Hello Hammy Central!

[Kittiy_Ashford]

Hey everyone! I wanted to introduce myself and my short haired, banded Syrian Chewbacca!

I am an adoptions manager at a pet store, and Chewy had chronic sticky eyes so wasn't saleable. After many vet visits to make sure it wasn't something more serious than a bit of goop, I decided the best place for him was my happy home!

I have never owned a hamster before, though am used to taking care of them at work, so getting to know this little dude on a more personal basis has been quite a lot of fun!

He is currently housed in a Kaytee Crittertrail 2 level, which I am planning on expanding over the coming weeks / months. His favourite place to hang out is in the "petting zone", possibly because he knows I can't resist giving him belly rubs when he's up there!

[SKB_Hamsters]

Hello and Welcome to Hamster Central. That is so nice you could give Chewbacca (great name by the way!) a good home. Looking forward to hearing more about Chewbacca. Are his sticky eyes getting better?

[Josie]

Hello and welcome to HC, love the name Chewbacca look forward to pics

[Gimleyand Meeko]

Hello Welcome to HC! Love the name! I don't mean to sound awful but the cage your ham is housed in is far too small, I googled it and went onto images and it is too small and amazon and checked the measurements and it is too small, Where are you (in relation to country, as cage sizes vary but that cage is too small even for the lowest minimum). How are the eyes? Its good that you are expanding the cage though How are you going to do this?

[cypher]

Hi & welcome

Lovely to hear that Chewbacca has forever home with you now, look forward to hearing more about him.

[POLAR WHITES]

Hi welcome to the forum x

[Kittiy_Ashford]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! Chewy's name was *going* to be Oscar (he looked like an Oscar, you know?) but on the way home he chewed through the lid of the plastic critter carrier he was being transported in. With teeth like that Chewbacca was the only choice for a name!

Originally Posted by Gimleyand Meeko

Hello Welcome to HC! Love the name! I don't mean to sound awful but the cage your ham is housed in is far too small, I googled it and went onto images and it is too small and amazon and checked the measurements and it is too small, Where are you (in relation to country, as cage sizes vary but that cage is too small even for the lowest minimum). How are the eyes? Its good that you are expanding the cage though How are you going to do this?

I'm in central Canada, my choice of cage was very limited unfortunately I'm planing on getting a bi-level rat Habitat for him online and connecting it to this one with tubing

[AmityvilleHams]

Honestly you might be better off making a DIY cage,like for example 4 Billy units or 2 Detolf's.These are extremely simple DIY options where minimal effort is required,but there are also a lot of other choices too without having to make the entire cage frame and everything

Ideally the cage should be 1,550 square inches for a Syrian though,and that does not count levels or modular additions as these are unnatural and relatively useless.One continuous floor space is all that counts,even if you did add a level to a cage or added another cage by the use of tubes.

LACK Side table - black - IKEA You'd need 4 of these and they'd come out to a square meter.You'd just have to mesh the sides,make a bottom,and you could honestly just make your own substrate borders out of wood or cardboard very cheaply!They'd need to be 12 inches high though.Even with needing 4,it would probably come out costing considerably less than a similarly sized storebought cage ever would.

[Gimleyand Meeko]

Good idea Kitity_Ashford I wouldn't connect with tubing, it can cause respitory problems and can get like sauna in there! They are never a good idea, I agree with AmityVilleHams to use an Ikea cage I know Vancouver has 2 Ikea's but that is in West Canada XD

[freyashamsters]

Chewbacca (love the name btw!) sounds lovely, can't wait to see pics

Unfortunately that cage is far too small regardless of where you live. I'd recommend something from IKEA like AmityvilleHams suggested - IKEA is your best friend when cages are difficult to find!

Another idea is a 100x100cm cage - there is a Little Friends cage that is this size, all it would need is the bars meshing as the spacing is far too wide for hams

AmityVille is quoting the German minimums I think (which I'd love to follow however have no space for anything bigger than 100x50cm which Willow my Syrian seems quite content in!) - 100x50cm for a dwarf and 100x100cm for a Syrian or equivalent