Hello - and wooden platform recommendations

[mskitty]

Hi All

I'm new - we've just got Keith - a black syrian, and are following all the recommendations to make sure he has a happy home with us. I have noticed quite a few set ups have a wooden platform which I like the idea of to keep him food and water away from bedding. Are there any which are better than others, or alternative platform options which are well regarded (we are in the UK).

thank you

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome Look forward to meeting Keith. Are you in the Uk, US or elsewhere? I really like the Happy Henry's homes platforms - they're not too expensive and you choose what length you want the legs. But they're just in the Uk I think.

Hamster Cloud Platform 300mm x 200mm with Solid Birch Legs | Happy Henry’s Homes

Hamster Cloud Platform with Solid Birch Legs Description:Hamster Platform with 4 supporting legs. Legs come complete with brass threaded inserts for stainless steel screw fixings to fix the platform and legs to one another.

www.happyhenryshomes.co.uk

Hamster Platform with Solid Birch Legs | Happy Henry’s Homes

Hamster Platform with Solid Birch Legs Description:Hamster Platform with 4 supporting legs. Legs come complete with brass threaded inserts for stainless steel screw fixings to fix the platform and legs to one another.

www.happyhenryshomes.co.uk

Hamster Rectangular Platform 310mm x 220mm with Solid Birch Legs | Happy Henry’s Homes

Hamster Platform with Solid Birch Legs Description:Hamster Platform with 4 supporting legs. Legs come complete with brass threaded inserts for stainless steel screw fixings to fix the platform and legs to one another.

www.happyhenryshomes.co.uk

 

[mskitty]

Thank you. Yes we're UK based so these are really helpful. Here's Keith

 

[Maz]

Aw he's gorgeous What type of cage or enclosure do you have? Some plaforms fit better than others depending on what type you have.

 

[mskitty]

It's the pets at home habitat 3 which came with a massive platform but I felt it covered over too much of the cage so we've taken it out and I think we'd prefer something smaller.

 

[Maz]

Do you mean this one with the bars?

Pets at Home Hamster/Mouse Habitat Grey | Pets

Buy Pets at Home Hamster/Mouse Habitat Grey | Available to order today & Free Delivery on orders over £45

www.petsathome.com

If so, I'd get the cloud platforms from HHH. I use those in barred cages. Normal platforms don't fit very well with a curved cage base as the legs are in the wrong place. The cloud platforms can be placed at different angles so they go up to the edge

 

[mskitty]

Thank you. Yes that's the one. Such helpful advice.

 

[Hank]

Keith is gorgeous.
HHH is a great site, they do really nice multi chamber houses, if you don't already have one, which could be a platform as well.

 

[mskitty]

Keith is gorgeous.
HHH is a great site, they do really nice multi chamber houses, if you don't already have one, which could be a platform as well.

I've just been looking. We don't have a multi chamber house. Where would we put it? Do we bury it under the substrate or sit it on top?

 

[Maz]

If you have the base full to the top with substrate then you'd probably want to choose 20cm legs (in the drop down menu). If it's slightly less than that at the platform end then 15cm legs should be ok. But you don't want the platform more than about 2" above the substrate really or you'd need quite a steep ramp. A bendy stick bridge next to it might work, or I've used a cork log in front of it before, to make a ramp.

Here's a photo of two cloud platforms at one end of a cage. I had one 20cm one and one 15 cm - one goes partly under the other one. Although you might not want two if you think the current platform takes up too much space, but these are shaped so don't stick out so far.

 

[Maz]

Sorry, posted at the same time. That is another option to use a large multichamber house as a platform I actually use both - the Multichamber house at one end of the cage and the platforms at the other end. The best way to use a multichamber house is on legs/stilts. They are also sold in different lengths. So the house sits on top of the substrate but is supported by the legs so it doesn't sink. That way, the hamster can burrow down in their nest or bury hoards under their nest.

Actually that photo above, the cage is a bit deeper than yours, but they still work well overlapped.

 

[mskitty]

This is so helpful.

One last question (for now) is what do you do about your wheel? We've got the same as you I think and at the moment we've got it on the floor of the cage so it's on solid ground at one end and then built up the substrate at the other end of the cage (my son has made a cardboard barrier to keep it all contained). Would we get a platform for under the substrate for the wheel to then sit on so we could have it deeper at the other side of the cage too?

 

[Maz]

This is the same cage showing the multiroom house at the other end, and one photo showing a bit of the house and a bit of the platforms. That cage was a bit sparse for contents - it was for an older hamster

 

[Maz]

This is in a smaller cage a bit narrower than yours with a different arrangement of two platforms (and a house on the left, while it was being set up - but the house is smaller as it was for a dwarf hamster. So you can fit two if you wanted to I had one in the middle here.





Rodipet also make very nice multiroom houses Theirs have a granite tile on top that helps keep a hamster's nails shortened and is a cooling place to sit. They're about the same price (converted from Euros) but postage is a bit more.

Rodipet® furling Goldi Large

ʄʋʀɬɨɴɡ: A Unique Home In a burrow deep within the bedding, there lived a hamster. This was no ordinary burrow - it was not a dirty, ...

www.rodipet.co.uk

 

[Maz]

Could get a bit expensive buying platforms and a house as well though

 

[Lovelyness]

Definitely recommend HHH…you can buy their things off eBay too which tends to be quicker. They have an eBay button on their website which will take you to their eBay page

 

[Maz]

This is so helpful.

One last question (for now) is what do you do about your wheel? We've got the same as you I think and at the moment we've got it on the floor of the cage so it's on solid ground at one end and then built up the substrate at the other end of the cage (my son has made a cardboard barrier to keep it all contained). Would we get a platform for under the substrate for the wheel to then sit on so we could have it deeper at the other side of the cage too?

It varies depending on the wheel and the cage. With the cage you have, there is more limited height for a wheel. It's about 40cm high. So if you had a 28cm wheel and a bit of a gap at the top you'd have room for about 11cm substrate under the wheel - if the wheel was as high as it can go.

So in that case it's probably better to use a wheel that screws to the bars, so you can have it whatever height you want. Alternatively, I'm currently using the 28cm plastic Trixie wheel and just have it standing on the substrate, but to stabilise it and stop it sinking, I've just tied the stand to the bars at the back Which is easy to do. But you do need to use something like sisal or seagrass string as normal string can cause blockages if chewed.

 

[Maz]

So no you don't need a platform to stand the wheel on but you could use one if you wanted to - it would need to be about a 10cm high platform for that. And yes if the substrate is lower in the wheel area you could either have the wheel in the centre at the back and the substrate sloping up in front and to the sides of it, or have the wheel at one end and have a lower area sloping up to a higher area.

Which wheel do you have?

 

[mskitty]

It's this one, 28cm so yes not loads of room at the top. I need to have a move about of things I think when he's a bit more settled and get a couple more bits recommended on here as I can see the benefits of them and how they would work for him.

 

[Maz]

You can do the same with that one. Stand it on top of as much substrate as will fit and just tie the stand to the bars Or if you're feeling like it, you can fix those wheels upside down. I haven't seen the PAH version but it looks the same as the Karlie and Trixie ones. They have two screws in the bottom. You just take the screws out, then you just use a couple of large washers on top of the cage, put the screws through the washers and screw them into the holes in the base of the stand. You get very slightly more substrate underneath But the downside is if you want to take the barred top off regularly, you're lifting the wheel out with it (which isn't too much of a problem really).