Alaska cage for russian dwarf/chinese/robo/mice?

[FurryBabyMama]

Currently have my very elderly Syrian in an Alaska cage. He'll be 3 years old in April so I'm starting to think about what I can put in the Alaska cage when he's gone. I already have another Syrian in a Barney cage so I don't really want a new baby Syrian right now, I'd like either a new russian dwarf (my dwarf just died the other night at 2 years old, but I don't want to re-use her tank it was too small really) a robo, a chinese or maybe a group of female mice? I'm worried about the bar spacing because obviously all these species are much smaller than Syrians. Is the bar spacing okay for any of these species?

[alpacassei]

The Alaska is fine for Russian or Chinese but I wouldnt want to use such a tall cage for a Robo, although the bar spacing would be okay

[cypher]

Personally I think the Alaska is too tall for a Russian unless you are very careful about how you set it up as they are such poor climbers, good at going up but hopeless at climbing down so they tend to let go & fall!
I would think it's too tall for a robo too but I've never kept them so no experience there.
I've used it for Chinese with lots of ledges & hammocks, as they are so much more agile it's fine for them.

[FurryBabyMama]

Originally Posted by cypher

Personally I think the Alaska is too tall for a Russian unless you are very careful about how you set it up as they are such poor climbers, good at going up but hopeless at climbing down so they tend to let go & fall!
I would think it's too tall for a robo too but I've never kept them so no experience there.
I've used it for Chinese with lots of ledges & hammocks, as they are so much more agile it's fine for them.

I know I would need to set it up very carefully. I planned to put lots of shelves in and fill the whole base with substrate. So is the bar spacing okay for a Russian? And did any escapes happen with a Chinese?

[Pebbles82]

Plenty of people use 1cm bar spacing for Russian hamsters and Chinese Hamsters. I wouldn't use it for a robo. I agree the height is an issue even with the base full of substrate and it could really do with a full level to make it safe from fall risks.

[FurryBabyMama]

I was planning to look up some tutorials on how to make a full shelf as I know it's too tall ^_^ was just super paranoid about escapes because I've always had my dwarfs in tanks but I find tanks so difficult to work with.

[cypher]

The bar spacing is ok but the bigger gaps at the top & corners or sides can be a problem if you have a baby ham, I used cable ties there to fill the wider gap a bit.

[alpacassei]

When I used the Alaska for Mishka (Russian) , I had two overlapping half-platforms so she couldnt fall far, you could also use cardboard or a hempmat to block the lower bars and fill it with deeper substrate.

[Pebbles82]

I guess you could also just have the one shelf, with a hemp mat on (it cushions the shelf and the edge of the shelf if they happened to fall from the top). And just not have anything they can fall onto in the rest of the cage - except substrate - so items on or under the shelf - but that might look a bit bare!

Overlapping shelves with hemp mat on the shelves sounds good.

Or - something I did partly with an older syrian - just block the roof so they can't climb up there! I had wood shelves attachedto the bars at roof level- butted right up to the shelf - so the roof bars weren't accessible if they climbed the side. Then they can't fall. But the overlapping shelves sounds better if you put hemp mat on them.

[FurryBabyMama]

Originally Posted by cypher

The bar spacing is ok but the bigger gaps at the top & corners or sides can be a problem if you have a baby ham, I used cable ties there to fill the wider gap a bit.

Do you have a picture of exactly where you placed all the cable ties? Those gaps at the corners and the top are the bits I was most worried about.