[EmALyn]

Hello,

I've just joined Hamster Central.

We currently have a lone (and he'll remain this way) robot called Stinker (we're a family of 6, though the baby didn't get a vote) nad we all picked two names, chucked them in a hat and pulled them out one by one. The last name remaining in the hat was the winner.

Bizarrely, it wasn't my teenager, nor my 7 or 8 year old that chose this name, it was my contribution to The Naming Hat - I just didn't think for the life of me that it would end up winning and was solely intended to make the younger ones giggle. This is actually how we picked our guinea pigs names too, Mike Howard and Harry Barry

What brings me to Hamster Central... Well, we adopted Stinker (previously known as Kanye, not sure which is worse) from Pets At Home when we were in buying guinea pig and degu supplies. We felt sorry for him and it was spur of the moment...

We didn't buy him the biggest cage to begin with, a school boy error, especially as the same also happened with the guinea pigs and the degus - who are now currently housed in palatial residences, an 8x3 C&C cage and a converted 6ft tall flight bird cage!

We have bought stinker a cage upgrade, which connected to his old cage, so he does have much more room, but now I've been doing my research, I'm going to attempt my own Ikea hammy palace hack following the tutorials posted by VanillaHamHam - if you're on here, you did a great job.

The only change I plan to make is instead of buying a Hemnes glass table top, and fiddling about hammering out and attaching those mirror hook things, I'm going to inset some aluminium u-channels, along the length and down the sides, and slide a 6mm acrylic sheet, everything else I'll be following to the letter...

I'm wanting to make it as aesthetically pleasing as possible, as I want to move Stinker (I doubt he has a great deal longer left) into the main living room. I plan to install an LED lighting strip, for some ambient/subdued evening lighting, and I'm also going to mount the cage onto castors (that have brakes!) so we can move it at xmas/bdays etc, when we need the space back...

Cage set up; think natural. Plans include a sand bath area, natural cork, branches, reptile moss, oat and millet sprays, lots of nooks and crannies, maybe a resin toadstool or two for a pop of colour. I'm also going to try and incorporate an 'upper' level somehow, but king of stagger it to tray and create some depth..

It probably won't end up anywhere as near as good as I have it in my minds eye, but I'm going to try..

When stinker inevitably/imminently crosses, we'll be going for a Syrian, as not only does Stinker hate to be handled, but he's also ridiculously fast! Sorry if it seems bad taste to be thinking ahead to a replacement. Although I try my best to look after our animals to the best of my ability, I don't really get that attached to them. Please don't hold that against me though, as I always hold their welfare of the utmost importance.

I've attached a picture of Stinkers current abode as a starting point.

First on my to do list:

- convince OH to take me to IKEA on his next day off for the 3 Linnmon table tops.
- ask my brother-in-law to cut them to size.
- screw them together, so I can get accurate measurements so I can order the u-channel segments, and subsequently get measurements so I can order my acrylic sheet.

So, anyone who cares to follow, or even just to say Hi, feel free.

Sorry for the long first post.