Watch me build up my tank! :)

[Jenibelle]

Hi guys!

As some of you may know, I will be getting a Syrian hamster as a graduation gift to myself in a year! I'm very excited and I've already started preparing. I wasn't planning on beginning this process so early in advanced, BUT I came across an AMAZING Black Friday sale that I couldn't pass up... so I bought myself a tank! My boyfriend agreed that I could purchase it and make it wonderful throughout the year, as long as a live hamster doesn't find its way into it before graduation day, haha!!

So I thought it may be fun to share my progress I plan on purchasing things for the tank every other week... so this thread won't update terribly fast, but I thought it would be cool to see the process start to finish anyway. I also want to keep track of how much I spend building the tank up.

So far, these two tanks are my inspiration.



Now, to get onto my actual tank...

Stage 1: Blank tank!

The measurements are 36.1L X 18.25H x 16.9H (in inches). It's a 40 gallon breeder. I believe this tank costs only $70... but it may have been even less.
(F.Y.I: The lid fits on much better than shown, I just had it lopsided and didn't want to retake the photo!)

Stage 2: The Start!




We have one 8.13 L condensed bag of Aspen wood shavings in there. I am pleasntly suprised with how much one bag gets you! I bought the smallest bag possible, and the substrate is already between 3-4 inches deep. I do plan on possibly adding another bag though, so there will be even more room for digging, and so that the shavings are higher up on the wall. I'm so willing to hear opinions on this though!

There is currently a wooden log house, two large bendy bridges used as a wall, and a small bendy bridge being used as a bridge between the sections.

Future Plans / To Do:
-The other section is going to be filled about 3 inches high with chinchilla sand (**not dust). I plan on putting a litter tray for a corner potty in this section, and also putting the wheel in this section. So it will be a sand bath-potty area- exercise area. I would have done that today too, but they were sold out of chinchilla sand.

Prices: $70 for tank + $49 for supplies, so far = $119
(Which is still cheaper than I would have been able to buy the tank alone for, on a normal day!!)

[Jenibelle]

Small update!


I'm making a shelf for another level It's not done yet obviously, but it will have a little fence-sides made out of dowels. Tomorrow I'm going to put it all together after I waterproof it. Also, hopefully my sand will come in tomorrow as well.

Prices:
$10 for oak board
$3 for dowel (legs)
$9 for dowels for fence (not yet shown)
$6 for waterproof
= roughly $28 for my shelf. But it's a lot of fun to do so far, so I'm okay with that. It has kept me busy

[Shannonmcn]

That looks great Jenibelle! I love the shelf, I've seen it in a few german-style cages, it's supposed to be great for them to give them that uninterrupted flat space that's easy to run on. I had a ton of fun making little dowel fences too, glue EVERYWHERE

[Wanna Hamster]

Looks great! I can't wait to see more updates!

[hrl20100]

Oooohhh I can't wait to see the finished tank!
Looks great so far!

[Jenibelle]

Thanks guys!!

I'll either have an update today or tomorrow. We got a little bit of snow that iced over, so I'm not sure how that will affect my delivery. Snow is fine, but black ice? Not so fine.

[velma]

Looking good! It's half the fun, isn't it? I live doing my cage set ups.
Do you know what species you will get? I only ask because (you're probably already aware) a lot of hideouts/toys sold for hamsters are only suitable for dwarves as the holes are a bit small for Syrians so just something to keep an eye on when you're stockpiling your bits & bobs sorry if you've already covered this on one of your other threads

[Hamster Paradise]

Really cool idea I love all the space and the exercise potty and bathing area is a real neat idea. How do you plan to secure the wheel to the tank?

[Jenibelle]

Originally Posted by velma

Looking good! It's half the fun, isn't it? I live doing my cage set ups.
Do you know what species you will get? I only ask because (you're probably already aware) a lot of hideouts/toys sold for hamsters are only suitable for dwarves as the holes are a bit small for Syrians so just something to keep an eye on when you're stockpiling your bits & bobs sorry if you've already covered this on one of your other threads

I will be getting a syrian, but no worries, I have actually only bought guinea pig sized stuff for the tank so far That house is really quite large! I am a bit bummed though, because I've seen so many hamster things that I have loved, but they really are very small.

[Jenibelle]

Originally Posted by Hamster Paradise

Really cool idea I love all the space and the exercise potty and bathing area is a real neat idea. How do you plan to secure the wheel to the tank?

Thanks! And I will be getting a wheel that has a stand