Gerbilarium(Also suitable for 1 syrian hamster) - Page 2

**Eleanor** · 12-01-2011, 04:17 PM

Awr! Bob loves his out of cage time too and also sits by the door. He gives me that look, demanding to be let out, tehe

Bob waves a paw to Bella!

StarlightSerenity · 12-01-2011, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sammi92

She has plenty of out of the cage time. Bella loves her ball. If we take her out too soon, she sits staring at the door of the cage and then if we put her back in it, she's fine after! I am so glad i joined this forum!

How much time? (Curious, tis all

)

vanilla-yazoo · 12-01-2011, 04:31 PM

ild like to add my tuppence

this cage isnt as bad as it looks, with solidness to the levels, yes its not quite big enough, but much better then things like peggy metro, and laura cages

I used mine for a temp cage when waiting for new ones to arrive, i did have gerbils in it years ago, they really killed the shelves tho, with grime X.X ild scrub it all off and the next day it was back..

as a sick cage, or with some proper thought put into it (like making the levels bigger, and a better ladder) this is an ok cage. i wont look down on people using it, tho personally i wont as nancy made it look tiny when she was only a little baby!

i accidently broke my base, or i would still use it for larger dwarf hamsters, (with the hole in the door covered)

Sammi92 · 12-01-2011, 04:55 PM

Well she lets me know when she wants to get out her ball anyway normally after about 20-30 minutes. We put her in for 10-15 minutes before and she went mad in her cage sqeaking until we put her in the ball for another 15 minutes. We also have a fence thing. Im not sure what they are called. Like a play pen. Its almost 2 joined together that i had built. And she goes in that every other day

sometimes she will go in the ball for 20 minutes in the morning if she wants to come out and then sometimes again in the evening.

StarlightSerenity · 12-01-2011, 05:02 PM

This isn't me being patronising or anything just me stating the importance of a good sized cage - if a hamster lives for two years and is out of their cages for two hours every day they will be in their cage for 91 % of their lives. Luna doesn't come out for two hours each day - more like an hour or so (ball, floor and cuddle time) and I doubt many hamsters here get at least two hours out each day either.

Do you plan on replacing the gerbilarium at all? Although it's not as bad as some, in all honesty it's not ideal. The RSPCA recommend 70cm x 45 cm (I think, could be 75 x 40, can't remember LOL). If you need any help finding some good cages don't hesitate to ask for recommendations

You can get great ones for 40 - 50 quid online.

Sammi92 · 12-01-2011, 05:25 PM

Its okay. I give her that much time because of the fact i feel the cage is too small. Yeah as soon as i find a replacement i will. We have 2 hamsters so it means replacing both. I have change many things today as i only joined today, ive already changed their bedding and put carboard on the levels in both cages. I have had hamsters before but never joined a forum before. I do anything to help them be happier. Someone said to get them used to you you can sing to them so there was me singing twinkle twinkle to my 2 hamsters haha

Gamina · 12-01-2011, 11:54 PM

I keep gerbils and indeed used to breed on the odd occasion years ago. Now all I have is the odd rescue grouping. I had this cage as my sick tank and the next one up as a single gerbil home.
Whilst I agree this is not suitable for a hamster and is on the small side for a single gerbil I do not agree that gerbilariums are all bad :/ I keep my now single boy (he lost his cage mate last week and is on the aggressive side so a new pairing is going to take some serious time) in the larger one of these. When I have a group of 2+ I still use a gerbilarium in the form of a much larger glass tank with a wire topper section but it is still a gerbilarium...

racinghamster · 12-02-2011, 02:53 AM

I`m not a fan of `gerbilariums` because gerbils don`t need tank toppers, but a large tank with more floor space, so gerbilariums were thought up by some think-tank. The ladders are far too steep because the tank and cage are too narrow for a start... and gerbils don`t climb ladders. If they do, they are at risk of injury from the rungs as they are ground dwellers.

Anyhow, it`s fine for temporary housing, but a syrian would better appreciate a one level cage like a Zoozone 2, which can have a platform added. Barred cages are also fine, but if you have a bar chewer, I would avoid a barred cage.

ebay and online shops are great for finding a bargain syrian cage.

And pets At Home is the last place I would look for a cage as they are all unsuitable and too small.

Sammi92 · 12-07-2011, 01:52 PM

If you all haven't already seen my other post, both hamsters now have a ZooZone 2 each!

They were on offer in the first pet shop i went in so i was obviously destined to get them!

**kyrilliondaemon** · 12-07-2011, 04:13 PM

Awesome, I'm sure they're both thrilled with those

And for the record - having all too much familiarity with pets at home, I completely understand your choice of the gerbillarium. If I'd been in that situation it'd probably be what I'd have had to do too. Our pets at home is useless but its the best in the area usually. The only other pet shop we have is a tiny thing with occasional second hand-looking cages, tiny hamster cages, and silly opening hours. So yeah, I can understand the problem all too well unfortunately.
Its a shame, some pets at home are great, but others are er... really, really not lol
I hope you never need pets at home in a hurry again.