Where to buy hamster tank?

[Biscuit1]

Hi there,

This my first post on the forum, but I have been lurking for some time. We have previously owned three hamsters and after a break of a couple of years we are looking to become hamster owners again .

Previously we have used a Hamster Heaven and while this has been great we a couple of our hammies have been bar biters. This time round our daughter wants to have the new hamster in her bedroom and we are looking for a glass type tank instead of a barred cage. Unfortunately we have zero DIY skills and so are looking to buy something ready-made. I think we might manage with a fish tank but then we would have to construct a lid. I noticed that one person on this forum (sorry forgot your name) recommended a place called JunglePets that makes customised tanks for hamsters. These look good but I'm not sure how reliable they are?

Sorry for the rambling post, what I am really asking is if anyone could recommend a ready-made (non-wire) hamster enclosure that we can buy?

Thanks for reading!
Biscuit1

[Ria P]

Hi and welcome to HC!

Have a look on Zooplus they sell the Marrakesh and the Kerry terrarium. They also show customers photos of different set ups.

[sushi_78]

I bought a tank from Junglepets recently. They are a reliable company and the tanks are great quality and made from thick glass so they aren't too fragile. The mesh lids are rather poorly made though. They can do all kinds of customisations. I ordered their 120cm tank but I asked for it to be made deeper, for the lid to be made in two sections and for some of the glass shelves to be left out and they were able to do all of that.

[Biscuit1]

Thanks so much for the replies! Ria P: The Marrakesh and Kerry both look fab
Sushi_78 - sadly Junglepets don't deliver to the London area otherwise this would have been a great option.

[Pebbles82]

I would go with the Marrakesh. The Kerry I found not quite big enough (smaller than a hamster heaven) and awkward access. The Marrakesh has a good top door. Another alternative for more space/height for a wheel - is the eco habitat - its also on wheels and looks lovely. The lid does need some mesh really though as the vents are 2cm wide. Ok for guinea pigs but hamsters just scale the wheel and escape! That isn’t exactly diy though - it is something I would attempt. You just get a piece of mesh cut to the size you want by a Diy place and staple it to the underside of the lid - just using a normal stapler.

Bar chewing can be caused by a few things and as the hamster heaven is a good sized cage it could have been caused by a number of things. A common thing is cleaning out too much which causes stress and makes them unsettled and wanting to escape. Not sure what your cleaning regime was but full cage cleans aren’t recommended and neither are weekly ones. The key is to have enough substrate in the cage (say 5” deep or more), a potty litter tray in the place they choose as a toilet, and a good sized house/nesting box that’s open underneath and big enough to build a large cosy nest.

The way this works is - the cage stays clean and dry. You empty the litter tray every few days, their house is well ventilated underneath through the substrate and you only need to occasionally “spot clean “ - ie remove the odd handful of substrate and replace it with a clean handful. Clean the wheel as and when needed and any other items as and when needed but never clean everything at the same time - that removes all their familiar scent, their scent trails etc and stresses them so they don’t feel at home. This method means you can easily go 2 to 3 months without needing to replace all the substrate. Even then it’s a good idea to replace some of the clean old substrate and spread it on top so it smells familiar (that layer gradually gets spot cleaned out) but don’t clean anything else when you do the substrate change. The cage base should stay clean and dry and you just need to give it a wipe with warm water - or warm soapy water and rinse. Pet Disinfectant isn’t necessary unless there has been illness or disease. And anything scented can also get them very stressed - they have a very sensitive sense of smell.

They are quite clean little things - the only smelly bit is their pee so a litter tray works wonders (with chinchilla sand in that soaks up the pee). Syrians will use one. Their poops aren’t dirty or smelly - more like seeds - and they can eat them sometimes - they have two stomachs and can redigest nutrients from their poops. An instinct like hoarding in case there might be a good shortage! If they start taking over a bit you can spot clean them but otherwise it’s fine to wait for the substrate change and they may even hoard some poops for emergency supplies.

The other things that can cause bar chewing stress are - wheel too small, and stealing their nest and hoard! Which happens when people do full cleans. The nest can be left alone if not pee’d in and their hoards can be left a long time if not peed on as well. They are very fussy about their hoards so if some needs removing it’s important to replace it with new food in the same place - or they will go frantic.

Sorry if you know all this. The hamster heaven is a great cage but the contents are rubbish! The penthouse isn’t suitable - the tubes get blocked up and peed in and the little plastic houses sweat as enclosed underneath and they try and stuff too much in them. If you take all the plastic out except one shelf, add a 28cm wheel and a good sized house open onto the substrate, they can have normal behaviours, bury hoards under their nest and they get quite good at housekeeping and refurbishing their nests.

So it could be one of these stresses that caused the bar chewing. The main reason I mention all that is - I just couldn’t get on with a tank and top access! I had one for our Robo but moved him into a barred cage.

The big front opening door on the Hamster heaven is great and is good for interaction with the hamster and taming. I have the Savic plaza which os like a bigger version of the hamster heaven. I like the ventilation of barred cages and the opportunities for enrichment attaching things to the bars and roof - and front access.

But plenty of people use tanks and the Marrakesh has a good lid. There are some lovely tank set ups as well. And they look lovely. I just found it was like a wall between you and the hamster and top access only doesn’t always go down well with a more nervous hamster.

Most people find that with a 100cm cage hamsters tend not to bar chew - but there is the occasional maverick who wants something bigger.

I’d have a think about whether any of the above set up issues could have related to the bar chewing- I currently have a Syrian in a cage that is virtually the same as the hamster heaven (same but smaller bar spacing). Our first Syrian was in it as well. He started bar chewing at a year old but it was a temporary thing caused by stress when he had a change of environment (left him with a pet sitter for 10 days when on holiday).

Cleaning and wheel size can cause it.

[Biscuit1]

Thanks for the in-depth reply Serendipity7000! I think it is likely that we were cleaning the cage a little too often. We will definitely be taking your advice on board with our new hammie. Thanks again

[Pebbles82]

What you could do is start your new hammy in the Hamster Heaven and see how they go - and then upgrade later if it isn’t working out. A lot of people do that anyway and then move them to a bigger cage when they’re tame and settled in. If you still have the hamster heaven! But do come on here when setting it up as you’ll get lots of advice and ideas for set ups that work. Upgrading to a new cage later needs to be done carefully as well - moving everything over without cleaning first - even the substrate - so they don’t get shell shocked - at the change - and a similar layout. They settle quickly then and you can then tweak things a few weeks later if necessary.

Best thing is to get cage all set up before you get the hammy do you don’t have to make any changes during the first couple of weeks while they’re settling in. Leave them alone for the first day or two then gradually start with taming by talking to them and offering the odd treat through the bars and if they show signs of wanting to come out then a bit of out of cage hand taming (eg in dry bathtub or a playpen area where you can sit in with them and they get used to you).

I’d suggest setting up the Hamster heaven using one of the shelves (the solid one), blocking off the tube holes with the blocking connectors that come with the cage. Fill the base with substrate to about 1cm below the base- it doesn’t really fall out. And get a 28cm Trixie wheel for the end opposite the shelf (the substrate needs to be a bit lower at the wheel end for it to fit but you can just slope it up away from the wheel).

A couple of toys like cardboard tubes (Pringles tubes are a good size for Syrians) and you can get nice hyacinth tunnels too that are chewable so give texture and variety. A corner litter tray and a house. The Ferplast sin guinea pig house is good. No glue or nails and fits together like a jigsaw. Open underneath and has a flat roof which lifts off. So you can check inside without their nest getting destroyed. Rat sized toys are good for Syrians as some can grow quite large. Hanging rat Sputniks work well to give overhead cover and somewhere else to go and sit.

It might sound like a lot of substrate but with spot cleaning and a litter tray and less substrate changes it doesn’t cost any more. Also there are a lot of good substrates available now that are better than wood shavings and in bulk so inexpensive. Kaytee clean and cosy is good and bulk packs aren’t too big. I get a 10kg bag of Fitch (recycled paper) which lasts about six months or more with two cages and costs £22 so it’s good value. Best and safest nesting material is plain white toilet paper. Tear a few sheets into strips and put a pile of it in the cage - but not in the house. They like to forage for it and will pouch some or drag it back to the house to build a nest. Fluffy bedding is dangerous (in case you didn’t know).

I used to have the solid shelf from the hamster heaven but gave up on it when the ladder broke - found it a bit of a pain as it isn’t flat and our hamster decided the inset corner food bowl was a toilet (logical to hamsters who make their toilets in a corner!) so ended up aquaplaning down the shelf and Pee running down it ugh.

So I just started with an empty cage. Used a good sized flat roof house which doubled up as a shelf instead and bought a little shelf to go over it on one corner (a lava ledge).

I’ll add some photos of various set ups in the cage. Including our current syrian’s set up. I used a rat tube in his cage tied to the roof to lead from his shelf to his Sputnik- big enough that they just see it as access. If they have a good house/nesting box they don’t try and nest in the tubes.

[Pebbles82]

Ok this was the set up for our first hamster after I got rid of the plastic shelf. Identical cage to Hamster heaven but has narrow bar spacing (it's called the Savic Mickey 2XL but the cage is identical and same size, except for narrow bar spacing and no tubes). It evolved slightly - got rid of long bendy bridge as it made him nervous and broke anyway. Added heath robinson cardboard tube.

The last two pics are the same cage with my current set up for our Syrian which I prefer The cage is the same but the base was replaced hence its a different colour. He has a long house at one end of the cage (Rodipet make fantastic hamster houses but they're a bit expensive) and a small shelf at the back. The coloured bendy bridges actually come with attachments so you can screw them to the bars if you want to make them into a shelf or a secure ramp up to shelf eg.

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[Pebbles82]

You can do quite a lot with an empty hamster heaven and our Syrian is very happy in it. I like that when the big door is open he will come quite close to you and not hide away and its easy to get him out for out of cage time. He just walks into a tube I put through the door. Hamster personalities do vary as well. And although this is a big generalisation, females can be a bit more maverick than males and they come on heat every four days. Not always and some will be shy. I've only had males. One lazy and dopey, one maverick and always wanting to be out (but didn't bar chew) and current one who is somewhere in between!

But either way it's a good cage either as a starter cage or for longer term if the set up works.

If you still have the hamster heaven, I'd save the money and invest in a good house from rodipet, an additional shelf and some cage contents and a good wheel. That is the 11" trixie wood wheel I have (which is also silent). It does need painting with plastikote enamel paint though - it's water based and petsafe and virtually odourless. That makes it wipe clean. I just paint the inside of the wheel. There is also a plastic trixie 11"/28cm wheel but that isn't silent.

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[Pebbles82]

These are a couple of good houses from rodipet. The roof makes a bit of a platform and the piece of rough granite is ideal for under a food bowl or water bottle as it helps keep their nails trim when they go to eat or drink. Their nails can get overgrown.

I have the long three room one but got OH to cut an extra entrance at the front with his saw! Not really necessary but he does use both the top and front entrances. He nests in one room and has a corner toilet in the other room.

The houses work well for them as they're dark inside due to the "rooms" and they need somewhere dark to retreat to

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/houses/rod...t-rodents.html

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/houses/rod...t-rodents.html

On the tank theme again though - if you really did decide to get a non barred cage then a very good option is the maxi duna multy which is a perspex type cage/tank - not as heavy and bulky and a very nice cage. With any tank style it helps to have a platform on legs as well as a good house though, as they do need something to sit under and climb onto.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-Ma...1881937&sr=8-1