[Lilafernim]

Thank you Sushi for your response. I only saw the one person advertising the need for one but my concern is they potentially have two hamsters in one small cage. I don’t have insurance and like I said to them they’ve only just recently got the hamster and want me to care for them for a month. If they fight and get hurt I could be seen as liable and I don’t want to take that risk. Also I wouldn’t know how much to ask for or what to do if they did start bar biting because of cage size or something. I don’t have a lot of room, I could take on two small cages or one big cage in the lounge but that’s about it. How they sound as well I wonder if eventually they’d just ask me to keep them and I can’t do that. If I’m being completely honest I think it’s irresponsible to buy hamsters when you travel so much but like you say we can’t give opinions if you’re just providing a service.

Also, Ria I did have the black shelf but I got rid of it when I made the house as the roof comes off the house. I wanted to allow access to Mitzi if ever I felt I needed to and the shelf would block me being able to open the house. To clarify I never do open it, it’s just peace of mind for me and I’d say I regret throwing the shelf but I made a floating cardboard house and used the slide with that. I wouldn’t have room for shelf anyway. It also couldn’t go on the other side because of the wheel.

Here’s my plan, I don’t know if it will work but I want to try before I just buy shelves. So I’ll get cardboard and cut a corner shape out three times. The first two just stick together then put some popsicle sticks on the next layer with some sticking out slightly, for sturdiness and also when in the corner I’m thinking if her weight brings it down have the sticks sticking out slightly will resist against the bars. Then stick the final cardboard piece on top of that. Then make higher sides for the corner part and I’m going to use jute and stitch it to the bars, then with another bit of cardboard stick that over the exposed just on the inside of the cage so Mitzi can’t bite it off. Make two shelves. And a ladder between them.

I’m also going to get thinner cardboard and plait long pieces together to make like a woven tube and use thick card to make o rings to keep it tubal in shape. This can then hang but I worry she’ll just chew it. I don’t know if it would work but I want to try, and this way one shelf also multipurpose as a roof over her sandbox for privacy, I can still open her house if I feel I need to, and she’ll have more to explore. I also feel guilty seeing everyone’s lovely cages and most of hers is made from popsicle sticks and cardboard, it makes me feel like a bad owner.