Permanent playpen

Dedenne · 04-02-2018, 08:58 AM

I’m planning on getting a bigger cage for my hamster (or future hamster sice Missy is a bit old) and is looking at a DIY cage like billy or linnmon but I’m probably going to live kind of cramped and move a lot for the coming years so this is not going to happen for some time. I own a playpen, a normal multicoloured one, but since I can not really leave her alone in it and she is the most active when I sleep it does not really works for us. I would like kind of an extendment of her cage, like the things they have for bunnies, where I can let her run around in the night and that I can put away during the day. So I was wondering it this might be something that can work: Wooden Runs - Outback Springtime Wooden Run: Great deals at zooplus.ie
I know it is meshed and that she can climb it but I’m thinking of adding something, cardboard/plywood or something similar, making it harder for her to reach. I was thinking of just buying sheets of plywood but I’m a bit afraid of the hamster biting threw it and escaping.

What do you guys think?

(making a lot of posts today, have had a lot of questions that I just have not posted until now)

cypher · 04-02-2018, 09:08 AM

I would never leave a hamster in a playpen of any kind unsupervised, unless you can watch them it would need to be as secure as a cage & a mesh run like that wouldn't be.
If your ham has out of cage time during the evening or whenever suits it then they should be fine left in a good sized cage with plenty of enrichment.

Pebbles82 · 04-02-2018, 09:49 AM

As Cypher said, you can't really leave her in a playpen overnight. They are great escape artists and could also get very stressed being left in there.

It might be better just to get a bigger cage from Zooplus and not bother with a playpen, or just have one you can put up temporarily or use the bathtub for out of cage time. When tame you could manage to have her out with you on the sofa or on top of the bed eg.

The Alaska is a good size, if space is an issue, but if you can I would get the Barney or Alexander, then she'll have plenty of space at night.

The Billy is too narrow and not big enough for that reason.

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Baron · 04-02-2018, 10:29 AM

It's a fine playpen. I use this one myself, with the lid on it all times.

I have often left a hamster in it alone for a short while, even when going out for a short trip to the local supermarket. Or when a hamster really wanted to run around at night. I put them in, and let them romp for a bit, while I was in the next room over. No escape's here, they only climb when they let me now they want out. But even I wouldn't want a hamster living in it at all times.

I don't know how big you cage can be, but a Borneo XL from Zoostore.de might be a really nice solution. I think they ship to Sweden.

hellobg · 04-02-2018, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baron

It's a fine playpen. I use this one myself, with the lid on it all times.

I have often left a hamster in it alone for a short while, even when going out for a short trip to the local supermarket. Or when a hamster really wanted to run around at night. I put them in, and let them romp for a bit, while I was in the next room over. No escape's here, they only climb when they let me now they want out. But even I wouldn't want a hamster living in it at all times.

I don't know how big you cage can be, but a Borneo XL from Zoostore.de might be a really nice solution. I think they ship to Sweden.

Have you ordered from Zoostore? I tried to check if they ship to Switzerland and I was quite disappointed to see that they don't ship, unless talked further with them.

Baron · 04-02-2018, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellobg

Have you ordered from Zoostore? I tried to check if they ship to Switzerland and I was quite disappointed to see that they don't ship, unless talked further with them.

Yes, I did. They ship to The Netherlands. Their customer service was really helpfull, because something went wrong with my order and they replied really fast.
I am curious if they're willing to ship to Sweden if you talk to them about it. I do hope so.

Dedenne · 04-03-2018, 05:46 AM

I was a bit unclear on a few things:
- Missy is a dwarf hamster
- I meant the billy XL, not the small billy. Since it is so small I sort of forgot that there was a smaller one.
- I want it to be used as an extendment of her ordinary cage therefore I will not just lift her up and put her in it and then leave, I would connect them somehow. Probably by putting her cage inside it and make some stairs or similar. Making it possible for her to have more space if she wants but still got access to her familiar home. She do not like using tubes so I can not use that to connect them in her case but maybe it is possible for a future hamster.
- I have a ferplast muti so she has an ok space but since I believe that bigger is better and I’m aiming for 1 m^2 (billy xl or linnmon cage x2 would fit this) and it is hard to find any cage that is this size that also is easy to transport and I don't really have space for it all the time and this was supposed to be a good solution.
- barred cages are not allowed by serious breeders in my country and I will therefore avoid them as my hamsters main cage, that's why I said that I was planning to put up some barriers in the wooden run to make it suitable.
- Missy is really tame often sits in my lap when watching TV half asleep but once she's ready for the night it is usually around 2-3, she zooms around for 2-3h and at 5 she calms down and likes to cuddle some more. I can not possible stay up to 2 in the night and same goes for waking up before 5. I usually do it during the weekend now just to make sure she gets some exercise but it is not good enough. I suspect that this short span of activity is due to her age or upbringing since she lived in a tiny cage before I got her.

My bad, I’m sorry for being so bad at explaining and letting stuff out.

I do not want to do anything that might be bad for her ofc but I don't really get why the wooden run is bad? It i meshed all way round and also has a lid so is it not as secure as a normal cage? The only difference I can see between this one and a barred cage is that it has no bottom.

If Missy could use tubes I would connect her cages to some SAMLA bins but at the moment I can not get it to work and do not really want a bin cage as har base cage since I do not like the look of them. The storage of them during the day would not be optimal but putting them in each other would save up some space.