VivExotic Repti-Stax 34" vivarium as a hamster cage - Review

[Imay]

I'll be honest and say adding ventilation to the top never occured to me, I was planning on doing it to the back where the current ones are (I'm not very DIY-savvy so that would simply look nicer... haha) if I do that.

Thanks though! I'm glad to hear it's so good for hamsters, I can't wait to order it. It'll be bigger than Gino's current bin cage. (Not by much -- but every little counts. :P)

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Your setup is lovely. I had the exact same vivs but in the beech colour, their great and a decent size too. I liked the front opening as the access is so much better, and yes they sack perfectly.

Here's a pic of mine:







These are early pics, I added more stuff to them over time. I had no problem with them and no need to coat them in any way.

[Imay]

^ That bird feeder water bottle thing you have going on is genius! Thank you for showing your two stacked, they look lovely I've just realised the name of the product is repti-stax - I probably should have guessed they stacked well. :P

I'm currently trying to decide if I want to go for beech or go for mussell - all my furniture is beech but it's another £15, which is quite a lot for colour, and I like the look of the lighter inside of the mussell, hmm.

I will probably go for mussell - It'll match my computer chair :P Lol.

[2LittlePuds]

Originally Posted by Imay

^ That bird feeder water bottle thing you have going on is genius! Thank you for showing your two stacked, they look lovely I've just realised the name of the product is repti-stax - I probably should have guessed they stacked well. :P

I'm currently trying to decide if I want to go for beech or go for mussell - all my furniture is beech but it's another £15, which is quite a lot for colour, and I like the look of the lighter inside of the mussell, hmm.

I will probably go for mussell - It'll match my computer chair :P Lol.

I went with mussell because its cheaper and because i think if i ever decided to change any furniture or redecorate etc it will always go with whatever colour the room is with the viv being a very neutral colour. I also think it makes the viv appear to be bigger with it being light inside and red led's look fab in it - spend £10 of the £15 you save to buy some extra bits for your ham, sewll reptiles have some lovely stuff that are safe for hams as well

[2LittlePuds]

Queen Of The High Teas i see youve meshed over the plastic vents. Have you had trouble with the ham trying to chew them or was it just a precaution? Also have you added extra ventilation anywhere?

[2LittlePuds]

Originally Posted by Imay

I'll be honest and say adding ventilation to the top never occured to me, I was planning on doing it to the back where the current ones are (I'm not very DIY-savvy so that would simply look nicer... haha) if I do that.

Thanks though! I'm glad to hear it's so good for hamsters, I can't wait to order it. It'll be bigger than Gino's current bin cage. (Not by much -- but every little counts. :P)

I figured if i meshed the top it wont be as visible as the back because the viv is at eyelevel. Also i thought if i mesh the back it could give ham opportunities to try climbing up the mesh to the leds whereas on the roof he wont be able to reach the mesh

[Imay]

I was just thinking of drilling a few extra air holes at the back at the top, instead of mesh -- let's just say I'm not very good at cutting wood and there's a reason I was looking for alternatives to DIY cages... :P

Good point on the colour! I also just like how light it looks inside the vivarium, as opposed to the beech. I hope it doesn't sell out before I can order it, they've got none of the other sizes of mussell left, I get the feeling they won't get anymore in if they sell out. I've got nearly enough for one but I want to wait until I have enough for two, so they match haha.

[2LittlePuds]

Originally Posted by Imay

I was just thinking of drilling a few extra air holes at the back at the top, instead of mesh -- let's just say I'm not very good at cutting wood and there's a reason I was looking for alternatives to DIY cages... :P

Good point on the colour! I also just like how light it looks inside the vivarium, as opposed to the beech. I hope it doesn't sell out before I can order it, they've got none of the other sizes of mussell left, I get the feeling they won't get anymore in if they sell out. I've got nearly enough for one but I want to wait until I have enough for two, so they match haha.

Lol i didnt realise the other sizes were out of stock, they were all in stock last week when i bought mine, looks like they are on clearance, i read somewhere theyd changed the design slightly (although i cant see how) and the walnut and beech ones are the repti-home which is the new design and probably why theyre dearer. Theyre more than likely selling the mussel repti-stax cheaper to clear stock. If you can borrow money from your mum/dad then i would as theyre quite a bit cheaper than any others, i searched the net for ages for a cheap viv, even used ones sell for the same price!

[2LittlePuds]

Also ive seen pics of a couple of these vivs with hamsters in but no added extra vents, i wouldnt like to risk it, but if you drilled lots of holes then it would probably be ok. Im pretty useless with diy but i plan on just drilling a hole in each corner of the rectangle i want to cut out then following my pencil line with a jigsaw. Then stapling the mesh inside, if the edges are too sharp ill fold them over a little on itself if that makes sense!

[Imay]

Yeah the ReptiHome ones are the new ones and the ReptiStax ones are the old ones... I really don't see a difference past the colour, but... okay, sure. :P

If I were to cut out extra holes, I would probably do it by just cutting between the two vents at the top (making one big one) and covering that with mesh, but I just don't trust myself not to totally ruin it.

But ahh the fact you only ordered yours last week and they're out of stock now... I'm going to have to see if I can borrow some money to get them. I'd rather pay £40 each for a colour I like than £55 for a colour that's nice but I don't like as much. :P