Is my cage ok?

sophie_laurenxx · 03-12-2016, 05:41 PM

Newbie hamster over here!!Bought my lovely Syrian on Thursday at pets at home!! Including all of its housing supplies!! Before joining up to the forum I always thought pets at home was a good place to go for sound advice which is clearly not true! Anyway my cage looks big... However I'm not 100% it's the medium sized wire cage which has an extra half a floor above. If the measurements on the website are correct (not sure if it's the same cage) it is 25x30x50 ... Is this okay? If not I can add another same size cage to it and connect with tunnels ... Would that work? Thanks Guys! Want the best for my little furry friend (yet with no name) also anyone good at working out the gender?? X

AmityvilleHams · 03-12-2016, 05:50 PM

It is definitely not the right size(unless your dimensions are in inches as that would be acceptable).You can't exactly just add another cage with tunnels,as that isn't truly changing the fact of your hamster living in an undersized cage.Even with half floors,at the end of the day hamsters are terrestrial animals and should therefore have more floor space and really there's no need for levels unlike rats.The minimum in cm is 80 cm by 50 cm,or around 620 square inches,so going by those measurements with your cage size in cm your cage is very undersized.Please do not feel horrible if it is in cm,but just make steps towards changing it!

sophie_laurenxx · 03-12-2016, 05:58 PM

Thank you for your reply, yet it is cm so will defiantly have to change. I am quite annoyed as pets at home was trying to sell me a smaller one so when I upgraded in size they more then reassured me this was a large cage!! Then again serves me right for being too excited and not doing my research! Going to look at a diy cage. Thank you for your reply

sophie_laurenxx · 03-12-2016, 06:06 PM

Sorry wrong measurements ... They are 30x38x59 .. Read the wrong cage x

AmityvilleHams · 03-12-2016, 07:00 PM

Not that surprising since most pet stores aren't that good.Your best bet is DIY,look online for a proper cage,or IKEA hacks and similar furniture to hamster cage hacks.Not sure how well it would work,but you can make an indoor tortoise pen out of a book case on its side and just mesh the top over but I'd think you could do something similar with melamine if you wanted a more customized size.I do know that tortoises and hamsters are both terrestrial,so it would definitely work in that aspect at least.

cypher · 03-12-2016, 09:43 PM

You're not alone being mislead about the right size & type of cage for your ham, it happens to lots of first time ham owners!
Zooplus is a really good place to get cages, the most popular ones from there are generally the Barney & Alaska cages.

candice clews · 03-24-2016, 01:15 PM

yes the cage is too small unfortunately

Alaska, barney, hamster heaven cages are great xxx

Rsclio197 · 03-24-2016, 01:38 PM

You tube detolf cage from ikea (erinshamsters). It's only 40 pound and it looks fantastic..it's huge and you can make an outstanding habitat with it. I'm getting one this weekend.

Rsclio197 · 03-24-2016, 01:38 PM

Let me know what you think. You'll be excited by it as much as your ham

Piebald · 03-24-2016, 01:39 PM

Hi Sophie congratulations on your new fluffbaby. As the others have said it is too small for a full grown Syrian. However, did you get a young ham? If so, it is probably ok for a little while, and some people prefer a smaller cage for a new Ham to get used to his new home which can be stressful for them. Can you take a picture or find a link with a picture of the same cage? The members here can give you suggestions to make it as comfortable as possible while you get acquainted and consider your options for an upgrade. What's your hammy's name?