New houses

Maz

Maz

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I've seen a few new houses for hamsters recently. This one looks interesting (there is also a 3 room corner version).

Hamster house 1.jpg


This one looks the same as the Ferplast Sin but a different manufacturer name - just wondering if the quality is improved as my last three Sin houses were terrible (one was very splintery, one the roof didn't fit, the other, the roof arrived with a broken bit). Seems to be about the same size as the Ferplast sin guinea pig house but comes in different colours (see link).

Babooda hamster house.jpg


Amazon.co.uk:

www.amazon.co.uk

Also two more nail free, flat roofed houses. Not sure what these are like but they look ok. Some of these houses don't mention what type of wood is used I've noticed (asking the seller could help!). A square multiroom one and a long oblong one. Not as big as labyrinth houses but not a bad size. Doesn't say what size the doors are. Not too impressed with the photoshopped hamsters though! The dwarf looks as big as the Syrian! Maybe this is a dwarf sized house.

Square hamster house.jpg

 
I noticed these too. I just worry as they do not say which wood they use. I once asked about the wood a bridge used but did not get a reply.
 
I have been lucky with the Ferplast sin houses and never had a faulty one. I buy them in a local petshop so could return a faulty one though.

The Range shop sells one very similar to the third one for under a tenner.

The first one looks interesting but i don't like the ornamental 'ears' of the side door. A simple round opening would be safer. I'm saying that after finding my crazy dwarf Clarissa with her head stuck in a small ornamental hole.

Tbh, i don't worry about the wood used in hamster houses. I don't think anybody would use wood that is poisonous or highly scented.
 
Snowy has the rectangular version of the last one you listed on stilts in her enclosure, and another in her play area. It's a bit of work to glue them together and seal them (while making sure the lid still fits!) but they're pretty good. The entrance is 6cm diameter, not sure if that is too small for a syrian.
IMG_20221214_103717_HDR_copy_1506x847.jpg
 
Thsts good to know AJ! 6cm is fine for a Syrian, I was interested as a long house can work well at one end of a cage and be quite space saving. I didn’t realise it needed glueing together - or is that optional? It looked like it fitted together like a jigsaw?
 
Maz said:
Thsts good to know AJ! 6cm is fine for a Syrian, I was interested as a long house can work well at one end of a cage and be quite space saving. I didn’t realise it needed glueing together - or is that optional? It looked like it fitted together like a jigsaw?
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It does fit together without gluing but I'd personally be a little concerned about toes/nails getting caught in the corners, but I'm probably being overly cautious. If it is used on stilts it'd be probably be rather unstable without being glued though. The one Snowy has in her playpen isnt glued together, just plastikoted to prevent wee seeping into the wood.
 
That’s a good point about it being unstable on stilts - I’ve often thought that about jigsaw type houses. Getzoo has labyrinth houses like that. Plastikote can work as a bit of a glue anyway - I also use it to seal cracks and find it sticks hemp mat to a roof as well if the hemp mat is put on when the plastikote is still wet. It pulls off again easily enough but leaves some hairs behind! So when I’ve had to replace it I just put another dab of plastikote in a couple of places on the shelf! Not that you would need to stick hemp mat to a house roof or shelf normally but this was quite a narrow shelf and the hemp mat kept slipping.
 
Was the house ok condition? As in not needing any sanding? Even the Rodipet ones have the odd small rough or splintery not though sometimes.
 
Maz said:
Was the house ok condition? As in not needing any sanding? Even the Rodipet ones have the odd small rough or splintery not though sometimes.
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If I recall correctly I just had to lightly sand the opening. I think it even came with a piece of very fine grade sandpaper for the job :)
 
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This is what we need, just one large hide away and up on stilts would be great as it won’t keep sinking down which happens with our shoebox. Hams also left a piece of cucumber on the roof recently 🙄, luckily it didn’t soak right through to make a hole 😂 but we do have a dried out dent now.

I’ll take a look at these, thanks all. If I use it in the playpen for a while, then it’ll have some scent on it before I swap out the shoebox sometime early next year.
 
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Henry Happy homes makes houses that are slotted together and you can buy stilts for them too. I know they are mentioned on another thread on here. I have their multi chamber hide as well as their dig boxes.
 
A_J said:
If I recall correctly I just had to lightly sand the opening. I think it even came with a piece of very fine grade sandpaper for the job :)
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That sounds helpful of them - providing a piece of sandpaper! I'm particularly interested in the long one as I have a built in long house in a smaller cage I use as a holiday cage. It came with the house - it's like a smaller version of the Alexander cage that had the built in long house (if anyone remembers that). It worked really well because it gave plenty of room in the house for nest, hoards and toilet and so the rest of the cage had a lot more free space - which was good for a smaller cage (it was only about 68cm x 45cm) - about Duna Multy size but a bit taller. The downside was, as it fitted to the cage it was at floor level so no substrate under it (just an inch or so inside it).

So I used that idea in the Savic Mickey 2XL (same size as the hamster heaven) to free up more space in that. I did have a Rodipet long house but it didn't quite work as had a hole in the roof in the centre and no door and was quite low. I made a door at the front but then it let too much light in. So I was always on the lookout for a longer narrower house that would fit the cage width and could sit on legs. I'd seen that one before - so thank you AJ for giving the details! I don't need one just now as not using the Savic Mickey at the moment. But a house like that made it more useable for a Syrian. Raffy has his labyrinth house in his 100cm cage right now though and is happy with it (I think!).

The other good thing about a long house with a door at one end is, it means the other end is nice and dark and they like nesting at the dark end.
 
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Zara said:
This is what we need, just one large hide away and up on stilts would be great as it won’t keep sinking down which happens with our shoebox. Hams also left a piece of cucumber on the roof recently 🙄, luckily it didn’t soak right through to make a hole 😂 but we do have a dried out dent now.

I’ll take a look at these, thanks all. If I use it in the playpen for a while, then it’ll have some scent on it before I swap out the shoebox sometime early next year.
Click to expand...
Yes that would probably work well in Ham's cage too! You can just make legs out of dowels and glue them on - I did that with our first house - it's on another thread on here with photos :). They were just thin 20cm dowels so easy to glue on or cut to the length you want. the key to glueing them on was glueing them up the front of the house on the outside so they were secure - so the height of the house needed adding on to the height you wanted the legs.
 
I am not keen on the face shaped hole on the top on either but it could maybe be blocked off.
 
RainbowBrite said:
Henry Happy homes makes houses that are slotted together and you can buy stilts for them too. I know they are mentioned on another thread on here. I have their multi chamber hide as well as their dig boxes.
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They make great houses! I know you have said they are well made.
 
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