Another "is this cage ok" thread

[dawn_ash]

New person here. My 8 year old son has been badgering me for a hamster and I'm starting to cave. We have 2 dogs and 4 guinea pigs but I'm sure we could squeeze a hamster in.

Anyway, been lurking here learning about cages and it seems you don't just go to Pets at Home and buy a Rotastak.

I was looking at this one. chinchilla rat hamster very large cage | eBay

It would be for a Syrian. Not sure about the tube though - looks quite wide for a hamster.

[Roxie]

Hmm, it's a bit tall aswell, though you could get around that by using hammocks to break up the space a bit. They will help the ham avoid injury should he/she fall.

I can't work out inches to centimetres so I'm not sure if the base is large enough or not

[HisMajestyK]

The base looks rather small and the vertical is a large space. Hamsters need more ground space to move around

[racinghamster]

Hiya and welcome. I`m sorry to say that cage is a Jenny RAT cage and too tall for a syrian. Syrians drop like a stone if a cage has any long drops or gaps and they can break a limb or knock themselves out. You should be looking at cages like:

1. The Zoozone 2
2. The Savic Mickey 2XL
3. The Savic Hamster Heaven
and others of a similar (or larger) floorspace.

I have a Savic Mickey 2XL. Bought from equinecaninefeline.com. Type in the discount code ANIMAL when purchasing for a 10% discount. The cage is free delivery and amounts to around £58.00. The cage has the same large door on the front as the Hamster Heaven but is much cheaper and has narrower bars, so could always be used in the future for a dwarf hamster aswell.

[Pomegranate]

Welcome to HC!

The height on the Ferplast Jenny cage is a bit much - look for cages with a large horizontal space. Height-wise, you need 36cm to get an 11" wheel in, but more than about 50cm is rather dangerous if they fall. Racinghamster gave you some great cage recommendations. The only thing I'd say is with the Zoozone 2, you need to attach some mesh to the bars as they're wide enough to be an escape risk since it's sold for guinea pigs and rabbits, so bear that in mind. They make great cages if you don't mind meshing them though - a good amount of space, and with a tank-style cage you don't need to worry about bedding getting flung everywhere when they go on a digging session.

One other thing; I'm sure with your other animals you're used to the status quo, but make sure you're prepared to look after the hamster if your son gets bored of it once the novelty wears off. Hopefully not, but with a young child... you might be left with the cage clean-outs after a little while.

[Roxie]

One day, someones gonna wise up and make a hamster proof ZooZone. Can't believe they haven't already seeing as how popular it is with hamster owners.

[Pomegranate]

Roxie: I await that day with my debit card at the ready.

[racinghamster]

Forgot about the meshing! There`s always the Ferplast Duna Multi! No meshing required. I agree with the sentiment aswell about the hamster. Syrians can be grumpy so and so`s and to be honest, hamsters do like their sleep through the day (I know my Boris does!) and I`m not sure a syrian would appreciate a wee boy wanting to play with him during this time. A lot depends on the syrian of course, but do be aware that they can sometimes be grumpy bears!

My own belief is that hamsters don`t make good kids pets. Mainly due to the fact that they are awake when the child is alseep! Guinea pigs are bigger and more active and vocal. A syrian hamster is the opposite. Great when they want to play, but not so great if they don`t want to.

[dawn_ash]

Thanks for all the tips.

The boy is very mature for an 8 year old. He's been caring for his own small tropical aquarium for 2 years. He fully understands about the nocturnal thing and if the worse comes to the worse, well I don't think I'll have a problem taking over if necessary. They are cute little critters.

So cage wise I'm looking for length rather than height.

I like the idea of converting one of those guinea pigs cages though. What's the maximum width of bars suitable for a syrian. And what size wheel would they need? I understand some wheels are too small for them.

[Roxie]

1cm bar spacing is what I like for a Syrian. Though if the syrian you get is on the large side then you can risk bigger.

In terms of wheels your looking at an 8inch minimum such as the comfort wheel or junior wodent wheel. Again, if you do happen to get a large syrian then you need an 11inch wheel such as the senior wodent wheel. There's also a cheaper 11inch trixie wheel that is similar to the senior wodent wheel. The trixies available on Zooplus. There's also a 12 inch silent spinner but you would obviously need to check if this would fit into your cage.