Rat cage for a hamster?

[Marc]

Hi everyone,

I have a male Syrian hamster which I bought on Halloween, he's 19 inches long from nose to tail. He currently has a Rosewood pico xl cage which he seems to like well enough, he's not yet 6 months and I'm not sure if he has any growing left to do. He's a very very hyper hamster and is very active, I play with him for one to two hours every evening, sometimes more if it's a weekend.

After this he still wants to come out and sulks, he waits at the door listening for me with his head on his paws, for about 10 minutes at a time and then goes back to his business for a while then does it again. He also un-clips his ramp because he has learnt I will go and put it back in the morning before work; which means handling for him. if I go near the cage at this point he goes nuts and wants to come out (bites the door). I wonder if getting him a larger cage would give him more space to be happy (not that his current cage is too small at present). He also has enough toys etc, I'm not worried about him being bored toy wise, just space wise.

The recommended 360 square inches of space is not met by this cage which is about 260 I think. The cage I want to get him is a savic freddy 2 rat cage. Which is 568 square inches. It is £80 but only comes with one small corner shelf and is higher than his current cage.

Long story short I'm at a crossroads as to whether or not to get him the savic, if I did I think some sort of extra shelving would be in order to stop a fall from height (31 inches ish), I will put in lots of substrate and avoid toys which would hurt to fall on, or put them under the shelves.

I'm really uncertain as to whether he would even want a bigger cage, yes it's bigger but it has one tiny corner shelf, I think more shelving would be in order but can't find anything suitable.

Are there any guides to making your own? 5mm or 10mm plywood sheet with some kind of attachment, attaching it to the cage is where my brain is falling down here. I also have some pet safe varnish.

In his current cage he has 3 levels which he loves running around, getting him a bigger cage with no real levels wouldn't be a nice thing to do on my part. Moving is stressful and I don't want to move him somewhere he likes less.

Sorry for the long ramble but I'm in a pickle and unsure of what would be best for him so I thought I would draw on the community's experience.

Also I can get this for £80 from two places; jolleyes or amazon. Amazon is more convenient as jolleyes is out of town but I'm worried about it arriving damaged and having to pay to return it for a replacement.

[Pebbles82]

Hi there! Yes he needs a bigger cage - sounds like he is a big Syrian at almost 8" long (assume you meant 19cm lol). The cage you have is, as you say, a small one and the minimum recommended RSPCA size is approx 80cm by 50 cm continuous floorspace. There are some good options available for good sized Syrian cages that are cheaper than the Freddy Rat cage. Mainly from Zooplus. The Barney, Alaska and Alexander are popular ones. You will be doing him a huge favour getting him a bigger cage and you will see his little personality emerge even more! Hamsters can have quite high stress levels in small cages. Floor space is more important than levels - so a 100cm lower cage is way way better than an 80cm cage with a full level in it. If you really like the Freddy rat cage then putting a full level in is possible - but I imagine tricky unless you are good at diy. Personally I'd recommend the Barney cage from Zooplus which is just under £50 and ideal for a large Syrian hamster/ It also has 7mm bar spacing so is fairly futureproof as well, as could be used for a dwarf hamster in the future.

Barney Pet Cage | Great deals at zooplus!

100cm cage will fit on top of something like a chest of drawers, so not as hard to fit in as you might think. Doesn't matter if there's a bit of overhang either side. We have an 80cm Savic cage for our large Syrian and I have always regretted not getting a 100cm one in the first place. Syrians need larger accessories and wheels and the cage soon fills up and doesn't leave as much floorspace as you think for hamstery things like digging tunnels (which apparently reduces their stress levels a lot as it is a natural behaviour). So now I will be looking to upgrade and buy another cage and spending more money!

Have a look at the reviews and photos on the link. Zooplus has a good range of cages - some are a lot more expensive and some actually aren't big enough. They only sell online but have good customer service and will refund or replace if anything arrives damaged.

[Marc]

Thanks Seredipity. I will definitely look at those reccomendations when I get home (signal isn't great here) The space he currently occupies is in an alcove on top of a small side cupboard. I only selected the savic as it fills the space perfectly. He has a shelf above the cage as well. Also yes I did mean 19cm, if he was 19 inches I would be phoning for a new record. Good to know that space is better than levels. Will be looking into those cage options when I get home. Thank you for replying.

[Bec]

Think Serendipity covered everything. There are many members who have the Barney cage

We have the Alexander cage which is a fantastic cage....and we have a very very large Syrian hamster (348g!) and it's big enough for him. We got ours from zooplus and its on offer....there are generally good offers on zooplus so worth a check out!

Great deals on small pet cages at zooplus: Alexander Small Pet Cage

[Pebbles82]

If the Savic Freddy 2 will fit your cupboard, then any 80cm cage should fit. The Alaska is approx 80cm on Zooplus. I have the Savic Mickey 2XL which is 80x50 but isn't cheap these days (the metal shelf and tubes need taking out of it as they're for mice - shelf not suitable for hamsters and tubes are really narrow - ours got stuck in one). Both have good big front doors. If you can fit a 100cm cage though, Bec's Alexander cage is great, as well as the 100cm Barney.

This is the one I have. It's a nice strong well made cage with a big front door - but you can get more cage for less money! (If only I'd known when I got it!) Basically the only contents worth keeping are the sputnik it comes with. This left me with an empty cage, and first of all I bought a shelf for it, but now have a large flat roofed house which doubles up as a shelf. The wheels that come with all hamster cages are only big enough for dwarf hamsters though, so you'd need to get an 11" or 12" wheel as well.

Savic Mickey 2xl Navy Blue Mice And Dwarf Hamster Cage 80 X 50 X 38 Cm: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

[Marc]

Hi, thanks for all the help, I previously had him in my room which has more space for him and can fit all these cages, he became too noisy at night and wanted me to hold him all night long so I moved him downstairs. The current space he occupies (alcove) means that I can fit in a cage of no more than 80cm in width (went and measured) so that ruled out the Alexander which looked perfect otherwise.

The alaska was a tad too wide as well, as was the barney at 100cm wide. Shame I can't have him upstairs with me, I can fit a really big cage up here.

Alcove dimensions are 70cm high, 80 wide and 45cm back. I would have loved to have gotten him the alexander and varnished the shelves with the pet safe varnish I have, but that's not an option.

Looks like I'll have to get the freddy 2 and come up with some shelving options.

Thanks for all the help though, much appreciated.

[Marc]

Just to say I have ordered the freddy 2 and am going to construct some plywood shelves which I will sand and varnish. Will post pics when all set up if I remember. Thanks guys. Although I didn't follow/was unable to opt for your reccomendations in the end I appreciate your time. You did convince me to get Rocky a bigger cage so he will be happy with that.

[candice clews]

great choice! Cant wait to see the finished product. Your plan sounds great!

[Marc]

The cage is currently sitting in the living room, it has a new wooden (safe wood) shelf which has four coats of pet safe varnish on and an attached ramp which has little strips of wood attached with pet safe glue, the ramp is hinged and has no room for trapping tiny feet. I have found a novel way to attach the shelf to the cage using some metal locker parts.

Rocky has tested it and can get everywhere with ease, tomorrow I will move him and his toys from one cage to the other. Will post pics when complete.

[CMB]

Someone recently moved their hamster from one cage to another. They allowed the hamster to explore the new cage for awhile then put it back in the old cage. Doing this could reduce the stress of a cage move.