What's The Best Cage For A Syrian?

[Gust0o]

Ha, I'll trade you Basia - Bob's a manic bar-chewer, despite best efforts. Her Gabber can't get here soon enough!

That might come as something of a system shock for her, but I'm sure some inventive toy placement/purchasing should cover it - and Hobbs has never been in a barred cage to develop the habit.

I think we've got a pretty comprehensive best-cage shortlist going here - and then it's horses for course thereafter, in terms of picking the best one for your needs.

I would love a Hamster Heaven, all told - perhaps when my job title is "Head of ..."!

I'm hoping I can persuade Al to a few more Syrians - and at £25 per Gabber, I think she might be amenable - but £60 per HH might take a little more persuading

Sean, will you let us know how you get on with this? Maybe post some pics, show us what you got - and, most importantly, introduce your new hamster?

[Holly]

Originally Posted by Gust0o

I think we've got a pretty comprehensive best-cage shortlist going here - and then it's horses for course thereafter, in terms of picking the best one for your needs.

I'd agree with that, Gus - the main thing is they are all large enough for an active Syrian hamster to live in - unlike some of the cages on the market that newcomers get fooled into buying.

Like Basia, I've got several bar chewers (all girlies except for one) and, for me, the Gabbers are the best way of thwarting the bar chewing habit as it's fairly easy to block off the parts of the roof that they can reach to chew - not so easy in a wire cage.

I'd agree that my boys in Imacs and the Cambridge do seem to really enjoy climbing in them - unfortunately I've had a girl with a badly cut face from chewing the bars and another two well on the way to the same and I just can't have that

[Basia]

My bar chewers are all girls. The strange thing is you may remember that Cara was driving me to distraction in the gabber so I put her into the Duna because I thought she wouldn't be able to reach the roof. Well she proved me wrong there. Well I had an empty Cambridge because I had moved Berry and I put her in because I thought at least she can chew the bars without breaking her neck - she hasn't chewed a bar since I put her in, over a week ago. None so contrary as a (female) hamster!

[Sean]

So many choices

The reason i've become so intrested in hamsters is because, for one of my best friends birthday i got her a syrian hamster. After spending more and more time with him i have come to adore little Seb, and now i would like my own He is the cutest little guy, im not an expert with colourings but he looks like a cow :P . Only trouble is he is a little nippy and on the night when my friend put her hand in the cage to let him sniff her and he took and chunk out of her hand and there was blood everywhere. and he is starting to settle in now

Anyway the point of that was Seb loves to scale the cage and do little acrobat moves, so if i got a gabber would my hamster-to-be miss out on this?
And on the imac can you add as many extentions as you like? But i would guess teh more you add more cleaning you are giving yourself!

Thanks so much for your help so far everyone

[Basia]

There's a photo somewhere of Holly's babies hanging upside down from the roof of a gabber! They do monkey bar on them and you could put toys in for them to climb over as well.
This is the Imac I had for Basil when he was my only hamster. You can theoretically go as high as you like but they get a bit wobbly.
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Hamster bites do bleed don't they! Seb will become tame with a bit of patience though. Have you read the taming articles on here? There are some useful tips. Is Seb black & white?

[Sean]

Thanks Basia
Just found the picture of Holly's babies, so cute! I see what you mean by the hanging from the roof!
With the Imac how do you find syrians and tubes? Ive read dont put syrians and tubes together, is this true?
As for Seb, Ive never seen so much blood. You wouldnt think a hamster bite would cause that much to pour out. Yep he's black and white, i suggested calling him Moo but Ellie prefered Sebastian. :P
I can't wait to get my own hamster, but i dont want torush into it so i'll take my time and do lots of research first!
Thanks for your help

[Basia]

I've got 4 Imacs at the moment. None of the hamsters are too big for the tubes and Gizmo is a big boy I bred myself. I have taken the tubes off him and Chunky though and put a willow bridge ladder through the big hole in the middle of the floor instead. This was purely because they are both long-haired hamsters and they were rubbing their coats on the tubes. As I intend to show Gizmo I want to keep his coat as full as possible. My largest hamster, Pudding, a whopping 230g, squeezes through the same sort of tubes in the playpen but I do hold my breath sometimes! Not many hamsters are that big though.

[Sean]

Thanks for your reply
I love this forum as im learning new things all the time

Im still stuck between imac or gabber!
I like the idea of being able to extend the imac if needed, and i like the gabber for its cool interior design ad big area space!
This wil be my first time hamster so which would you siggest would be best for a newbie? I need to think about ease of cleaning etc!

Thanks again for your help

[sammys/mum]

I love the rex as I have it for my two boy dwarfs:



They LOVE it and I do too. Its really easy to clean and it offers huge amounts of space. Its easy to clean as it hasnt got horrid ridges in the base so it all slides out. Also I like the fact you get undisturbed views of them through the plastic.
I've also been told that hamster prefer wide spaces to wonder (gabber rex) over lots of little spaces (imac). Thats my personal opinion though, I know i'd be tempted with the imac.
Good Luck
Beccy

[Gust0o]

Ooh, you've got a hanging rope bridge!

I was considering getting one of those - and was wondering how it might actually fit in the Gabber!

Do yours enjoy it?