Hamster Cages

vonedaddy · 11-02-2014, 07:21 PM

I have a crittertrail cage and I am worried it is too small for my winter white. She seems happy and never bites the bars or shows any sign of stress, but after reading it seems too small.

It seems I need something approx 24 x 15, for this little girl. Petsmart doesn't seem to sell anything that large. Can anyone point me to something?

NiceCrocs · 11-02-2014, 08:15 PM

Crittertrails are indeed too small.

a 24x15 inch cage is 360 square inches, which is exactly the minimum recommended size in the US. If you can, i suggest going even bigger.

The closest cage you can buy from petsmart is this one; Grreat Choice® Small Animal Pet Home

It's a little smaller that 360 square inches, but I used it for a couple months with my syrian. It's bigger than a Crittertrail anyway, which is good.

The US has terrible small pet care standards. It's almost impossible to find a store-bought cage that is suitable as a long term habitat. You can buy a cage marketed toward a guinea pig or a rabbit, which are good and big enough for hamsters, but you will need to cover the bars in wire mesh to prevent escapes.

Because of this, most of us in the US choose to use alternative cages. Here's a few of the options:

The simplest is to simply use a glass aquarium or terrarium. Both of my hamsters (a syrian and a robo) are housed in 40 gallon breeder tanks, and the syrian's has a mesh locking lid to keep her from escaping. This can be a little pricey, but if you find them on sale or secondhand they can be much cheaper than traditional cages. They're also easy to clean (I use a shop vac and damp cloth to clean mine

) and since there's no bars, the hamster cannot develop a dangerous bar-chewing habit (my syrian quickly developed a terrible bar-chewing compulsion during the few months she lived in a barred cage).

The following options require some DIY ability, but you can make a great hamster cage out of other furniture, such as bookcases or tables. The most popular options are mods based on IKEA furniture, but you can use whatever you have access too. There's lots of tutorials both here on the forum and on YouTube, on how to make some of these cages.

Lastly, and also requiring some DIY, is a bin cage. With this option, you simply buy the biggest plastic storage bin you can find, and modify it to house a hamster. Usually this includes cutting out windows in the sides or top, and fitting it with wire mesh. Again, there's tons of tutorials you can find online. This is the cheapest option, many times you can have a bin cage done for $20 or less.

I do hope this helps, us US owners gotta stick together, it's tough to raise a hamster over here

**DrKMcK** · 11-02-2014, 08:36 PM

Hello vonedaddy and welcome to Hamster Central. There really is a very small choice of cages in the USA as compared to all the ones available in the UK. However, I have a dwarf hammy, Almond. he lives in a Turino Naturala and the cost is not too bad. It's $60.00, $75.00 with shipping and Handling. It's a good cage and Almond is very happy in it. I expanded it by making an IKEA house, which you will find in the DIY forum. Here's the link for the cage, and photos below.

vonedaddy · 11-02-2014, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrKMcK

Hello vonedaddy and welcome to Hamster Central. There really is a very small choice of cages in the USA as compared to all the ones available in the UK. However, I have a dwarf hammy, Almond. he lives in a Turino Naturala and the cost is not too bad. It's $60.00, $75.00 with shipping and Handling. It's a good cage and Almond is very happy in it. I expanded it by making an IKEA house, which you will find in the DIY forum. Here's the link for the cage, and photos below.

Thank you! After a bit of research this looks like my best option. I purchased one from ABBA SEED even though the website looks a little shady. Its the only place I can find one.

**DrKMcK** · 11-02-2014, 09:58 PM

I am an utter idiot! I forgot to post the link for the cage.

And it is.....ABBASEED! Did you get the Turino? It's not shady at all. It's based in New Jersey and I got my cage really quickly.

So did another member, who was also pleased with it.

vonedaddy · 11-03-2014, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrKMcK

I am an utter idiot! I forgot to post the link for the cage.

And it is.....ABBASEED! Did you get the Turino? It's not shady at all. It's based in New Jersey and I got my cage really quickly.

So did another member, who was also pleased with it.

Great to hear! Well, it's called the tamburino, I hope its the right one (DIXIE) I know I am full of questions and I apologize. I am just trying to do whats right to give this little girl a good healthy home.

We also want to buy a silent spinner wheel (we already bought one too small - different thread) and we want one big enough. Do you think the 12 inch would fit inside this cage?

**DrKMcK** · 11-03-2014, 04:59 PM

That's the right cage.

As for the wheel a 12" Silent Spinner is HUMONGOUS! Not for a WW. Even my Syrian Ted E. Bear doesn't use it. It belongs to my bigger Syrian, Nutmeg. Silent Spinners come in 4", 6.5" and 12". It's the 6.5 inch one you would use. Also look at the Wodent Wheels. They come in 8" and are good for dwarf hammies. They are a pain to clean though, and the partially closed off front panel can be annoying when a hammy dumps food in it and starts running with all the food bouncing around. Hope this helps.

vonedaddy · 11-03-2014, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrKMcK

That's the right cage.

As for the wheel a 12" Silent Spinner is HUMONGOUS! Not for a WW. Even my Syrian Ted E. Bear doesn't use it. It belongs to my bigger Syrian, Nutmeg. Silent Spinners come in 4", 6.5" and 12". It's the 6.5 inch one you would use. Also look at the Wodent Wheels. They come in 8" and are good for dwarf hammies. They are a pain to clean though, and the partially closed off front panel can be annoying when a hammy dumps food in it and starts running with all the food bouncing around. Hope this helps.

Thank you again!

vonedaddy · 11-04-2014, 01:26 PM

So we received the new enclosure today and have it all set up. I have yet another problem.

Because the cage is so much bigger than our old one, we have space issues. This means the back of the enclosure has to be against the wall which will not allow me to hang a water bottle outside the cage.

Can you suggest how I can hand a bottle from the inside of the cage? Maybe a specific bottle that will work with this cage?

I attached a photo of the new setup, right now we have a water bowl in there but I can see it will be a problem as she has walked through the water a couple times already.

Thanks for your patience and help.

Artisans_uk · 11-04-2014, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vonedaddy

Can you suggest how I can hand a bottle from the inside of the cage? Maybe a specific bottle that will work with this cage?

I attached a photo of the new setup, right now we have a water bowl in there but I can see it will be a problem as she has walked through the water a couple times already.

Thanks for your patience and help.

Hi - glad that you have the new cage. I know there will be other ways to attach a water bottle and they might be better but on Aspen's tank I have used two suction cups and then threaded the wire that came with the bottle between them and for Aspen, at least, the bottle has successfully stayed put. I appreciate that as Aspen is only a little robo, there isn't much strain on the bottle so it might not be suitable for other larger fluffs but wanted to give you an idea at least...

Here's a link to a picture of the bottle.
Aspen's water bottle in her tank

Apologies that the picture isn't very good but you can see what I have done at least.

I'm also looking at Lixit products, they have a range of bottles for tanks etc some which include a bracket as far as I can see and others which attach to the roof:-

Tank Water Bottles