Pets-At-Home "Small Pet Hamster Home"

[DennisJones]

We bought this because it was .... (holds head in shame) cheap at £18. It barely looked smaller than the other cages on offer so in my internal i-have-no-idea-logic, Dwarf Roborovski`s are the smallest hamster so their smallest cage should be suitable to which the store clerk nodded and agreed with.

Took me a day or so to realise this was not the case, while he didn't seem noticeably stressed he didn't seem to be getting much fun out of it.

He also didn't use the plastic house that comes with it but lived under his wheel and used the tube as his bathroom, which is nice of Dennis-Sama as it has holes in it.

Pets at Home Website link

Quoted from their website "This cage is great temporary accommodation or suitable for very young hamsters under 12 weeks old."

Not advice given in-store, but good advice nonetheless and what I would now consider it suitable for.

Ah well, I will consider it Dennis-Sama`s Caravan for when we holiday

[InkyPen]

Ah yes, you're not the only one to make that mistake. The important thing is that you now know better!

Some people have had success taking too-small cages back to P@H because they are not fit for purpose - if you want the money back (and I'm sure you can get a better travel cage for <£18 ) then it's worth doing!

[DennisJones]

Originally Posted by InkyPen

Ah yes, you're not the only one to make that mistake. The important thing is that you now know better!

Some people have had success taking too-small cages back to P@H because they are not fit for purpose - if you want the money back (and I'm sure you can get a better travel cage for <£18 ) then it's worth doing!

Good idea, but I will keep it as a constant reminder to do research before making a decision!

Besides, he is using the wheel, and he is emotionally attached to the tubes which both of which are in his new habitat so its not that big a loss.

[AprilPearl]

Don’t feel bad. I am in a very similar situation. I fell in love with a baby syrian hamster in Pets at Home 1 week ago and had to buy a cage for him at the same time so I would have something to put him in when we got home. I bought their ‘large’ cage, as it was the biggest in the shop, but despite such a title it is not big enough for a permanent home. I have ordered him a larger cage online instead. It isn’t your fault, these things happen. There are some really good threads and advice on cages here.

[Thin Lizzy]

Pet shops do tend to give out misleading information.
When I bought a rat cage from P@H a while back, the girl was speechless when I told her it was for a hamster.
Just because they're small doesn't mean they don't need much space.

[floppy91]

Pets at Home refused to sell me a hamster to live in a 100cmx50cm cage, they said it was too big and the hamster would get "lost in it". I was like "how would they get lost?" But the guy really put his foot down! I just told him I would keep it in my Pets at Home Duna, which I keep as a spare/ travel cage. Lol! my hamster loves his large cage and had never stopped to ask for directions!

[Thin Lizzy]

lol floppy! The hamster getting lost in a big cage, P@H need to rethink how they train their staff.

[InkyPen]

Originally Posted by Thin Lizzy

lol floppy! The hamster getting lost in a big cage, P@H need to rethink how they train their staff.

It's news to me that they train them on anything beyond how to use the tills and do a stocktake...

[chesca_27]

Lol InkyPen ! It's a surprise to me they still exist! I find their advice and products awful, not forgetting the treatment of the animals. I prefer online shopping, with cheaper prices, bigger selection, reliability of reviews and you aren't supporting the pet trade (whole different topic).

[Drago]

It completely baffles me when petstores say that some cages are "too big". There's really no such thing! Of all the rodents I've kept and worked with, hamsters by far need the biggest cages to be happy, and I don't think enough people realize that. Studies show, in the wild, that tiny dwarfies have territories of 1-1.5 sq miles! Besides that, Syrians can run 9+ miles a night through their territories, but still people seem to think that they don't need big cages. Maybe I'm crazy, but I definitely do think that hamsters have shown us many times over that they're high maintenance critters and really do need big cages to mimic their natural behavior I can't comment as I've never been to P@H, but it's really no better in the US!