Yikes! Just won an Imac Fantasy on ebay!

[racinghamster]

I don`t know if I`m a little mad or whether I`ve made the right choice, but I`ve been looking into the Imac fantasy cage for a future adult male Chinese hamster and found myself hovering over this and won it!

Hamster Cage | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hamster-Cage-/290941094415?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=JuAa5Ww6by89h8b2wD0EfepWp%252F8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc)

Quite pleased with my purchase but it could end up being an impulse buy, but I do plan to wait until the cage arrives and then if I`m happy with it, will look for another section to add to it, but hopefully cheaper! I paid £18.50p with postage added, but given that it`s the newer version with the orange base and blue bars, I think it`s quite a good buy.

It will be a wee while yet before I can start my search for another wee companion, but I`m using my time constructively and getting prepared for that. I only have a Gabber Rex tank and two spare Rody sized cages, so I was on the hunt for a barred alternative and I know Chinese hamsters just love climbing and having more to hide in and places to explore, so I thought this cage fitted the bill. Just hope it does the job at the end of the day or I will end up falling back on my Gabber Rex! :mad:

[Gazmo]

wow well done :D that's great :3

[racinghamster]

Thanks Gazmo. I hope it turns out to be the ideal barred habitat for my future Chinese hamster once I plan what I`m going to do with the layout. I won`t be using the tube inside I will be running a natural ramp or fiddlestix type wooden bendy bridge up to the second level but through the larger hole rather than the small one. I`m hoping to block off the small hole that the tube usually fits into, but I`m not sure which hole plugs fit the Imac? I know there are block ends for Rotastak and Savic cages, but don`t know which ones (if any) fit the Imac holes?

[POLAR WHITES]

congrats post pics when you set it up please.

[racinghamster]

Unfortunately, I don`t have a camera. :( But will post pics of the links to the cage/cages I won though and say how I plan to decorate. :)

[Silver]

Congratulations RH

xxx

[racinghamster]

Thanks Silver. x

[racinghamster]

Phew...just won my second Imac Fantasy literally half an hour ago on ebay, so that`s me got the two parts I needed to get started! :) In total they together cost me £39.00 with postage, so higher than I really wanted (or needed) to pay, but a double Imac for under £40 quid isn`t too bad considering a single tier new costs around this amount. So I can`t complain.

Just need to pace up and down now waiting on both arriving separately!

[The Hamster's family]

Phew...just won my second Imac Fantasy literally half an hour ago on ebay, so that`s me got the two parts I needed to get started! :) In total they together cost me £39.00 with postage, so higher than I really wanted (or needed) to pay, but a double Imac for under £40 quid isn`t too bad considering a single tier new costs around this amount. So I can`t complain.

Just need to pace up and down now waiting on both arriving separately!

Lucky you AND lucky ham !!! ;)

Good for you !

[racinghamster]

Thank you. It was hard work but I hope worth it. I do remember having a single Imac Fantasy a long time ago and although I never used it, I didn`t like it. My attitude has changed since then though having researched the cage more, so I`m hoping I will fall back in love with it again once my next Chinese hamster is enjoying his new home! Either that or I will wake up one morning and he will have escaped and be staring at me from the roof!!! :mad:

[The Hamster's family]

Thank you. It was hard work but I hope worth it. I do remember having a single Imac Fantasy a long time ago and although I never used it, I didn`t like it. My attitude has changed since then though having researched the cage more, so I`m hoping I will fall back in love with it again once my next Chinese hamster is enjoying his new home! Either that or I will wake up one morning and he will have escaped and be staring at me from the roof!!! :mad:

POUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!!! Just got the craziest picture in my head !!

[Kirsty1987]

That's great :) love winning a good bargain on ebay. I have never seen an imac fantasy and intrigued as you look at the pictures online and they look small but then see the measurements and there not. Keep us updated on how it goes and if the new addition is happy with his cage. I always wonder if theo would do well in a bar cage with a deep base I know she loves to dig but is also an excellent climber :)

[racinghamster]

Thanks guys. The Imac Fantasy is larger than it looks online so I`m probably in for a surprise even though I have seen a single one close up before, I can`t quite remember now! :mad: The main cage is 58cm x 38m x 38cm. So double that with the two cages. A little Chinese should think he`s in a nice swish apartment block! :mad: I will certainly let you guys know how a Chinese fares once in this cage because I know many members always wonder about the bar spacing or are not sure, so I will definitely do a revue on it`s usefulness and compatibility for a Chinese hamster after a few months of use.

[vanilla-yazoo]

congrats! I am sure that when you do get your little chinese boy he will love it :) having only had girls I dont know if the boys grow bigger, but it might be worth going to a breeder for a bigger built boy, to save any worries about squeezing through bars :)
im sure that some of the lovely northern show members might be able to help get him to you!
i love the imac fantasy, i really miss having them!! I only swapped to bin cages when one of mine had an accident bar chewing and set my worrying off. i found that they always wee'd on the plastic shelf, which i can wipe down easily to keep clean rather then full cleans, and took a 30cm flying saucer for a syrian quite well! suprisingly my big girl rose was very happy in there and took a long time to settle into a barny then a bin cage.
I used one for my ww at one point, he adored it in there :D you will have one very lucky hammy on your hands!

[racinghamster]

Thanks vanilla, that`s lovely. Really looking forward to both cages arriving so I can have a really good look at them and how I will set them up nearer the time. A friend of mine is going to order me two Trixie suspension wooden log bridges off Zooplus because they are only £1.99p on there, but because they have a £15 spending limit, I couldn`t order them, so because she gets her stuff from Zooplus regularly, she is going to order them for me and I will pay her for them, which is great news. :)

I would love to have a breeder Chinese hamster but that might be a bit of a dream. I usually look for a rescue or an adoptee from Pets At Home if they have any available. My last Chinese female came from a member on here as she took on two females that needed separating, so I offered a home to Prinny and fell in love with the Chinese hamster after that. I was used to keeping mice for a long time and the Chinese hamster is very similar in many ways, which appealed to me.

I usually end up with a mature animal rather than a youngster, so fingers crossed the bars don`t cause me any issues, but I have a Gabber Rex to fall back on if that does happen. :)

[Syrian Hammy]

I have a 2 tier imac fantasy for my hybrid girl, Ruby. I had also planned to use the trixie bridges as access to the second floor as she struggles with the tubes a bit. They arrived this morning and I'm a little disappointed. The hooks are quite small therefor they won't hook onto the big hole on the upper level. I'm not sure what other way you could attach it. I gave up after a while but will try again later. I was looking forward to Ruby having an easier route but I might have to think of an alternative. She loves her cage so I wouldn't want to change it.

Good luck Racinghamster with your set up. Please post pictures when it's done. Can't wait to see it.

[racinghamster]

I Syrian Hamster, thanks for adding to my thread. :) I`ve actually seen photos of the suspension bridges being hooked to the bars right behind the cage level and then extended beneath the exit/entry hole, if you know what I mean? Not actually clipped over the actual hole (as I probably would have did as well) but try hooking the bridge to the cage bars as high as it will go and then extend it under the hole and then bend it downwards in a gentle slope.

You could also remove the small screws and screw in larger ones? Just make the holes a little bigger in the wood. ;) See if that works.

[racinghamster]

here is the image I saw if it helps:

[Syrian Hammy]

Racinghamster, thank you for the photo. Its been very helpful. I will post a picture of my set up once I've completed it. Thanks again

[racinghamster]

Glad that helped. I wasn`t sure about how I would hook or hang the suspension bridges either as my two cages are still to arrive from ebay, so I searched around for images of the Imac Fantasy cage on here and through Google and a few came up that hooked it to the bars on the cage directly under the shelving holes. :) I`m also looking at the possibility of using a Crittertrail bubblewave tube inside the Imac rather than the smooth tube the cage comes with. I`m just waiting on a member from another forum to get back to me on that over the weekend.

If the Crittertrail tube fits into the Imac small hole, I will update on this as well for anyone who may or may not know that the Crittertrail tubes fit this cage as they do seem easier for a dwarf hamster to climb up and down due to the internal bubble ridges.

Why the makers of these cages don`t see these issues when designing their cages is a bit ridiculous. Anyone who keeps a Russian dwarf knows that they are not great climbers and have furry feet, so will not handle smooth tubes easily. It`s just as well the Imac cage has larger openings for ease of use with ramps!

[Syrian Hammy]

That would be fantastic if the crittertrail tubes did fit. I think I seen them on ebay/amazon. I would defo get some as I'm finding the bridges difficult to fit. There's a small gap between the entry hole and the bridge and I'm worried because of her wee furry feet she wouldn't be able to grip to pull herself up. For now I've kept the tubes in and used the bridge for exploring.

I agree they should consider using tubes thats easier to climb.

[racinghamster]

So do the bridges not just clip onto the bars and then form a ramp directly under the hole but a little lower to give the hamster access to the level above? Sorry for my confusion as this heat is affecting my brain! :mad:

I will post about the Crittertrail tubes once I know myself.

Edited to add: Ah, I think I know what you mean now about the `gap` and the hamster maybe not feeling too secure between the bridge and the gap below between the actual hole and what she`s standing on? Yes, some sort of construction could be made to offer some security....I`m working on it!

[Syrian Hammy]

Yeah they clip onto the bars no problem. Ah I've sorted it now, I had the bridge just a bit to low from the hole. In this heat its hard to think lol.

[racinghamster]

Great! :) I know what you mean about this heat! I keep making typing errors and having to correct them! :mad:

Let me know how your wee Russian deals with the ramps? Hope she manages better with them rather than the tubes.

[racinghamster]

Okay, a little update on the tubes. The member has gotten back to me on the other forum and here is the result. The Crittertrail tubes will fit the Imac Fantasy cage, but ONLY if the plastic ring end caps are taken off the original IMAC tubes and placed onto the ends of the CRITTERTRAIL tubes. :)

So yes, the Crittertrail tubes will go in, but only if the joining caps are changed to the original Imac tube caps. So you would need to have the Imac tubes to be able to slip off the caps and place them onto the Crittertrail tubes to connect them to the hole in the Imac.

Hope this helps anyone else wondering if this was the case or not.

[Syrian Hammy]

Oh yay! So excited now. I'm of to order the tubes, shame there so expensive tho.

[racinghamster]

I know Syrian Hammy. I`m getting a few free from the member that did the above measurements for me, but I may need a few more, but I can always get those later on. :) I used to have loads of these years ago and gave them all away....](*,)

[racinghamster]

Here is the image in case you didn`t see my other thread about the tubes fitting an Imac cage:

[Syrian Hammy]

That is fantastic. Theres a 5 pack on ebay so I'll probably get those. Just need to find out if they came with the short bent ones.

[The Hamster's family]

YAY !! I'm soo happy for you !! Now to make sure your tiny baby cannot escape !!!

=D

If that's OK, I might get an Imac myself as I know someone who owns one here, in Québec !! Keep me updated on it !

[racinghamster]

Glad this has been some help to you guys as well. Syrian Hammy, I want to have the little `elbow` tube to clip onto the actual shelf as this is a short drop inside and the hamster would find that easier to go into from the level and then attach the longer tubes to this downwards. The Imac tube seems to have a longer drop inside it, which I feel is what makes the Imac tube a little tricky for dwarf hamsters as they get to the top. The Crittertrail ones are shorter and with the bubble effect inside these tubes, also helps the hamster to grip better I feel.

I really only want to experiment with one really and use the Trixie ramps with the larger entry holes, giving hammy two options. Then if the tube never gets used, it won`t really matter at the end of the day, as long as the cage become easy for the hamster to enjoy, that`s the whole point of this excersize.

Hamster`s family, I hope you manage to get an Imac Fantasy then you can have a go yourself! I know they are not easy to find in the US and Canada. They are made in Italy.

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Wow RH, you got a real bargain there! The fantasy is possibly one of the very few cages I've never actually had, not sure why, but its always looked time consuming to clean to me, though obviously, if you've only got one hamster that isn't an issue, but I've not only had one ham at a time since I was in single figure ages myself:mad:. If you do only have the one though, it looks great for building on, adding more levels and getting more creative with each one, and now it can be found fairly cheap on eBay, there's almost endless possibilities with it:D.

I'm not sure if a Chinese can get out, I don't underestimate them anymore, not since one of my past ones woke me up at 3am once, making a noise like a pneumatic drill. Turned out she'd somehow got to the bars of her gabber Rex, and squeezed through the tiny hole in the catch where you hook your finger through, then realised she couldn't get back in so was chewing the bars with enough of a racket to wake the dead:mrgreen:.

[racinghamster]

:mad: Yes, my last Chinese female used to love getting up to the bars on her Gabber Rex and monkey bar! I actually had the grill cable tied at the time with two books on either end to hold it down because the grill that came with the cage was eaten by rust when I bought it off ebay! So I had a make-shift barred grill running across the lid, which Prinny soon realised was something she could escape from and she did try! But since then, I have made a proper wooden framed meshed lid for the Gabber but never used it while my wee robo lived in the cage as he never needed the lid.

The Imac Fantasy cages I have coming off ebay will be a new experiment for me really because although I know it`s `possible` that my Chinese might exploit the bars, I`m hopeful having read up on the use of this cage with adult Chinese that it`s fairly safe to use. The bars are 1cm apart, although I have read they are 8mm apart? That would probably be the actual `gap` between the bars and not measuring the bars themselves when taking the measurement. But I won`t actually know until I can take this measurement myself when my first cage arrives soon.

Oh...and my Crittertrail tubes arrived today from the member on the other forum who wanted me to have them, which is great! :) I will still probably need a few long tubes as these are the shorter tubes, but I can always look for some on ebay.

[Syrian Hammy]

Racinghamster, I was looking through the cage thread for 2012 and on page 115 there's a close up photo of an imac fantasy and trixie bridge layout, exactly like the way you want yours. Just to warn you tho mine broke at one side. The wire came away from the wood. I must of stretched it to much trying to fit it. I must admit I gave up after that. Good luck with yours. Hope it works out ok.

[racinghamster]

That`s a shame your ladder broke. :( Did you have any luck with the Crittertrail tubes Syrian Hammy? I know you said you were going to order some. Mine arrived a few days ago and although my cages are yet to arrive from ebay, the ridges inside the Crittertrail tubes do seem like mini steps! So really should make all the difference to a dwarf hamster managing the tube climb. x

[Syrian Hammy]

I haven't got round to ordering them yet as I've just ordered a mesh playpen :) but hopefully within the next week I'll order some :).

[racinghamster]

Ah, okay. :) I suspect using the Crittertrail tubes on the steepest part and then attaching the normal Imac tube lower down would work well. That way you only really need to find a couple of Crittertrail parts that can be use where they attach to the holes where the hamster usually find the most difficulty getting up and down. But the smoother Imac tubes are fine lower down where they are not so vertical. Might save you money too if you only need a few pieces rather than a full pack!

[racinghamster]

Well the first of my Imac Fantasy cages has arrived off ebay and it`s a nice size and the cage is in good condition. Although having had a re-think since winning these cages over the past week or so, I am now buying a Ferplast Kios cage from a forum member as I feel the Kios would be a better option for me and for my next Chinese hamster. The Imac`s might come in handy, but I may decide to sell them on if I don`t use them.