It does sound like a frustrating system Munchalot. I guess the only way round it would be to have a big storage room and buy them in bulk but I can see that might not be economical either as it could take a long time to sell them all. I think one of the problems is the good cages are mostly made in Belgium and Germany.
How about the Little Friends Grosvenor rat and Hamster? Could you get that from a wholesaler? Or Zoozones? I've seen pet shops with Zoozones in. Our pet shop told me "it's for a guinea pig not a hamster"
