Hello. Assume you're in the Uk? What I did with that cage (it wasn't the hamster heaven but identical cage with narrow bar spacing - savic mickey 2xl). Was didn't use the plastic shelves (I found them such a fiddle and our hamster's stuff kept sliding down the solid shelf!). I used a large- ish flat roofed house - they like a good sized house to build a really cosy nest - and the flat roof doubled up as a level. As well as that I had a couple of really small shelves over it at the sides (they like sitting under a shelf). And utilised the roof to make a roof run. For that I use the large rat sputnik hanging at one side ( and a rat tube tied to the roof bars, leading from the sputnik to a shelf).
First photo is before I added the roof tunnel.
Once you get Syrian sized things in the cage it can get a bit cramped - but can work if set up carefully and still leave enough floor space. I now find a longer slightly narrower house at one end works better. But a good house is one of the best investments (or you can make one from a shoebox but that might fill the cage a bit).
When they have a larger house, they can have their instinctive habits to nest, hoard and pee in separate areas and are quite tidy. If the house is big enough to fit a litter tray. If not then they'll probably use a corner of the cage as a toilet so you can put a corner litter tray there.
Now I did end up upgrading our syrian at the time wanting him to have more space. I'm on our fourth syrian now - and their personalities vary. For some syrians they hide away more in a bigger cage and don't want to come out as much as have such a good environment. For others, no cage is big enough!.
And that also depends on how much time you have to give them out of cage time, if you can set up a playpen area or section off a part of the room or house for free roaming. A hamster who likes to come out every night and free roam would be perfectly fine in that cage (unless they are the type for whom no cage is big enough!).
It's always a tricky one. And again a bigger cage needs setting up carefully so there's not too much open space or overhead space which can make them nervous.
In terms of upgrading the cage though at some point, the Savic Plaza is probably the best option. It's basically a 100cm Hamster Heaven - still has the large front opening door (that to me is a really important part of a cage - front access - good for interaction with the hamster and you're not coming at them from above). It is quite a bit taller so needs loads of substrate or it can be a bit too tall for dropping from a height.
I had one Syrian very happy and contented in that and still wanted to come out regularly - but I did have a large shelf and a very large labyrinth house in it. In fact partly I got the bigger cage to fit a large labyrinth house! Which they love and is great but also expensive.
Our current syrian has always seemed better in the HH size cage and interacts a lot more. He'll come to the open door and give you whisker kisses and happily sit in the open in the cage. In the larger cage I never saw him! He has always been a bit shy.
The difficulty is if you're going to get a good house that can be money spent and might not work as well in a different cage. Although could be made to work.
So in my view I'd either get a good house that fits well in that cage leaving plenty of floorspace. Or decide to upgrade the cage and get a large house (which is all quite expensive).
A middle ground would be get a good house that fits that cage, then if you decide to upgrade later, Use the same house but have a lot more items in the cage to fill some of the floor space.
The other thing is the current cage is probably better for taming for now, until your hamster is really used to you and tame. Not sure how long you've had the hamster but taming can take a few weeks or more.
Any cage change is also a major thing for them and can be stressful - but not if done properly - more about that at the time. I'll link a couple of good houses (that aren't cheap) that would fit will in the HH and your hamster would enjoy. There's also a slightly smaller one room one that won't fit a toilet in.
Be warned, once you look at the Rodipet site it's quite addictive! Also once you have a hamster you find you sometimes need a small saw and some sanding paper to adapt the odd thing!
Rodipet® +GRANiT House DALANi for Pet Rodents
I had this one in the HH size cage and it fits well - almost full width but not too much depth so doesn't take up a lot of cage space.
Rodipet® +GRANiT House TALALiN for Pet Rodents
They even sell legs/stilts for these houses - so they sit at substrate level without sinking - so the hamster can tunnel underneath without getting squashed. Although I find the legs make the house sit too high - so sawed a bit off the bottom of the legs. Or you can just make legs with wood dowels glued on.
It's not essential - you can have the house directly on the floor of the cage instead so it's more of a subterranean house with substrate almost up to the roof.
But they do like to bury hoards under their nest so like substrate under a house that's open underneath (also good for ventilation).
They have lift off roofs - so you can empty a litter tray or check inside without having to take the house out - so their nest doesn't fall apart. And one part is a piece of rough granite - which saves having to have stones etc in the cage. If you put a food bowl on it or a water bottle over it, they hamsters nails get roughened every time they go to eat or drink, which helps keep their nails from getting overgrown. It's also a cool place to sit in hot weather.
Getzoo make a similar one. No granite but you can use a terracotta plant pot base for roughening nails.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Getzoo-Gold...6&rdc=1&sr=8-3
In the bigger cage I had this house - which is really big! And would half fill a Hamster Heaven. But it's not necessary.
Rodipet® Hamster House Maze DaVinci 41x26 cm, Ø 7cm
Personally I'd get this house which will fit well at one end of the Hamster Heaven (the other end from the wheel perhaps).
Rodipet® +GRANiT House TALALiN for Pet Rodents
Your hamster will love it. You can pop his existing nest in one of the rooms and a litter tray in the other room. I used to have a mouse sized water bottle attached to the bars over the granite bit (soaks up the drips so the substrate doesn't get wet).
If you had it higher up on top of the substrate it would double up as a shelf. If you have it on the floor of the cage like a subterranean house, you can put some smaller shelves etc over it.
Definitely recommend the rat sputniks though. If they have a tube leading to them they use them and our hamster sits in his washing at night.
So first two photos are years ago when we had our first hamster and the house is a bit big for the cage.
The last two are the same cage set up for our current syrian with the long rodipet house in and another shelf over it at the back. I actually cut another door in the front on that house and put a bendy bridge tunnel entrance over it. But he loved using the top roof hole!
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