Guest viewing is limited

I found 1 cage and 1 tote, which is better for 1 hamster?

I think if making a bin cage lid isn't going to be possible, you maybe need to think about alternative housing. Also you might want to see the hamsters and interact with them and if they are high up that would be difficult. They also get stressed if the enclosure gets moved regularly. Ideally their cage or enclosure should have one home and remain there - even moving it to another room can stress and disorientate them.

The options that are already secure with lids are:

1) A 40 gallon breeder tank (you can buy lids for those) - maybe a second hand one would be available? I couldn't see any sales on them at the moment.
2) Something like the exotic nutrition Sahara enclosure - not cheap Exotic nutrition sahara large
3) The Omlet cage - expensive - about $190 after the discount Omlet cage
4) Exotic nutrition Zanzibar cage - it's a bit on the small side but not bad. It's also a bit tall for a robo but you could put cardboard inside the bars and have deeper bedding - so that helps with bedding depth and also reduces the height of the cage. Not much cheaper than the sahara Zanzibar cage
5) Bucatstate tank style enclosure - these are great and have a front opening door as well as a lift off top. Expensive though Bucatstate
6) A second hand niteangel enclosure (similar to the sahara but they are very expensive new).

If you need enclosures for two hamsters, it could get expensive. Maybe it would be better to rehome one of them and get the best enclosure possible for the other one? Commercial hamster cages are expensive (except the tiny ones which should be banned!). DIY is cheaper, but I also wouldn't fancy making a bin cage lid as I'm not that great with diy.

There are other diy options that are inexpensive (Ikea hacks) but you still need to make a lid for them.

You could have a look on craigslist maybe - for second hand 40 gallon breeder tanks, niteangel enclosures, pawhut hamster enclosures etc. You might find a bargain.

Robos may be tiny but they are very high energy. In the Uk the minimum recommended size for all species of hamster (including robos) is approx 100cm long by 50cm wide (about 40" by 20"). In the US something 90cm by 45cm is seen as acceptable with something like the Zanzibar cage being a minimum size.

These used to be popular and are only $60. They are a tank style secure enclosure but are actually slightly smaller than the zanzibar. It's a shame there isn't a bigger version. They were used with all the wood contents removed as the wood items are too large and take up too much space and intended for guinea pigs (and of course the cage is far too small for a guinea pig). They would be ok for a temporary home perhaps as they are secure. No need to have them high up. Very narrow bar spacing on top.

 
Last edited:
I think if making a bin cage lid isn't going to be possible, you maybe need to think about alternative housing. Also you might want to see the hamsters and interact with them and if they are high up that would be difficult. They also get stressed if the enclosure gets moved regularly. Ideally their cage or enclosure should have one home and remain there - even moving it to another room can stress and disorientate them.

The options that are already secure with lids are:

1) A 40 gallon breeder tank (you can buy lids for those) - maybe a second hand one would be available? I couldn't see any sales on them at the moment.
2) Something like the exotic nutrition Sahara enclosure - not cheap Exotic nutrition sahara large
3) The Omlet cage - expensive - about $190 after the discount Omlet cage
4) Exotic nutrition Zanzibar cage - it's a bit on the small side but not bad. It's also a bit tall for a robo but you could put cardboard inside the bars and have deeper bedding - so that helps with bedding depth and also reduces the height of the cage. Not much cheaper than the sahara Zanzibar cage
5) Bucatstate tank style enclosure - these are great and have a front opening door as well as a lift off top. Expensive though Bucatstate
6) A second hand niteangel enclosure (similar to the sahara but they are very expensive new).

If you need enclosures for two hamsters, it could get expensive. Maybe it would be better to rehome one of them and get the best enclosure possible for the other one? Commercial hamster cages are expensive (except the tiny ones which should be banned!). DIY is cheaper, but I also wouldn't fancy making a bin cage lid as I'm not that great with diy.

There are other diy options that are inexpensive (Ikea hacks) but you still need to make a lid for them.

You could have a look on craigslist maybe - for second hand 40 gallon breeder tanks, niteangel enclosures, pawhut hamster enclosures etc. You might find a bargain.

Robos may be tiny but they are very high energy. In the Uk the minimum recommended size for all species of hamster (including robos) is approx 100cm long by 50cm wide (about 40" by 20"). In the US something 90cm by 45cm is seen as acceptable with something like the Zanzibar cage being a minimum size.

These used to be popular and are only $60. They are a tank style secure enclosure but are actually slightly smaller than the zanzibar. It's a shame there isn't a bigger version. They were used with all the wood contents removed as the wood items are too large and take up too much space and intended for guinea pigs (and of course the cage is far too small for a guinea pig). They would be ok for a temporary home perhaps as they are secure. No need to have them high up. Very narrow bar spacing on top.

I think I will go with Zanzibar Cage. I can buy two of them. Thanks for looking out for cages for me. The other cages are too expensive. I would rather have cage instead of tank. I used to have tanks but got rid of them. I should have kept the tanks, but anyways how much bedding should I use? Do I fill with bedding half way up the cage? I will have to move the hamsters to their new home. I will get next month. I will be doing a major upgrade to where they are now. I seen a Zanzbar cage for 106 dollars for one cage., on Amazon.. The other one is cheaper but I do not want to give me important ifo. I like to go to where it is trusted, just to be on the safe side. Now all I have to do is figure out where to place the cages. i am sure glad I did not buy more hamsters. 2 hammmys are plenty enough for me. Also cages are easy to clean. Where as the tanks are not. I rather go with a cage at this point.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Maz
It's true, a cage can be more secure more easily :-) The only one big enough really though, is the Omlet cage and two of those would be expensive. Some people, when they find they need to separate dwarf hamsters, decide to rehome one of them and get a good cage for the other one.

If the bins are where the cat can't reach them, that is good. It's a bit risky without a lid in case the hamsters escape. Sometimes they pile bedding up in one corner and just walk up it and climb out! Giving them minimal bedding to avoid that is bad for their welfare. Robos especially need plenty of bedding so they can dig and burrow.
I am going to go with the Zanzibar Cage.Someone posted on here links to buy cages. It is a little expensive but I can buy it. i want to keep both of my hamsters. It be better than the bin. as I am not handy at projects set up. The cage will be fine, for now. All I have to do is make space for the new cages.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Maz
I prefer cages as well :) It's also called the Prevue cage if you see it on Amazon. I thought it was more expensive on amazon but maybe not. It does have a nice big front door and a top door as well so it's quite easy to spot clean.

If you can just cut up a cardboard box (eg an Amazon box) and put cardboard inside the bars about 6" high all round, then you can fill the base with bedding. There are various ways of attaching the cardboard so it stays in place. That'll give them 8" or more bedding and mean the cage isn't too tall for a robo :-)

It has a decent shelf in there so then you just need their wheels and some enrichment items - hides, tunnels etc (cardboard ones are fine too for that - eg a tissue box hide) and some sprays and any other enrichment items you can get!
 
How much bedding should I use? Should I fill bedding half way up the cage? I am not sure how to measure the bedding. I want to make sure I have enough bedding for the hamster's. Also should I leave some of the old bedding in the cage, then replace with new bedding? I read to fully clean the tank once a month, is that true? And do spot checking every few days, I have done that and I did not have to clean anything. little hamster pee does not stink.
 
You'd want at least 8" of bedding in there. The base holds 6" so I would put maybe 5" high cardboard inside the bars so you can fill the base with 8" to 10" of bedding and it not spill out. The bar spacing is ok - about 1cm - but you'd need to check the gaps at the corners (and maybe round the top) in case they are a bit larger. What I've done before is fasten cable ties along the length if there is one bar that is a bit wider - either to close it up a bit or just block it off basically.

As and when you move them you can put new bedding in the cage, then keep all the old bedding and put that on top, so it still smells familiar. Robos pee very little and most of it just evaporates! So occasional spot cleaning of the pee area is fine. There's a home page article with tips about cage cleaning. But basically the more bedding you have in, the less often you need to do a main clean and just spot clean mostly, and then just do "partial" cleans. With a robo I used to do a partial clean maybe after three months and just do one end of the cage. He would move his nest to the other end. Then maybe a month later I'd do the other end of the cage. Even then I'd replace at least half the clean bedding.

 
Incidentally you can get a very large bale of paper Boxo bedding from Walmart that would last a long time!

It's linked in this article

 
Back
Top