Cons of eco habitat?

[alpacassei]

Sunny’s not a chewer but the height is an issue, his current cage is over 50cm and I struggle to get enough bedding and fit his toys in, If I could get it cutomisedto be taller it would be perfect but very expensive haha. Its got a better height for dwarfs but I wouldnt trust any of my Russians in a wooden cage tbh, theyre too used to being able to chew all their wooden “furniture” lol

I’m probably gonna go with the Eco Habitat over a DIY cage because of my health but omg its so much money for what it is tbh

[alpacassei]

Its sold out sgain already so I guess I have a bit longer to decide lol. Apparently it will be back in stock next week so lets see if i can come up with an affordable easy DIY alternative in that time

[Pebbles82]

If it's any help, I think the Eco Habitat looks nicer than the Home cage - although the Home cage seems more manageable and no diy to do (except a bit of plastikoting inside). More manageable if it came with the stand they sell as then at a good height and with storage under and less "bulky" in a room than the Eco Habitat. The internal height of the Home cage is about the same as the hamster heaven but you could have more substrate in than the hamster heaven due to not having bars for it to fall out of - or a deeper end and a shallower end.

I think both are a huge amount of money and the one thing that stopped me with the Eco Habitat was longevity for that amount of money - eg wood damaged or stained etc, however well protected.

I can't remember who you're looking at it for but if it's for a dwarf hammy a detolf would be a much cheaper option if you have the space - and loads of scope for enrichment.

There is also the 120cm Borneo XL cage which has 8mm bar spacing. It would need a full level making though.

[Pebbles82]

I actually think the 100cm Maxi Duna multy is an excellent cage for a dwarf hamster. Only 2cm lower than the wood home cage, no diy to do, easy to clean and manage and no wood or bars. Unless you particularly wanted a 120cm cage. There is also that cheap 120cm guinea pig cage on Zooplus - but that needs meshig which is diy again.

Or you could get a glass tank made by Junglepets for less than the cost of the large Eco Habitat - 120cm by 50cm and they make a lid for it.

[Pebbles82]

The Eco Habitat is very tempting. It's a lovely cage - it looks nice, it has loads of floorspace and you can do all sorts with it. But at the end of the day I wouldn't want to pay that much money for a cage. I actually think the £50 ish Barney cage is good floor space for a dwarf hammy - deeper substrate to lower the height (eg cardboard round the inside bars which isn't really much diy . The 54cm depth makes a noticeable difference to floorspace even though it's only 100cm long.

[alpacassei]

Ah, I’m looking for an upgrade for one of my Syrians, Sunny. His current setup 95x45cm but I really want to upgrade him to a 120cm cage. I think I’m going to have a friend help me to build a 120cm Linnmon cage since it works put around half the cost.

I did consider meshing a guinea pig cage but it doesnt look as nice

[EmmaAndChester]

So this will be for a Syrian? or is it for a dwarf?

If it's a syrian and you're deciding between the hamster home cage vs the eco habitat, I would choose the latter. I agree with the others: the 120cm cage is really much too low for a syrian hamster. The eco habitat gives you much more height to work with. Yes, there are cons - but there are ways around them, that are inexpensive to tweek and require very, very minimal DIY skill (so even if you couldn't do it for whatever reason, it's not like you'd need some master builder to help you out!).

I wouldn't worry about wood staining in the eco habitat; I haven't done any form of protection to the bottom, and I've never had an issue with any of my hamsters peeing at the very bottom of the wood. Providing you set up the enclosure to be species appropriate (large sand area, deep substrate, multi-chamber house, toilet corners, etc) I think you would have a better chance at winning the euromillions than you would to have a hamster dig all the way down just to pee directly on the wooden base. If you want to be extra safe, waterproofing the wooden base should be sufficient enough to protect it. I wouldn't be, personally anyway, concerned with the base getting destroyed at all - unless of course you were housing an animal the likes of a guinea pig, for example haha.

I also wouldn't worry about a dwarf hamster chewing out of the eco habitat. The only chewing Sterling (who's my female WW that i have in the large enclosure) has done is to the lid before we had it meshed. She would stand on top of her cork log on her tippy toes, and try to squeeze through the holes in the lid - like any rodent, she saw the escape opportunity and ran with it. But once we meshed the inside, we haven't had any problems. She's also a huge chewer; she loves to chew roots and willow sticks, but has never taken interest in chewing her cage (aside from our lid incidence that she's long since stopped). Once the cage is set up to be enriching and stimulating, I think you'd be pretty hard done by to have a dwarf become so restless that they started chewing out.

If you're using the eco habitat with a dwarf hamster, the only tweek that is really necessary is meshing the lid if you plan on offering deep substrate combined with a platform. If you're using it with a syrian, however - particularly a female - I think its way too expensive to not install any form of protection in the form of chew guards across all exposed wooden edges in the cage, and also the ventilation holes, in addition to necessary meshing of the lid.

Cons aside; I do like the eco habitat, and I think it's a nice option for dwarf hamsters for those who do not want to DIY. However, I absolutely agree that it's way overpriced for what it is haha. I don't think I would recommend it for a syrian at all unless you plan on chew proofing the entire thing and I probably would recommend going down the IKEA linnmon route instead. I know they get a mix of reviews, but there is also this wooden cage on eBay. I ain't gonna lie; you get what you pay for; the plexi glass is extremely thin. However, for a dwarf hamster they are actually a really nice housing option and I housed one of my past winter whites in one for close to 2 years and never had any issues with her chewing the wood - and they're so much more affordable than the eco habitat. You can easily remove the shelves and using screws can screw up the pull out tray so that you can provide deep substrate. For a syrian again, I don't recommend it for females - they are very demanding in terms of space, and I would be worry about them chewing out of it (and would rather go DIY, or buy an eco habitat and chew proof it). But, you could potentially use just one of them for a male and have no problems - and I know of others who have, it'll just depend on your syrians personality. if you have space to spare/offer, I attached two of them together for my past male syrian, Keiko, and he loved it. I currently house my female syrian, Shasta, in it and she has never shown any boredom related behaviours at all.

[Pebbles82]

Sorry I didn't realise it was for a Syrian I was drooling after tank style cages and the Eco Habitat for a long time but found I felt happier with barred cages for Syrians. They don't have the base for depth of bedding but have a lot of scope for enrichment and I much prefer front access for interaction etc and for the hamster coming out of the cage.

But if you're used to tank set ups and prefer them the Eco Habitat probably is the best size and option - just really expensive. And agree the Home cage would be too low - especially for fitting a wheel and bedding in.

Have you thought about the Barney though? It seems much bigger than other 100cm cages due to the 54cm depth all along the length - it really does make for a lot of floor space. It's a good height, not to low not too tall and having a wheel attached to the bars makes more useable floorspace. Although you could have a wheel on a stand in a tank to do the same.

It has 7mm bar spacing and I often have the substrate above the height of the base. Fitch doesn't fall out through the narrow bars.

There is also the 120cm Borneo XL for about half the price. A bit tall - but you could put strips of perspex inside the bars, at the base, have deeper bedding, reducing the height as well and a nice big front opening door. It's a massive cage.

https://www.amazon.de/M%C3%A4use-und...ords=borneo+xl

But yes cages don't look as nice so if it's a tank style then the Eco habitat or a glass tank or a diy cage is probably the only option. I just went with what worked for me and the hamster, rather than the lovely looking tank A tank style is best if you want deeper substrate though.

Custom Aquaria would make a glass tank, whatever size you want. I was quoted for one 100cm by 50cm that was 80cm tall with the base being 40 cm deep and above the base, front opening glass doors (like on the Exo terras) and a wood and mesh lid at the top. So you can fit up to 40cm substrate in, and have front access and no diy. The quote was about £125 about 3 or 4 years ago. For a 120cm it would probably still cost less than the Eco habitat. Bt would be heavy!

[Pebbles82]

I also think this is still a good option - part tank, part base, lots of access side and top - and huge floor area - 100cm x 72cm. And looks really nice and better than a standard cage.

No cheaper than the Eco habitat but it comes with a good shelf, no meshing needed for the lid (the lid lifts right off as well as having a door in the top). No vent holes to worry about being chewed. About the same amount of wood at the corners.

https://www.amazon.de/PETGARD-M%C3%A...G4EYR68Z2EVZGR

https://www.amazon.de/PETGARD-M%C3%A...G4EYR68Z2EVZGR

[Pebbles82]

I went all round the houses when wanting to upgrade Charlie from an 80 x 50 cage - looked at the Falco, the Eco Habitat, custom made tanks, Exo terras. Just couldn't find the ideal cage and also wanted 120cm cage. In the end I got the Barney and it was perfect Both our Syrians have loved it. I initially got fed up of waiting to upgrade and thought - the Barney is only £49 - if I still need to upgrade more I can sell it. But have never felt the need to upgrade from it. And spent more on setting it up. Great wheel, great labyrinth house (which you can have on legs with 15cm substrate under the house), and still masses of floor space. I can fit so much in it. Our hammy loves coming to one of the little front doors to come out.