Types Of Cages

 

There are so many great cages out there, such as diy cages, tanks, bin cages, and ikea detolf cages. Just get creative and have fun with it. Make your cage unique, as long as it has 360 sq. inches of floorspace or more you're good to go! 

 

Bin Cages: 

Bin cages are great cages. They are cheap, easy to maintain and large enough to fit a hamster. The ideal size is a 110 qt. bin. This bin is equivanent to 649.31 sq. inches of floorspace. My fourth cage was a 110 qt. bin. I loved it but the only thing that wasn't so great was the height. The height was not very tall, so my hamster could climb out, and he aslo chewed on the plastic from the lid. All that is required is putting in some mesh or wire on the sides or the lid for ventilation. These cages are the cheapest option, I purchased my bin at Target for $12.99.  I highly recommend this cage. 

 

Tanks:

Tanks are my favorite type of cages. I currently have a 40 gallon breeder aquarium. This has 660.66 square inches of floorspace. All tanks have slightly different dimesnions, so measurments will differ depending on brand. The smallest tank size that would be suitable is a 20 gallon long tank. This has 360 inches of floorspace, however some might be smaller depending on brand. These cages are more expensive, but they are easy to clean, they have great ventilation, they look nice, and hamsters can't escape. For a 40 gallon breeder tank the price is usually $90-$120. There are so many other sizes out there such as the 50 gallon, 55 gallon, and 100 gallon. however you will need quite a large area, and these cages cost a bit more. Something I suggest keeping and eye out for is the dollar per gallon sale at Petco, and sometimes Petsmart. I am limited on space, so the largest I could get was a 40 gallon. I suggest getting a tank for your hamster.

 

D.I.Y:

Do it yourself,  get creative making your own cage! There are so many things you can do with a diy cage. You can design it and make it however big you want.  Materials can cost quite a bit, but you will have a very nice and unique cage. There's not much to say about this, but if you need ideas go check out Hopping Hammy's diy cage. That is one of my favorites so far. 

 

Ikea Detolf cage:

These cages are getting very popular, I would like to get one of these one day. All you do is but an ikea detolf glass shelf, put it on its side, take out the shelves and turn it into the cage of your dreams. You can buy one of these from amazon.com or Ikea. These usually are around $70. 

 

Habitrail Ovo:

These aren't my first choice, but they can be somewhat suitable if three or more larger Ovos are connected. One thing I like about these cages are that the company makes large tubes that are big enough for syrians, so they can comfortably crawl though the tubes. Unlike other companies that make tubes much too small for Syrians. They can be a bit costly, but they make good homes only if there are enough connected to create a large habitat. I personally would only use these as an accessory, connected to a tank, bin, or D.I.Y cage.

 

Crittertrail Cage:

I just want to make it clear that these cages are not suitable for hamsters- almost never acceptable. Even for a travel cage. For a car ride, that is obviously fine. But if your hamster is going to be living in that cage for a week or so, it is too small. If you take your hamster somewhere for a couple of days or even a week and they are stuck living in a tiny cage, that is not fair to them at all. If you are gone for few days then have someone watch your pets for you. I'm not saying don't travel and have fun. But always keep your hamster's well being a priority. Anyway, these cages are not good because they are always under the minimum. Never have I seen one of these cages meeting the minimum cage requirement. Many people are drawn to these cages because of the bright colors, multiple levels, and tubes. Just because there are a lot of attachments doesn't mean that the cage is large enough. Hamsters are considered a child's pet, and I disagree. Young children don't think about cage size, they only care about looks. Most of the time a child will see one of these and fall in love with it becuase if the colors and how fun it looks. The only way these cages would be suitable only if there is at least four or five connected together. The only way to connect these is with tubes, and if you have a Syrian then that would be a problem since Syrians are quite large hamsters. Please do not use these cages. Although they may look appealing to humans they are not suitable for any hamster.