Introducing Alfie!

[AlfredHam]

Oh damn! Pet shop marketing fools me again! Could I replace the chains with sisal? So it dangles lower and gets rid of the chain? The rungs are really wide so shouldn't trap his feet, but I could fill them in with a bit of wood
It's a comfort wheel, he seems happy with it for now and after reading about the problems with the silent spinner on here I'm hesitant to change it right now, I quite like the wooden ones too but don't want to give him too much change at once

[cypher]

Pet shop marketing gets most of us at some point!
You could use string instead of the chains but rungs would still be a problem as they can slip through & they're not usually very comfortable using them. String/sisal can get chewed though so that's another possible accident waiting to happen if he chews it while on the ladder.

[AlfredHam]

Originally Posted by cypher

Pet shop marketing gets most of us at some point!
You could use string instead of the chains but rungs would still be a problem as they can slip through & they're not usually very comfortable using them. String/sisal can get chewed though so that's another possible accident waiting to happen if he chews it while on the ladder.

Hmmm I'll get my crafty hat on cause he loves climbing!

[Pebbles82]

The comfort wheel should be fine and I think you can attach them to the bars too. They do like climbing sometimes but aren't very good at getting down again and tend to just drop so it's always good to have a soft landing, which you have with plenty of substrate. I like the rat sputniks (which you might have guessed by now lol). They hang down fairly low so if they jump out it's fine as long as there is nothing hard to land on, and then it gives them something to climb up to.

Our Syrian only ever seems to climb if a) he is looking for a way out - ie a door b) he is trying to get to some food or c) if there isn't access to something he is trying to get to - eg a bendy ladder or bridge.

You might find he doesn't climb so much with the Alaska if the door is on the front and not the top (or does it have a door on top as well?)

You could maybe have another bendy stick ladder - like the one you have at the back - leading up to an entrance on a sputnik.

Rat Rations sell the sputniks a bit cheaper than Amazon and you can choose your own top and bottom colour.

Sputnik - XL - £4.99 : ratRations.com

This is how it looked in Charlie's old cage and his new one. It gives them a kind of roof run as well if you have a tube going out of the other side of it. My roof run leads from the sputnik to a shelf (and in his old cage it led to his house roof). I had it hung at the front near the door and he used to like to get in and out of the cage through it.

[Pebbles82]

If you had one front left you could maybe have another bendy bridge over the sand bath, which would lead up to one of the entrance holes and make the sand bath kind of cosy. Just a thought - I don't know what other toys you have from his old cage.

[AlfredHam]

Hmm I might make a pets at home visit in a bit, see if I can pick one up, they sell them online so might have some in store

[AlfredHam]

I got a Sputnik, but I can't make it fit properly yet, I'm a bit concerned about the stability! I need to get a nice big bendy bridge for it to work I think, the one I got is a bit small. I also bought a floor bridge thing which is going straight back because it just collapsed when I tried to stabilise it in the substrate, not risking it collapsing with Alfie on it!

[AlfredHam]

[CMB]

The Sputnik looks ok. It may be more stable on the floor for the moment. You could even have two. One on the floor and one attached to the roof. See how he likes the first one.

As he is a Syrian he may be big enough to get in it when it's attached to the roof already, especially as it is over the shelf.

[AlfredHam]

He's still quite small, and if I attach it to there I won't be able to use the door
I'll have a Rejig when he decides to wake up! Still waiting to move all his stuff over!