Cage stands and stacking solutions

Maz

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A thread for ideas for cage stands and stacking solutions. I have a few and I'm sure others have some good tips as well. For one 100cm cage there are a number of options. It could go on top of a chest of drawers or sideboard but if you don't have anything suitable there are all kinds of stand options.

If you just have the one 100cm cage something like the ones below are an option.

There is this Little Friends 100cm cage stands with wheels, to support one cage. It apparently fits most 100cm cages and isn't too expensive.

Little Friends 100cm.jpg

Little Friends cage stand £33.99

Or a £20 Ikea Lack coffee table (90cm x 55cm)

Lack 90cm table.jpg

Ikea Lack coffee table 90 x 55

The Ikea Kallax four cube unit supports a 100cm cage well. I've had a Barney cage and a Plaza cage on one of these. It's only 39cm deep and 77cm wide so although there is a bit of overhang all round, it still supports a 100cm cage well, especially once it's full of bedding and shelves/houses etc to keep it stable. They can be a bit slippery on top so putting something like hemp mat or silicone mat on it keeps the cage from moving on it.

Ikea Kallax 77x77.jpg

Here's the Savic Plaza on top of one of these Kallax units

Plaza 100 cropped.jpg

For more than one cage or stacking cages, there are not so many options. I've had this console table for a few years which is 112cm long by 40cm deep and tall enough to fit a second Savic Plaza cage on the bottom shelf. Again it's not very deep but supports a Plaza or Barney cage well. I've had two Plazas on it before. You can see Moo's cage on the bottom here

Console table.jpg

And Pip's Plaza cage is currently on the top of it



A view of top and bottom shelves here

IMG_0720.jpeg


It meant I was able to have two Plaza cages without it taking up much space in the room. The downside was that it meant getting on your knees to spot clean, and if anything major needed doing, it's hard work getting the cage off the bottom shelf when it's full - which wasn't needed very often and is doable.

There are quite a few of these type of console tables available on Amazon for between £35 and £50.

Beryl's idea of using Dolly trolleys to put cages on could make a better solution for having two 100cm cages stacked, by getting a console table without a bottom shelf and having the bottom cage on a dolly trolley so it just slides in and out (something I've been thinking about!)

This kind of thing. Finding something the right size and price isn't easy though. This one is a bit narrow but would be ok if near a wall at the back. £53. (See next post).
 
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Open console table.jpg

120cm x 35cm x 75cm tall

And this £50 desk on Amazon

Desk.jpg

120 x 76 x 45 deep


Dolley trolleys are only about 11cm tall so there is enough height. But if you have enough space for something deeper, something like this Ikea table would do the same job - with a cage underneath on a dolly trolley. It's wide enough and tall enough. I'll leave it to Beryl to show some examples of cages on dolly trolleys :)

Ikea table.jpg

Lagkapten/Adils - Ikea

If anyone has any other ideas for stacking solutions for large cages, please post them!
 
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I have two of those Ikea coffee tables and use one for Bernard's enclosure and to store jars of hamster food and forage. They are very strong and practical. I'll post a photo once his new 100cm cage is set up.

 
That looks great Beryl. And reminds me of the considerations of height needed when thinking about something to stand a cage on. With a top opening cage, the lower height stands like a coffee table or your two cube unit on wheels are ideal. They would also work with a front opening cage like the Savic Plaza, as it's not far to bend to do things through the front door or you can sit down next to it. With a front opening cage I like the taller options like the four cube kallax unit and the console table. It makes it very easy spot cleaning through the front door and I get a lot of eye contact with the hamster at that level and can see them doing things in the cage easier.

One on top and one underneath, stacked, is a space saving solution but a compromise on ease of use. Although you still get a good view of both hamsters (eg when sitting on the sofa I could see well into the bottom cage). Obviously for a cage on the bottom it needs to have a front opening door but a cage on top could be either (although could be hard to reach into the top on a taller unit).

So front opening door cages are better for stacking.
 
That's a clever idea screwing the unit to the dolly trolley :)
 
Another thing to look into for someone who doesn't mind the industrial look is a work bench.
They are strong and come in a 100cm and 120cm + width with a shelf. The metal frame comes in a choice of colours.
 
I use shelving units.

This one will take Alaskas, Hamster Heavens or other 80x50cm cages. It can take 3 or 4 cages depending on height (I use the top shelf only for supplies as it's too high up for a cage). You can also set it up to be half the height for only two cages.

This one will also take 80x50cm cages:

This one will take 100cm and slightly bigger cages. You can fit three Savic Plazas if you leave the top shelf off, or if you use the top shelf you can have two Plazas and one lower cage.

You can also get these shelves in a "workbench" size, which can take two cages.

They're rather industrial looking so don't fit that well into a home but they're useful.
 
They look great. I've seen things like that before but didn't realise you could leave a shelf out to give the greater height, or that they come wide enough to fit 100cm cages :) The last one is basically the same as a console table but there is probably a better choice of shelf depth. I struggle with the bending, with a cage on a lower shelf now so was looking at the idea of a dolley trolley underneath a table type stand. But those racks that would allow three plazas are a great idea! I don't think they do look that industrial - they sell kitchen shelves like that. Some great ideas there!
 
So with the third link - heavy duty garage shelving. Could you have one Plaza on the second shelf from the bottom (ie not right at the bottom) and one on the shelf above it? I was wondering if the shelves could be placed at different heights or not, and what the gap between the shelves is. Presumably just over 50cm looking at the total height.
 
So with the third link - heavy duty garage shelving. Could you have one Plaza on the second shelf from the bottom (ie not right at the bottom) and one on the shelf above it? I was wondering if the shelves could be placed at different heights or not, and what the gap between the shelves is. Presumably just over 50cm looking at the total height.

The shelves are fully adjustable so you can place them at any height you want. However you do need the bottom shelf at the base (rather than further up) to stabilise the unit, and this needs to be the heaviest shelf for stability, unless it's fixed to the wall.
 
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I guessed you would need the bottom shelf - but the difference is you don't need to put a cage at the bottom :-) You could have one on the second shelf and one on the third shelf. Which would suit me! A full plaza is still heavy to lift on and off any shelf but I'm now in the habit of setting them up where they are going to live and they never come out again, unless a full cage clean is needed for some reason. I can do everything through the big front door. Then you can remove everything before lifting the cage out again, if needed.
 
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