Ikea detolf for a syrian?

LilacTofu · 07-10-2019, 04:48 AM

Sorry if this isn't the right place to put this thread. Feel free to move it, mods.

My boy Nibs has been keeping me awake all night by chewing the bars of his cage to the point that he's now temporarily in a bucket because I was worried about him damaging his teeth and also because it was annoying. He lives (or lived) in the Savic Hamster Heaven after having been housed in an (yikes!) old Crittertrail as I waited for the Savic cage to arrive. Basically, he's moved habitats a lot, hah.

He's got a lot of energy and I don't think the Savic cage is enough for him. My bedroom is pretty much hamster-proofed so he's used to free roaming for several hours every night and he just does zoomies all over the room the entire time with no sign of slowing down whatsoever, but my schedule is a bit sporadic so I can't always have him out for that long and on those nights, he obsessively chews the bars and no matter how much I add to the cage, he continues to do it unless he's free roamed for a few hours beforehand.

So I was wondering if an ikea detolf setup would be good for a syrian? Do any of you have any experience with detolfs for syrians? I see people mostly using them for dwarf hams, but it really seems like a good, inexpensive option considering my situation.

Shannonmcn · 07-10-2019, 05:24 AM

Please do not keep him in the bucket. I understand the bar chewing is bad but... no. You can lift a hamster heaven out into the next room if you need to sleep. He's going to damage his teeth with chronic bar chewing so as long as you're trying to find a solution as quickly as possible it's not a better solution to keep him in a bucket.

As for the detolf, my hams have all chewed on the wire mesh on the lid which is just as bad as bars. I moved one girl out of it and into a DIY Linnmon cage which is a much better solution. My boy is in the detolf now and has started chewing mesh so I'm going to look into a raised lid or something to try and fix the issue but honestly, just look at the Linnmon in the first instance. VanillaHamHam on youtube has a great video on it.

LunaTheHamster1 · 07-10-2019, 05:31 AM

also - whilst you are trying to fix this, could you attach some cardboard (with jute or sisal etc) along the barred part of the cage and your hammy can chew that instead of the bars - obviously they will get thru the cardboard at some point - but you could also try something like this and attach it to the bars

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/produc...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

these may help long term or at least short term till you can figure something out

LilacTofu · 07-10-2019, 05:34 AM

Alright, thanks! I'll look into that.

I'm going to have to put him back into the Savic cage tbh but he has to stay in the room he's in because I have cats and my bedroom is the only safe room for him to be in. I live in a bachelor so it's either my bedroom, the living room with the cats in it or a drafty bathroom (which.. also has a litter box in it so I'd have to find somewhere to put that). I realize now in retrospect the bucket wasn't a good idea, but I was very tired and cranky/desperate at that point.

Add: Ooooh, I haven't thought of that, Luna! That's genius! I'll try that.