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Old 10-29-2020, 08:14 AM   #1
Grinewin
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 37
Red face Melamine DIY Cage

I'm a new hamster owner who's made a few posts on here now. I mentioned upgrading because my hybrid, Egg, wasn't happy with her first cage (an 800 square inch DIY built around an entertainment center) and I finally finished it this week! She's been in it for two days and so far, she seems way happier (knock on wood). She's not scrabbling at the walls constantly or chewing on the plexiglass (mostly because there is no plexi to chew on, but still) and I love watching her exploring the space. As I write this, she's digging her way through the whole cage. When she was in her last cage, she barely burrowed at all, so I'm amazed at the way she'll dig down and then completely disappear (except for a rustling noise) for hours now!

The new cage is about 2,200 square inches. All four walls are melamine, but I have the cage next to the sofa I spend most of my time on, so all I have to do is lean over and look through the mesh lid to find out what she's up to I'm very excited about all the things I can do now that we have more space to work in -- I'm planning on getting a big multi chamber hideout, a proper sandbath, and putting in way more bedding, since the cage is also almost two feet high. I'm very glad I was able to update her cage and I love how much she seems to love it. And I would never have had the confidence to build something like this by myself without being able to consult this forum, so thank you!
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Old 02-11-2021, 08:19 AM   #2
Kuyomi
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Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 1
Default Re: Melamine DIY Cage

Quote:
Originally Posted by Grinewin View Post
I'm a new hamster owner who's made a few posts on here now. I mentioned upgrading because my hybrid, Egg, wasn't happy with her first cage (an 800 square inch DIY built around an entertainment center) and I finally finished it this week! She's been in it for two days and so far, she seems way happier (knock on wood). She's not scrabbling at the walls constantly or chewing on the plexiglass (mostly because there is no plexi to chew on, but still) and I love watching her exploring the space. As I write this, she's digging her way through the whole cage. When she was in her last cage, she barely burrowed at all, so I'm amazed at the way she'll dig down and then completely disappear (except for a rustling noise) for hours now!

The new cage is about 2,200 square inches. All four walls are melamine, but I have the cage next to the sofa I spend most of my time on, so all I have to do is lean over and look through the mesh lid to find out what she's up to I'm very excited about all the things I can do now that we have more space to work in -- I'm planning on getting a big multi chamber hideout, a proper sandbath, and putting in way more bedding, since the cage is also almost two feet high. I'm very glad I was able to update her cage and I love how much she seems to love it. And I would never have had the confidence to build something like this by myself without being able to consult this forum, so thank you!
What wood sizes did you use to make this?? I'd love to recreate this for my hamster.
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Old 02-12-2021, 05:09 AM   #3
yasmin_the_hamster
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Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Prague
Posts: 49
Default Re: Melamine DIY Cage

It must have taken you a lot of work and effort to do this cage. Your hamster is lucky to have you! : )
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Old 02-12-2021, 05:25 PM   #4
Grinewin
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Join Date: Oct 2020
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Default Re: Melamine DIY Cage

Hi! I used four melamine boards that are 24 inches by 48 inches for the walls. For the floor, I had the hardware store cut a four foot by eight foot piece of wood in half and use one half for the bottom (for a variety of reasons, this wasn't melamine, so I covered this wood in self adhesive tile and contact paper since Plastikote isn't available in the states, really). I just screwed it all together and made a huge cube, so it wasn't too difficult. The most difficult part was getting all the supplies together, really!

For the lid, I just used wood glue to make two squares for the lid and stapled hardware cloth to them and attached them via hinges This is the first thing I've ever built from scratch, so it was very much cobbled together as I went along.
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Old 02-13-2021, 01:50 AM   #5
Tommyshelby
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Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 28
Default Re: Melamine DIY Cage

Hey! That looks sweet!

I got a multi chamber recently too. In one room he does his potty, another he stores his food and idk where he sleeps yet, i think he sleeps next to his food lol

But yea, really cool cage and I hope to make something similar soon!
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Old 02-19-2021, 04:13 PM   #6
Salem13
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Canada
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Default Re: Melamine DIY Cage

What thickness of melamine did you use? I'm making one myself and can't seem to find any suggestions for it!
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Old 02-19-2021, 04:33 PM   #7
Grinewin
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Default Re: Melamine DIY Cage

Three quarters of an inch That was all that the hardware store had, and they could cut anything an inch or below in thickness for me, so I went with it. I don't think the thickness matters that much though. Obviously you don't want it too thin to hold itself or too thick to work with, but I think most melamine sheets will be around the same thickness anyway.
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Old 02-20-2021, 01:11 AM   #8
Ria P
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Default Re: Melamine DIY Cage

That's a job well done! Lovely habitat for Egg who must be very pleased with it.
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cage, shes, love, melamine, space, walls, square, diy, find, consult, forum, lid, excited, things, spend, sofa, time, lean, mesh, putting, bedding, inches, sandbath, feet, glad

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