Cage & Wheel advice please

sparklyfluff · 02-28-2009, 01:21 PM

I've read all of the cage reviews on here and really wanted a gabber rex but finding one is difficult, however today looking around the pet shop i found an imac bingo - http://www.netpetshop.co.uk/p-20473-ima ... x29cm.aspx which is technically a guinea pig cage but is almost the exact dimensions of a rex and the bars on the top don't seem too far apart either, although there is a hay rack in it which i'd need to see if it can be removed.

Has anyone else converted one of these for hamster use before? What do you think of it? Also i'd need a free standing wheel for it, which tend to be best and which size would i need for a syrian?

Thanks in advance

furrypolka · 03-02-2009, 05:21 AM

This looks interesting, I may email the shop to ask about the hay rack and also where the water bottle goes, and double check the bar widths.

Re. wheels, I use 8.5 inch Comfort Wheels and Wodent Wheels (Junior). The Wodent Wheels are the best in my opinion, my hamsters love them and they are quieter than the Comfort Wheels which are blooming noisy and rattle and squeak quite badly (vegetable oil in the spindle helps with the squeak but not the rattle). They are the more expensive option, though, and one of ours has actually chewed up two of them as the middle plastic is quite thin. However, we are talking about our mad yellow girl here, so normal hamsters will probably not do this!

souffle · 03-02-2009, 06:13 AM

That looks excellent and even if you had to mesh the roof bars it would be a roomy cage. I am pretty sure the hay rack will slide out but best check this. Never seen this cage before.

haziebabie · 03-02-2009, 06:39 AM

That cage looks really good. You could add all sorts to it. Oh and I have ordered from Net Pet Shop before and they were very good, once they sent out the incorrect item but they immediately realised and sent the right one out on 24 hour delivery so I wasn't left without. Always think accidents happen and as long as they work hard to resolve it it speaks volumes about the company.

I like junior sized wodent wheels too, the cheapest I have seen them from is http://www.equinecaninefeline.com/catal ... anels.html and postage works out well with them too. You need a wheels with around an 8" diameter.

sparklyfluff · 03-02-2009, 07:36 AM

Well i went to the pet shop again yesterday to check it out properly before i got him, the hay rack does come straight out and the bars on the top are the same width as you get on a normal hamster cage so much closer together than your average guinea pig cage so no modification needed on it.

Because i can only find the wodent wheels online he has got a normal stand alone jumbo wheel for now but yes it does sound fairly noisy so i will probably change it, just didn't want to leave him without a wheel whilst i waited for one to arrive from online.

The only flaw i have found with it is that there is no pre-drilled hole for a bottle spout so he is having to have one attached inside the cage, if he starts chewing it i may just get a hole drilled though.

furrypolka · 03-02-2009, 10:03 AM

That's a great find then, I will be getting one of those cages also!