Just afew questions

[Chloe xx]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and i just wanted to ask afew questions.
I've had syrian hamsters before and I am planning to get a pair of russians for my birthday, I have afew questions to ask first though.

1. I am planning on getting a zoozone 2 which I will mesh with 6mm mesh. Is this a good cage?
2. I want a silent spinner 6.5 inch. Would i need two if i was to get a pairof hamsters?
3. What toys do you recommend?
4. Are woodshavings ok to use?
5. I live in grimsby, UK are there any hamster breeders you know of?

Could you post some pics of your zoozones please?

Thanks Chloe xx

[racinghamster]

Hi Chloe. Everything you have listed sounds good to me. There are photos of Zoozone 2 tanks in the cage section on here that will give you some great set-up ideas. I would say that yes, you would need two of everything just to prevent arguments. This cage provides wonderful floor space without the height that dwarf hamsters don`t require anyway as they prefer to dig and run around. Natural accessories are good like cork, cardboard and wood. Plastic items can be okay aswell, but be careful which of these you choose as some can just be too small and gimmicky, yet some can be very good play accessories. I prefer the natural ones myself.

If your planning to keep a pair, try and make sure from day one that you keep their set-up the same without changing anything too dramatically. Doing half cage cleans aswell rather than full cage cleans is also a good idea as this keeps their scent around and helps to maintain the harmony between them. The best shavings to use are Snowflake shavings, but there are better alternatives such as Aubiose (help plant bedding) but this is bought from farm/stable supply shops or online normally and it`s very economical as it comes in 20kg sacks!

I don`t know any breeders I`m afraid so I will let other members point you in that direction. Just be prepared for any fall outs and have a spare Zoozone 1 handy just incase they ever take a disliking to one another and need splitting up. This does seem to happen often but some pairs stay together fine. You just can`t tell until the day one starts attacking the other, so if it`s really a pair you want, this has to be taken into consideration as some people buy two, find they have to split them up and then don`t have space for another cage!

[kyrilliondaemon]

All sounds good to me, but two of everything is good advice.
Not sure about breeders but I can highly reccomend the 6.5" silent spinners. We use them for four russian hybrids and three roborovskis and they go down wonderfully with everyone, so I do think thats a great wheel choice

Toys I'd reccomend... The P@H yellow cube (the only item of theirs I would reccomend reguarly ), since our russian dwarf hybrid group all adore them, and so do all of our other hams.
Er... Other than that it depends on the hamster a bit more, but the savic beehive style houses are good (all of our dwarves adore them), except that when fully grown the russian species can need to squish themselves a bit to get in - not that it stops our lot lol. They're by far the favourite houses and always have been.

Here are our ZZ2 setups, but er... the third pic is a bit hard to see I'm afraid as we didn't take the lid off before taking it, and the meshed lid makes it harder to see the items inside. The items are mostly the same as the second pic, just in a different layout with an extra wheel added (and the sand area removed, but it'll return eventually.)
The first is a lone male roborovski dwarf, the second was a lone female, and the third is what its changed to now that the female has company - but it is not as safe as two of everything identical would be, we just let them try this (as everything is similar and for each item at least one other serves the same purpose in a similar way) and its worked, but we are constantly aware for signs it'll need to be changed to a simple setup with two of everything the same.
Oh and both are due to change a bit when we get an ECF (pet website) order delivered hopefully within the next week.