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Old 01-24-2019, 07:39 PM   #1
Sebario
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Default Opinions needed for larger cage

Hey everyone, I'm in need of some help/ideas. I currently have a male syrian hamster who lives in an alaska cage. I have 2 alaska cages as its easier to set up while he's asleep so I am able to transfer him into the clean cage when he has woken up.

This is my first hamster and pet I have had so very inexperienced with hamster care. I have read through forums for advise on what size cage, wheel, food etc... to feed him so I hope I have done an ok job up till now.

Now that he has increased in size I feel that an upgrade would benefit him with more space, however I have zero knowledge on DIY bin/ikea detolf set ups, I'm amazed at some of the creativity that runs throughout the hamster owners community but I would just like something simple and easy to clean and maintain.

Would it be possible to link both my alaska cages together with a tube?
Has anybody cut through the wire cage and connected any cages?

Either that or purchase a new cage but there is so much choice. The alexander looks good and also the idea of the ferplast cages linking together.

Sorry for the long post but I'm confused and need help lol

What are your thoughts?

Thanks
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Old 01-25-2019, 07:37 AM   #2
mangoandmimi
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Default Re: Opinions needed for larger cage

Linking cages together is never escape proof especially with alaskas which don’t already have connectors. One larger floor space would be much better really. I cut the bars of a ferplast Mary to connect to a criceti 15 a while back for my Syrian, it was alright but the connection was not very secure and I also didn’t think the tubes were quite big enough for a Syrian. I wouldn’t be comfortable with any brand of those tubes being big enough for Syrians to be honest.

The Alexander or Barney would be alright, it’s a bit of an upgrade if you think that would be enough for your hamster. If doing a DIY upgrade I wouldn’t really bother with a bin cage as even the largest bins are only marginally bigger than the Alaska. There are other ikea hacks that would probably work better.

By the way I don’t really understand your Alaska set ups - you shouldn’t be transferring him between two cages like that as it’ll be very stressful. He will know the difference between the cages. Best not do frequent clean outs, only when it needs doing ie when it smells. In an Alaska with bedding to the top of the base you could probably do one clean out every 4-8 weeks while returning some of the old bedding into the new cage. Helps if he’s potty trained as then you’d just clean that every so often.
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Old 01-25-2019, 07:52 AM   #3
cypher
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Default Re: Opinions needed for larger cage

I agree that linking cages together is rarely a safe option, if you're not too keen on DIY have you had a look at the Savic Plaza cage, it's bigger than the alaska & a good cage for a syrian.
The detolf isn't really tall enough to allow for a large syrian size wheel with a deep layer of substrate & finding a large enough bin for a bin cage isn't easy.

I also agree about cleaning & swapping cages, other than spot cleaning pee you only really need to do partial cleans every few weeks & even then not much, the nest & food hoard should be left alone as much as possible & only really cleaned if peed on, the cage itself will also have your hams scent on so you shouldn't clean the actual cage unless a ham is sick.
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Old 01-25-2019, 11:03 AM   #4
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Opinions needed for larger cage

With a larger cage you won't need to do clean outs nearly so often anyway. If you have the space I'd go for the Barney cage. It's cheaper than the Alexander and come with a good shelf and a syrian sized house in it and plenty of floor space. I say if you have the space because it is deeper and sticks out further than most cages as it's 54cm deep - a couple of inches deeper/wider than most cages - this does make it easy to fit a lot of things in and adds to the floor area.

The Alexander is lovely too and with the extra shelving gives almost a whole other level. You're limited to where you can put a syrian sized wheel in the Alexander but it comes with 3 houses including a long built in one that you can fit a litter tray in at one end. So both are good if slightly different.

If you're used the big front door on the Alaska (and a big front door is a great thing to have) then Pets at Home sell the Savic Hamster Plaza for £75. It's about the same size as the Alexander but has a big front door

You could then keep one Alaska (they fold flat so could be useful for a holiday cage if ever needed) and sell the other one.

It is helpful to have somewhere to put them as a play cage if you're doing a cage clean but clean outs shouldn't be too oftne and it's best to do partial cleans and spot cleaning mostly.

With a 100 cm cage like these I only do a substrate change every 2 months or even longer, and even then only change half of the substrate and mix the old clean in with the new. You have much more substrate in so the cage stays clean and dry longer - especially if your hamster uses a litter tray. Then you just empty the litter tray every 5 days or so - I don't even need to spot clean much at all because our hamster uses his litter tray. Then anything else you can clean at a different time so something always smells familiar (avoids stress) eg wheel one week, any toys a different week again. Nests and hoards are best left alone for as long as possible unless peed in.

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small...r_cages/189303

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small...r_cages/174238

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pe...r-and-rat-cage
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Old 01-27-2019, 12:04 PM   #5
Sebario
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Default Re: Opinions needed for larger cage

I've never come across my hamster being stressed from changing his cage.

I would normally keep a deep substrate and a little of his old bedding underneath the platform, sandbath, food bowl, water bottle and chew toy on top of the platform and surround with an upright bendy bridge that keeps the corner dark which he seems to like. The hideout always gets buried by him moving the substrate around which looks funny after a week. Then I keep the wheel in the same place and rearrange toys and other enrichments.

Has anybody done this with their hamster using 2 cages identical and set ups?

I understand if the hamster were transferred into different cages and different set ups because of their poor sight but very intrigued to find out if a hamster is truly stressed as hamsters very much like to explore.

He also has a large floorspace to roam around in and has outside time for around an hour 4 times a week.

I will try out your suggestions and see if there is any change in his behaviour but thanks for the advice, I appreciate it and I've decided to get the Living World Large cage when it gets back in stock. I can not wait to fill it with substrate - Yay!
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Old 01-27-2019, 12:12 PM   #6
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Opinions needed for larger cage

I see what you mean if the setups are identical but they feel secure when surrounded by their own familiar scent and don't like a lot of change. Stress isn't always visible - typical stress behaviours are obvious, such as frantic behaviours or bar chewing but sometimes they can just have increased levels of cortisol due to stress and not show much.

So really he'd be better just staying in the one Alaska cage and keeping things more or less the same all the time apart from a bit of spot cleaning the pee as and when necessary.

The Eco habitat sounds great - strange it's out of stock so much. I wonder if they've discontinued it.
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Old 01-27-2019, 12:23 PM   #7
Sebario
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Default Re: Opinions needed for larger cage

So with the level of substrate, Should I fill the whole of the base with as much substrate as possible. I noticed that leo would just move most in a big pile where he nests and not burrow into any of the rest. It seems like a waste if the whole base is filled and not used by him?
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Old 01-27-2019, 03:04 PM   #8
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Opinions needed for larger cage

People use deep substrate so they can dig tunnels. Some syrians will do this and some won't. I've found, with a bit of trial and error, that they do better with a good sized house which mimics a burrow and then they don't need to dig tunnels and burrows and are just happy digging a bit and moving substrate around. Why do they do that? Housekeeping I think. Our Syrian does it because he's tidy and moves his used substrate out of the house and drags some new in. Also he'll pile it up against the side of his house to insulate it!

Sometimes it's just an accident - they dig to bury some food and it pushes the substrate around (our hamster does that and then can't understand why his wheel is jammed).

So I guess what I'm saying is - I prefer a cage with a standard base - like the Barney or Alexander - with a large house/nesting box and lots of places to go and interesting set up using the bars. I prefer the front access on cages to tanks and think they are perfectly fine for a syrian as long as there's plenty of floorspace and at least 4 to 5 inches of substrate.

Some people prefer tanks - but I can't get on with top access only. Another consideration may be that if your hamster is used to a cage he would adapt to another cage better than a solid sided cage (possibly).

But if you like the Eco habitat it's a lovely big cage and you can have deeper and shallower levels.

With very deep substrate, any floor items need supporting underneath as they can squash a hamster if dug under - and house and wheels are best at floor level. So can make a more complex set up.
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