Dwarf hamster cage advice

macex

macex

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Good evening all :) I have recently adopted a little Russian Dwarf Hamster. His name is Hamet and he is about 6 weeks old. We were sold the Savic XL speculous cage by pets at home (we were silly and panic brought a cage as we needed as home for Hamet and we were in a rush to get him one). The pets and home staff advised us this was a great cage.

We have had Hamet for four days now, and we noticed he just doesn’t have enough room to play. We do have a large pop up run around that we put him in once a day with all his toys which he really enjoys.

I thought I would have a look at cage reviews etc and I have since found out about the RSPCA specifications on cage sizes and I feel so bad that I’ve kept Hamet in this cage!

We are looking for cage recommendations for a Dwarf hamster. We were looking at the Savic hamster heaven however we have read that the Dwarf hamsters can easily escape. Does anyone have this cage? Or can anyone give us some cage recommendations?

Thank you :)
 

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Hello and welcome to the forum!

Don't worry, many of us have been there and believed petsathome who just want to make a sale. Your cute little dwarfie hasn't come to any harm by living in a 70cm x 45cm cage so don't feel bad about not getting it 100% the first time.

I expect you mean the petsathome xl cage with the two small doors? That's the cage i bought when i got my first hamster who was a Syrian.

The Hamster Heaven is a 80cm x 50cm cage and the current recommendation is 100cm x 50cm. There are photos of my Hamster Heaven set ups on the cages 2022 thread and i still use them for my foster dwarfs and a diabetic dwarf. It is a good cage and with the tubes and penthouse removed, it is escape proof.

You can buy a 100cm x 50cm cage for the same money though. The XL Grosvenor for example but there are others. Have a look at the Housing section and you will see cage recommendations of cages in that size range and bigger.

I have the XL Grosvenor for a dwarf hamster and love it but it has a serious design fault that is easily fixed. I wrote about it in my thread called "Lilly" and will look up the pages for you.
 
Hello :-) I'll link our cages list below, but ideally you want something a bit bigger than the hamster heaven. The more space you have, the more enrichment you can add (eg large cork logs, multiroom houses, platforms) and deeper bedding - they love to burrow. You can also make a lot of cage enrichment using cardboard - tunnels etc.
 
Sorry - I forgot to add the link! Here's some reading!

www.thehamsterforum.com

Cages 2024

Here is a list of suitable cages available for hamsters in 2024. Whether you prefer tank style or barred cages, front access or top access, there is, thankfully, plenty of choice in the Uk and Europe. Choice in the US is mainly tanks and tank style or diy. Both tank style and barred cages...
www.thehamsterforum.com www.thehamsterforum.com

There's also a thread where you can see other peoples cage set ups for inspiration

www.thehamsterforum.com

Show us your cages 2023 onwards

A new thread for 2023 to show cage set ups :) Some may have changed or be new but feel free to add your existing set up again. It's mainly so all current ones are viewable in the same place.
www.thehamsterforum.com www.thehamsterforum.com
 
Beryl said:
I just had another look at the photo.
Sorry, i misunderstood that. It is the Savic Spelos you have. Yes, that is an awful cage and the ridiculous XL always confuses me.

Don't worry though. You are here now and there's no harm done.
Click to expand...
Just to add to that - some people have taken the cage back to PAH and asked for a refund - after getting a new one and getting it set up. By saying the cage is too small for the hamster. This happens quite a lot. As Beryl says - many of us have been there!
 
Hello & welcome to the forum.
Hamet is absolutely gorgeous & he’s lucky to have someone who cares enough to check what’s best for him.
Don’t feel bad, we’ve all been there making mistakes with our first cages & hamsters & I’m sure Hamet will be fine.
I can’t add much to what’s been said really, the Hamster Heaven is a good cage if a bit on the small side, I would go larger if you can but I have kept quite a few dwarfs in that cage over the years, the Grosvenor cage that’s been mentioned would be a really good option for him.
 
thehamsterforum.com

My Hamster Heaven setups

Hamster Heaven without external tubes and shelves set up for a Roborovski hamster.
thehamsterforum.com thehamsterforum.com

That's the link to my Hamster Heaven set ups should you want to go for this cage.

They are also available on Gumtree for around £20 second hand. A decent wheel, house, paperbased substrate and enrichment soon adds up so this could be another option. You could always upgrade later should you feel that Hamet would benefit from more space.
 
The downside to the Hamster Heaven is it’s limited for bedding depth and the recommended size now is 100cm x 50cm. The Grosvenor XL would be a much better option, if wanting to keep it simple. It gives scope for one end to have deep bedding and a lot more enrichment and larger items.
 
Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions you have been beyond helpful ☺️ I have been looking at the Grovesnor XL cages however I can only find them in a few places. Has anyone ever tried the ‘mamble’ cage that is sold in the range? It’s 100 x 50 but not sure if anyone could recommend it?

In regards to the paper based substrate, can anyone recommend any affordable brands?

Thank you all ☺️
 
I had a mamble years ago, it is very tall, too tall for a dwarf ham really as there is always a risk of falls with tall cages, it’s a bit flimsy too so I wouldn’t really recommend it. I used mine for a Chinese which are very agile & good climbers but Russian dwarf hams aren’t.
Many of us use Kaytee clean and cosy substrate which you can get online, I get mine from Amazon, not sure if it’s available in shops or not.
The other alternative is Fitch, good value but not quite as soft as Kaytee & is sometimes unavailable.
Fitch
 
I think The Range sells the XL Grosvenor and so does Robert Dyas but more expensive than from little pet warehouse for example or the ebay seller i bought mine from.
I wouldn't go for a high cage for a dwarf but a Savic Plaza from petsathome could be adjusted with perspex panels to reduce the height with very deep substrate, all extra cost though.
I come across very reasonable detolfs with lids on Gumtree from time to time but needs a big car to transport.
Are you looking for a barred or tank style cage?
As for substrate, i buy the 85l bags of white Kaytee clean and cozy but live near shops that sell it. The 85l bags work out cheaper than the smaller bags but i have 6 hamsters plus 1 foster.
 
I get the 49L bags & that lasts me quite a long time, it is quite expensive to fill up the cage initially but after that you won’t need much as you will mostly just be spot cleaning the pee area & don’t need to do full cage cleans, I do partial cage cleans, maybe half the cage at a time every few months at most so a bag does go a long way.
 
I have just found a brand new Savic hamster heaven cage on my local Facebook group for £15! We are on our way to pick it up as we are quite limited for space at the moment but hoping to upgrade in the coming months.

And thank you for the substrate recommendations! I think I’m going to look into the Kaytee clean and cosy.

Just a question - are any type of wood shavings safe for hamsters?
 
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