"Natural" habitats?

[Dandelion07]

(I have started a new thread so i don't hijack the Let's See Your Cages thread.

Biscotti, Lougarry and Feldhamster - thank you so much. Your info and explanations are so helpful. I am talking about cages like Feldhamster's.

I am making a Wish List

Cork furniture: look in reptile sections.

Cat grass.

Grow your own hamster-safe grasses and leaves.

Dessert bedding (reptile sections).

Moss Feldhamster, do you mean something like this: terrarium moss or this: vivarium moss I can't find any 'sheets' of moss but I am not quite sure what I am aiming for!

Hay -use soft hay and source from clean place to avoid extra wildlife (or airtight freeze first): HC thread and another HC thread.

Cage layout and design
This is where it gets interesting and cost-free! My first set up had the ladders almost symmetrical but leading...nowhere! Feldhamster pointed out that I could consider 'circuits' ie different routes for Fluff Puff to travel round the cage and to and from his toys. This might be obvious to everyone else, but I honestly hadn't thought about that! I need/want my bridges to lead somewhere. I want extra entry/exit points on and off shelves. I want different substrate depths (and types, in addition to sand and Fitch). I want hideyholes and interesting nooks and crannies.

Does anyone have these kinds of things? If you are in the UK, where do you get stuff from? I looked at some German sites, but they don't deliver to here. I started to rearrange FluffPuff's cage, but it has stressed him out I think as he went to bed this morning and didn't say hello to me . I'll wait a bit longer and maybe do stuff by stealth but I really like the idea of giving him trails and natural things.

I think I need a new, massive tank cage! My husband says this is like grown-up dolls houses! Lol

[evel_lin]

Have you seen the detolf cages? If you're up for a bit of DIY then they're a good way of getting a massive cage. I keep telling my husband that when we buy our own house I want a detolf with a couple of robos in

[Dandelion07]

Originally Posted by evel_lin

Have you seen the detolf cages? If you're up for a bit of DIY then they're a good way of getting a massive cage. I keep telling my husband that when we buy our own house I want a detolf with a couple of robos in

Hiya - yes they look fantastic. I am working on my husband and have planted the seed... I was reading a blog yesterday (I think it was Feldhamsters - I am such a stalker lol) and it has step by step instructions for homemade tanks (not just in German).

[Biscotti]

For moss, I use a small Zoo Med bale (in your first link) and it comes fairly compact, so a little goes a long way. They're pretty malleable, you can fluff them up into a pile or press them into sheets to work as carpet, or just pinch off a bit for accent. When you first get them they're mostly brown and dry, but you can spritz a little water on them and they will turn green again.

My rule of thumb for my own tank is to make points of interest that serve multiple purposes. Ideally the ham will be able to climb over, under, run around interesting shapes and textures. You can do something like this with multiple pieces of wood and cork flats/rounds stacked or place strategically next to each other as they come in various shapes, and create natural nooks and hides that can act as the ham's digging spot, napping spot, stores, etc. Bendy logs are fun to use as bridge between different piles or additional structural support, while letting hams that love tall places to climb straight up. (My Bumpy does that a lot to survey his tiny kindom )

[Kissa]

Originally Posted by Dandelion07

I think I need a new, massive tank cage! My husband says this is like grown-up dolls houses! Lol

Tell me about it! I keep drooling over the various tanks and things on the German forums, they are so awesome!

I think a lot of the Germans actually make their cage furniture, from plywood and wooden dowels and wood glue.

[racinghamster]

I`m a also a big fan of the German set-up`s and the natural accessories and tank environments. I`ve just recently stared feeding dried herbs (Burgess Supa Excel Country Garden Herbs) sold for small animals as a lovely extra, especially for Roborovskis and Russian dwarfs as they love to nibble the grasses and leaves within this herb mix. Hay isn`t something I`ve ever user or want to use, but there are softer grasses available like redi-grass.

I have a Gabber Rex at the moment for my single roborovski but he`s quite a nervous (doesn`t like change much) type, so I have to keep his accessories static mainly because of the space within his cage and adding new things has to be done or he goes into protest mode!

Hopefully one day soon, people will ditch cages like the Dunas and the smaller alrenatives and go for something that fits into a room as a piece of furniture that is also their hamsters home. They look amazing and so contemporary and pleasing on the eye aswell.

[Lougarry]

The reptile and aquarium sections of pet shops are great places to look for accessories shaped like piles of rocks, bridges, rock pools etc.

[TheFeldhamster]

Lol, I'm almost blushing now

Reptile and aquarium sections are where I search for interesting things but also the bird section for play food like ears of flax or durra/milo so the hamsters have to work a bit for their food.

And what's been a real money-saver is to go to - hmm, don't know what they are called correctly in English - reptile shows/reptile breeder's meets? Over here, there are meets/fairs called a "Terraristikbörse" where mostly breeders of reptiles, amphibians, spiders, insects, and maybe the odd hedgehog breeder meet and show off/trade their animals. This type of show/fair always also has a large number of sellers of roots, cork stuff, vivarium-sands, moss, natural looking hideouts made from terracotta or polyresin, nice looking bowls, etc. And small one-person shops who make vivariums to measure. Those are the perfect places to pick up those things way cheaper than in the pet shop. Eg. I once bought one of my roots for 3,- while in the pet shop the same type of root in a similar size would have cost 30,-(!!). Depending on the location (adult education center vs real professional exhibition hall) tickets over here are anywhere between 5,- and 12,- (usually with some discount options).

@Dandelion07: the moss I use came in a carton like the second link of your's (the Lucky Reptile Vivarium Moss) - there were several smaller sheets of moss in there. I didn't water it at all and don't remember if it said to water it on the packet so I'm not sure if that is the same thing.