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Hamster cage/ UD - stage 2 & 3 post 22

Jenova

Jenova

Wise Old Thumper
I'm making SPG a new cage. His old one was a chinchilla cage but as he's incontinent it was getting really rusty and was so hard to clean properly.

This is stage one of the new cage.

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Sorry about the messy floor, that's from me drilling holes in the box. :lol:

Stage two is to add another box with some tubes attaching them and to buy a climbing frame of some sort. I might go for a smaller but higher box so he has some room to climb...

I don't know how many other stages there will be... it depends how carried away I get. :D

I'll update when I do more.
 
Aly&Poppy<3 said:
Wow :shock: I love it :D looks really good :D what are you using as substrate?
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Is the shredded dishcloth stuff from Wilkinsons. It's meant as bedding but it's only £1 a bag so I just empty a whole bag in when I clean him out and he takes what he wants into his bed. At the moment his bed is in the little compartement in the bottom of the cream egg box but he has been known just to make a hge bed pile in the corner. He grew out of his little house so I need to buy him a new bed. I might get another little storage box from the pound shop and attach it with a tube... :D
 
Jenova said:
Is the shredded dishcloth stuff from Wilkinsons. It's meant as bedding but it's only £1 a bag so I just empty a whole bag in when I clean him out and he takes what he wants into his bed. At the moment his bed is in the little compartement in the bottom of the cream egg box but he has been known just to make a hge bed pile in the corner. He grew out of his little house so I need to buy him a new bed. I might get another little storage box from the pound shop and attach it with a tube... :D
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I use that as bedding, you get quite a lot in the bag I think :) Oh don't, I'm annoying my bf as we have an indoor rabbit cage and huge cardboard box full of hamster stuff and it's growing :shock: I want to get a little storage box house now.. :lol:

As well as the Wilkos bedding, I use ripped up toilet roll and cut up (as finely as I can!) cloth from Asda, 40 sheets on a roll for £1 :D It's lasting me ages :thumb: it's the same cloth as the Wilkos, don't know what it's called though, definately dish cloth though :) I found it in the stationary bit :? :lol:
 
Aly&Poppy<3 said:
I use that as bedding, you get quite a lot in the bag I think :) Oh don't, I'm annoying my bf as we have an indoor rabbit cage and huge cardboard box full of hamster stuff and it's growing :shock: I want to get a little storage box house now.. :lol:

As well as the Wilkos bedding, I use ripped up toilet roll and cut up (as finely as I can!) cloth from Asda, 40 sheets on a roll for £1 :D It's lasting me ages :thumb: it's the same cloth as the Wilkos, don't know what it's called though, definately dish cloth though :) I found it in the stationary bit :? :lol:
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If only I had a shredder. :lol:
 
That looks like a nice sized sturdy bin.
What size is it and where is it from?

I'd love to have some spare boxes about as I would love to foster in the future and would be nice to have 'cages' I can stack away and store in a cupboard for when I need one.
 
sammi_83 said:
That looks like a nice sized sturdy bin.
What size is it and where is it from?

I'd love to have some spare boxes about as I would love to foster in the future and would be nice to have 'cages' I can stack away and store in a cupboard for when I need one.
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It's a 62 litre one from Wilkinsons. It was £10 (I really don't understand why storage boxes are so expensive!). It's 79.5 cm x 39.5 cm x 25 cm which is perfect because it fits his 12 inch flying saucer in it. I think it's the first box I've found that did. I believe that's RSPCA recommended size but personally I think he needs at least twice as much because he's a pretty big hammy. His chinchilla cage was about that size with two levels so that's the plan for this first of all. :D
 
Jenova said:
Leaving it. If I mesh it he'll get it off somehow. He's very intelligent... or persistant. :lol:

I've drilled air holes down both sides but I'm wondering if they're enough.
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:lol: Maybe you could just put more holes in then :) or little bits could be meshed in corners he might not reach :) I imagine it might get a bit smelly and hot if he's incontinent, so maybe the extension could be meshed on the lid or side? :)
 
That's looking great. :D:thumb: I don't think there will be enough ventilation from just the holes in the sides though, ideally there should be a meshed area on the lid. I think people usually bolt the mesh on so, as long as it's securely attached and he can't get to the edges of the plastic to chew on that, he shouldn't be able to get out.
 
KarenM said:
That's looking great. :D:thumb: I don't think there will be enough ventilation from just the holes in the sides though, ideally there should be a meshed area on the lid. I think people usually bolt the mesh on so, as long as it's securely attached and he can't get to the edges of the plastic to chew on that, he shouldn't be able to get out.
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I'll do that. I have some spare mesh from the old chinchilla cage and I can grab some bolts. What sort of sized mesh area would you suggest?
 
I'm not sure what sort of area would be the minimum you could get away with but I most people tend to mesh a good proportion of the lid. If you google bin cage tutorial, you'll find some images to give you some idea. :D

Instead of the bolts (forgot to mention that you'd need washers as well as that's what holds the mesh in place) you could use cable ties but, with those, I'd advise using loads and loads in case he chews a couple. :lol: It depends how easy it's going to be for him to reach the lid really too.
 
Yeah I thought I'd need washers. That's what I did to put shelves in the chinchilla cage. Ties are a no no... they wouldn't last five minutes. :D

The part will be cutting the lid I think.
 
I found some roofing bolts with square nuts in Wilkos and I'm not going to need washer with them because they have a huge overlap. I also have a ramp from the old chinchilla cage which is a perfect mesh... now I just have to cut the box. I think it might be easier to put the mesh on the side rather than the lid. Thinking time. Then DIY time. Then photo time. :)
 
Lea-Anne said:
Looking good :thumb:

Random question:

for hammies Megazorb or shavings?
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Megazorb :thumb: (says the girl using woodshavings :oops:) but I'm only using up the last we have and I cover the top with care fresh :) I believe it acts the same as it would when used for a rabbit but not as bad, I'm only using the last of it up for April because she has always been on it, can't wait to get megazorb though! :D
 
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