Living World Green Eco habitat

[MrNibbles]

Hi, thanks for all your input and ideas. Haven't figured out how to subscribe to this thread, so wasn't aware there were some postings. Still waiting for the Plastikote to arrive and then I'll have a closer look at all the parts. Not really a diy enthusiast myself apart from putting Billy shelves together. Would be interesting to find out whether you could turn the side panels 180 degrees and therefore shift the air holes further up? Some equipment arrived today and do I wish I could have gone for a bigger size Eco habitat than the 60 x 80 . The wheel looks massive .

[Pebbles82]

Could you return it and get the 100cm one? I think that looks a good proportion and still plenty of space for a wheel. 80cm is always a bit crowded once you have a Syrian sized wheel in there. They are all the same height (about 49cm internally). The 100cm one is 55cm deep internally and about 95cm wide internally (a lot of the measurements quoted are external which includes the wheel height and the depth of the wood frame).

Yes it's a shame to have to mesh something that isn't cheap! I think they were intended for Guinea Pigs originally. I don't think it would be too difficult if you got a piece of 1cm square mesh cut the right size at a diy store (ie about 1cm less than the size of the lid all round. I've seen people staple mesh on just with a standard stapler. Then the edges of the mesh would be tucked inside the frame when the lid was on. If you mesh on top and the hamster got through the holes, they could get stuck under the mesh so I think it needs to be meshed underneath. Unless you have an old cage you can cut up. That's something I thought of once, use the barred panels from a cage and stick them on top with aquarium sealant. Except it would make the lid a bit heavy.

I know when I was looking at them I thought it might be easier just to make a new lid, the same size as the one there but just mesh with a wood frame.

[MrNibbles]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Could you return it and get the 100cm one? I think that looks a good proportion and still plenty of space for a wheel. .

It's not a matter of wrong planning. I have been giving it a lot of thought. If we had the space I would go for the biggest one. But I knew we could only make some space for the "minimum" required size and I'm fully aware that that is not really ideal. But there is absolutely no more floor space unfortunately, not even for just 20 cm.
Also, if we do go on holiday, it's more convenient to move the cage to a friends' place and ask for it to be looked after at their place, and most of our friends don't have that much space either. We might be able to have a bigger cage on our sideboard one day. But for now our future rescue hamster has to roam around in this one.
Thanks so much for the ideas about meshing up the lid. I didn't think about having the mesh all up and around the edges of the lid and was worried about injuries.

[Pebbles82]

Sounds good to me - I'm sure the 80cm one will be fine - it's still bigger than most 80cm cages because it has square corners . What wheel do you have? Some are more 'compact' than others for the size. I had thought about having a wheel on a platform or stand in this cage to make the most of the substrate area underneath it.

[MrNibbles]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Sounds good to me - I'm sure the 80cm one will be fine - it's still bigger than most 80cm cages because it has square corners . What wheel do you have?

I think the cage isn't too bad a size as well and 60 cm is quite wide. It's just that the digging tower and the wheel use up a lot of space already and I still need space for all the other things .

I went for the 28 cm Trixie Wheel. The reviews were quite good (regarding noise, size, durability) and the price was ok.

[Pebbles82]

The Trixie wheel would probably stand on a platform quite well. I think it's about 31cm tall on its stand, and the interior height of the Eco Habitat is 49cm, so you could have a 15cm high platform and still have headroom over the wheel. I don't know if you're good at diy - I'm not! So I had been looking at these platforms that rodipet make when I was planning my almost purchase of an eco habitat! You can fit two together to make like a long ramp.

But then you'd only have 14 to 15cm of substrate at one end - which doesn't really matter as you can slope it or have different levels of substrate. They're not cheap platforms though - work out about £16 each plus £7 postage.

https://www.rodipet.de/shop/zubehoer...mit-rampe.html

Anyway, then you have shelves for the wheel and toys and the whole floor area for substrate. That was my thinking anyway. So it wouldn't matter so much if the digging tower took up more space.

[Pebbles82]

Originally Posted by Thumper

Yeah, unfortuanately I have found I am never happy with the cages as they come, there is always some DIY involved. Or maybe I'm just too high maintenance? I don't know. For most cages I end up having to make a new lif altogether (or ask someone to make ine for me as I'm not very talented with these kind of things ) So the Eco is already a step up because I'm actually confident that my DIY skills with be sufficient to change it to my liking.

I will attach it from the inside for the reasons Serendipity has also already highlighted. I also think it looks better. As I said, I'm not great with these sort of things so I think I will just staple it on and cover the staples up with something yet to be dertermined. I will keep you posted when I figure it out.



@Serendipity: I want to get a Syrian, so I think I should be able to offer some areas with 35 cm substrate and I'm almost certain that's higher than the holes... Awesome ideas, thank you. I love the hemp mat one as you are absolutely right, it would prevent bedding from falling out but shouldn't cover it up all that tight. I will just cut strips to cover the holes rather than cover the whole side. So I will still be able to see through the most parts, and I would habe that issue if I covered the holes with wood or aluminium as well so it doesn't really make a difference.

Yes, I have only ever had the Hugro ones and they were great, I will get those again then.

Found some fine mesh for strips. They are 50cm by 15cm, cut easily with scissors and the ends can be folded over to make a neat edge. I started another post on it if you check that out!

[Hammyholic]

I have the 100cm Eco and cannot recommend these cages enough. It takes up a good chunk of my floor space but well worth it. It's amazing how quickly they fill up when you start adding Syrian "appropriate" toys/accessories! I meshed the lid, mainly because I have climbing frames; homemade levels and hanging bridges, plus my girl, despite the size of her cage, is always planning her version of prison break. Would defy recommend meshing so you can make use of the height and sleep soundly knowing your fluffball is secure. I also have a fairly deep layer of substrate and have those extendable tubes buried underneath. The only thing that I wish I could change about this cage is the way the plexi is secured in the corners. There are like wood strips on the inside (can't think of the best way to describe this, my brain is mushy after working for 10 hours today). Anyway, because of the design, I ended up giving up on the "heavy object in the corner" ploy (Muffin continued to outsmart me) and ended up doing another spell of DIY with wooden slats that I wedged from top to bottom and sat at an angle which meant I lost 2 of the right angle corners there are so many pros to this cage that it's easy to forget about the cons! I'd love to see your setup when you're done, I'm always looking for ideas!

[Artur26]

This is my Large Eco Habitat Hamster pen - Album on Imgur

[Black_Inky_Eyes]

If you like to provide a lot of bedding than meshing the top to prevent lid chewing and escaping through the holes. I'm sure some dwarfs could fit through as I tested with my baby Syrian and he can fit through fine. The bottom may need protecting as it is wood and can be done by a number of ways: plastikoting , laying down some protective liners, getting some correx sheets which are cheap and using more permanent methods like laying down some tiles. This isn't essential but you are running a slight risk if not doing it.

A bit hard to explain but at the corners where the perspex meets the corner wood columns a bit of the wood is exposed and this will need varnishing (safely) as to prevent hamster urine weakening and stinking up the wood. There's plenty of advice on here on how to use varnish and which brand and type to go for.

Hope this helps