Cage advise

[lil860]

I got my syrian Marge yesterday she is approx 8 weeks old this is the cage i bought her from pets at home they said it would be suitable.Only size they had the next one up was £50 but that had the same base size and only one level.
http://www.petcentreonline.co.uk/ecomme ... ct~306.htm
It is fine for her at the moment but i dont think it will be big enough when she is fully grown.The man in pets at home said it would be. Is he right if not how long will it be before she is fully grown. I am prepared to get her a larger cage in the future if this one will not big enough. She also has an exercise ball and i will let her come out and play once i have tamed her. Any advice would be grateful Many thanks Leanne and Marge

[Hanlou]

Hi. Congratulations on your new addition and welcome to the forum!

If you have the cage you posted a link of then I'm afraid that I think that cage is far too small for a Syrian hamster.

Although Syrian hamsters are fairly small critters they are very, very active and so need lots of space to move about in. In the wild a Syrian hamster would run for miles and miles in one night whilst looking for food and they still have those instincts and capabilities in captivity.

I personally believe it is absolutely vital that we always buy the biggest home we can possibly afford for our pets. Even if they get 2 hours free ranging every single day they are still spending 22 hours out of each day in their cage. I don't think paying £50 etc is really too much when you consider that they will spend their whole life there.

They also need room in their cage for toys etc as otherwise life will be very boring! Plus it's fun to buy things for them!

A cage also needs to be big enough to fit in an 8" (approx. 20cm) diameter wheel such as a Junior Wodent Wheel as anything smaller would mean that your hamster is arching it's back which will result in pain for it.

There are some Cage Reviews on the forum for you to have a look at. I would always aim for about 70cm long cages for a Syrian. My *personal* absolute minimum cage for a Syrian would be a Savic Cambridge or a Gabber Rex .

A nice cage for the money is the Jack 72 but it is only available from Zooplus as far as I know.

I hope this helps a little . It's always worth looking on preloved or ebay as well - you can get some real bargains this way!

Have a look at the various cage set ups people use as well which may give you even more inspiration! Bear in mind though that some of these set ups are for much smaller hamsters - Syrians are the largest of the hamster species.

If you are really strapped for cash another alternative is to buy a very large plastic storage box (referred to as a 'bin cage') and furnish that instead.

[souffle]

Great advice from Hanlou who has covered everything there. I don't know why P@H sell these starter cages. A young animal is active and needs lots of space to move around. In the end you would have been better putting the money spent on that towards a larger cage and housed her in a bin cage till you got one. The only good think about those cages are they are easy for taming access. Have a good look at all the reviews and make your choice from there.

[happysaz133]

Yes, I'm afraid that cage is much too small for her. The RSPCA recommends a cage be no less that 58cm in length for a Sryrian, and yours is 46cm, so quite a bit too small for when she's fully grown. Cages can be expensive, but when you think about how it will be her home for the rest of her life, its well worth spending a little extra.

I have a Gabber rex, which is 69cm, but they are quite hard to come by these days. All the cages on this website, ZooPlus...

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/rodents/c ... ouse_cages

are suitable length for a Syrian, and they are not too expensive.

[lil860]

OK Thanks for the advise i now know she will outgrow it so how long will it be before she needs a larger cage. I will start saving up the pennies.Cages in pets at home are so expensive. She loves to run in her exercise ball and has been in it today.Also love climbing the bars of her cage. She is sleeping alot at the moment is this because she is still young.
Damn staff at pets at home giving out bad advice as usual.

[souffle]

Baby hammies do sleep a lot like all young creatures. She is likely busy at night! Be careful to check her for any signs of illness though such as wet botty, looseness etc as when baby hammies move into a new home it is a stressful event for them. I am sure she is fine though but it is always good to do a daily check anyway P@H do usually stock some suitable cages such as the Savic Cambridge.

[ellisyellis]

just an idea but you could get another cage and use plastic tubing and conect the cage you have to a new one. that way you dont need to buy a huge new cage. you could get a medium size cage and have it as an extention?????!!! you would have to safely cut a hole in the bars of your old cage to connect a tunnel exit.

[liam4mail]

Thank you for that wonderful advice and those links.