolly sticks then use cork over the top for grip...but without seeing it it sounds a bit precarious and I’d be really worried about hammy falling off it. Sorry, I can’t qiite picture it...

Pebbles82 · 01-19-2019, 06:02 PM

It sounds like you need a level or shelf attached to the cage topper for the ladder to go to - but - it also sounds like the cage could be quite tall with the topper and that could be a fall risk issue (hamsters can get injured if they fall from a height).

If it's a glass tank you could reduce the height by filling the tank with more substrate (this is a good idea anyway because they need at least 4 to 6" and if they have more they can dig and burrow or even dig tunnels).

It takes up a lot of substrate, but once you have it deep you don't need to clean out very often - just spot clean and you can easily go 2 months or more without needing to change the substrate. And even then you only need to change the top half usually and mix the old in with the new.

So then there will be less height. Although if the topper is the usual height you may need about 30cm deep of substrate! That basically makes it into a cage with a deep base.

I use large cork logs instead of ladders - it makes a ramp and a tunnel. They are quite tall so you can wedge it under a shelf so the hamster just climbs up the side of it and it makes a tunnel as well.

Having said all that, your cage may not be large enough for a large syrian. Floorspace is the main thing for them, rather than height. What size tank is it?

Assuming you're in the Us - a 40 gallon breeder tank is the size usually recommended for a Syrian, although there is a good new cage available that's a good size for a syrian as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Pet-Pr...7946107&sr=8-1

cypher · 01-20-2019, 01:44 AM

It is hard to visualise but I'm thinking the ladder is going from the upper part of the cage down to the substrate in the tank? So you may just not have enough substrate in the tank part of the cage, if you put as much substrate in as you can then you should be able to change the angle of the ladder so it works better I would think.
A photo would really help if you have one though.

rowan22 · 01-20-2019, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaryRobinson

Slightly tricky to visualise but does the tank have enough continuous floor space? If the side cage is just an optional extra, and a ladder-type connection would work, you could make a custom one from wood and half dowel rods or layered Lolly sticks then use cork over the top for grip...but without seeing it it sounds a bit precarious and I’d be really worried about hammy falling off it. Sorry, I can’t qiite picture it...

Yes, the tank is large enough for her to not need the upper caged part - I suppose it’s just a bit more for her to explore, if she wanted it. Sorry I know it’s really tricky to picture without a photo but I couldn’t get it down to a small enough size without completely cutting out the whole ladder :S I’ve taken the ladder out for now until I can figure out what to do. So she’s just in the tank at the moment.

rowan22 · 01-20-2019, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

It sounds like you need a level or shelf attached to the cage topper for the ladder to go to - but - it also sounds like the cage could be quite tall with the topper and that could be a fall risk issue (hamsters can get injured if they fall from a height).

If it's a glass tank you could reduce the height by filling the tank with more substrate (this is a good idea anyway because they need at least 4 to 6" and if they have more they can dig and burrow or even dig tunnels).

It takes up a lot of substrate, but once you have it deep you don't need to clean out very often - just spot clean and you can easily go 2 months or more without needing to change the substrate. And even then you only need to change the top half usually and mix the old in with the new.

So then there will be less height. Although if the topper is the usual height you may need about 30cm deep of substrate! That basically makes it into a cage with a deep base.

I use large cork logs instead of ladders - it makes a ramp and a tunnel. They are quite tall so you can wedge it under a shelf so the hamster just climbs up the side of it and it makes a tunnel as well.

Having said all that, your cage may not be large enough for a large syrian. Floorspace is the main thing for them, rather than height. What size tank is it?

Assuming you're in the Us - a 40 gallon breeder tank is the size usually recommended for a Syrian, although there is a good new cage available that's a good size for a syrian as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Pet-Pr...7946107&sr=8-1

Hi! Thanks for all your help. I know it’s really hard to visualise without a photo, but the cage extension part already has shelves - I think it’s just too tall to be honest. I’ve taken the ladder out for now, so she just has the tank. I’d say she has about 5 inches of substrate in the tank already but currently adding a lot of substrate isn’t really an option because I only got her 2 days ago, she’s already stressed from moving between 3 different homes in the space of 4 weeks, so I don’t want to start shuffling her cage around and stress her even more. What she has now is fine, and I will probably add more when she’s settled next week

with regards to the tank I couldn’t tell you how big it is to Be honest, I got it second hand. It’s huge though, I would say from looking online that it is a 40 gallon tank (I have never seen one in real life though so don’t actually know). I’m in the UK! I think her tank is plenty large enough for her, but the cage top was just a nice addition. If I can’t find a viable option to keep her safe, then I’ll just remove the cage part. Thanks for your tips!

rowan22 · 01-20-2019, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

It is hard to visualise but I'm thinking the ladder is going from the upper part of the cage down to the substrate in the tank? So you may just not have enough substrate in the tank part of the cage, if you put as much substrate in as you can then you should be able to change the angle of the ladder so it works better I would think.
A photo would really help if you have one though.

Yes that’s how it is! I was thinking this too. I’m going to let her settle for a week and then I will add more substrate to her tank - I just can’t do it at her moment as I can’t take her out of the cage yet. I’m deffo not putting the ladder back in for a while until I can fix the problem. I’m sorry the size of the photo is too large apparently and I tried to crop it loads and it was still too big... cropping it down to the recommended size just cut out the whole tank and wouldn’t be helpful. Thanks for your help!

cypher · 01-21-2019, 12:27 AM

It may be best to let her settle a bit before changing anything but you could try adding a bit of substrate at a time if you think she won't get too bothered by it.

You need to resize rather than crop photos to fit the forum, there's a thread here that might help.
How to resize photos 2018
Another way is to email the photo to yourself, choose small in the email photo options then save that copy to upload.
There's another thread here on uploading photos if you need any help with that.
How To Embed Photos

Pebbles82 · 01-21-2019, 02:33 AM

Yes if the tank is big enough don't worry about the topper - they do better with more floor space and less height anyway. Although I guess the topper is instead of a lid? To prevent escapes.

Just leave the topper on and no ladder. Main thing is that at substrate level she has enough enrichment - a house big enough to nest in that's dark inside, a wheel big enough (it might need supporting underneath if the substrate is deep). Some floor tunnels/toys and access to food and water. And a litter tray is a good idea!

I actually don't think tanks with toppers work well at all. You either need to use the tank as a base filled almost to the top with substrate (so it's a cage then basically) or the tank on it's own. Otherwise there are fall risks and accessibility issues. If they can get up to the barred area and monkey bar across the roof (which does happen - usually at night when you're asleep!) and drop they can hurt themselves - hitting the edge of a shelf on the way down eg.

So the only other way to do it with a topper safely is to have a full level with just a space for a ladder at one side (and something over that space so they can't fall down it.

If she can't get up to the topper part at the moment then just leave it as a tank set up.

Pebbles82 · 01-21-2019, 02:36 AM

There is a lovely cage that Zooplus sell which is a tank with a barred top and it is known for it's issues setting up safely - I've linked some photos and you can see the angle of the ladders (very steep) and the height issues. I really wanted that cage at one time but worked out the only way to set it up safely was to fill the tank with substrate completely and use it as a cage with a filled base - and then it didn't have good access as only one door at the top. Or to make a full level - which then makes it like two separate cages on top of each other.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Fa...ih=503#imgrc=_