Hold your breath, for I am willing to vouch with my hamsters’ weekly allowance of sunflower seeds (sorry, Neko and Nikole! ) that the cage set up you’re going to see will be one-of-its-kind and one of the most unique you have ever seen.

Ready? Here you gooooo!

Are you impressed? Did you go ‘woah!’ like I did when I first saw this photo?

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This is the genius of HH member Flea, from Germany. In the words of HoppingHammy, “You people in Germany are so creative and always have the nicest, most natural looking cages.” Here’s the exclusive interview with Flea.

HH (Hamster Hideout): What gives you the inspiration for such a creative set up?
Flea: I got most of my ideas from a German hamster forum and adapted it to my conditions.

HH: What are the dimensions of the Ikea bookshelf?
Flea: The dimensions of the ‘Expedit’ bookshelf are 149 x 39 x 149 cm

HH: What are the dimensions of each ‘level’?

Flea: Every Hamster lives in one floor (5 floors in total) and each has an area of 139 x 39 cm

HH: How do you wash the ‘cage’? And what is the average cleaning time?
Flea: I remove the bedding with a shovel and then wipe everything out with a wet cloth. Due to the big doors it’s quite easy. I take about 20 minutes to clean each level.

HH: How long have you been using this set up?
Flea: I build the entire set up in February 08. For the furniture, I change one thing in the cages about every two weeks to avoid my hamsters from getting bored.

HH: What are some of the pros and cons of using this set up?
Pros:
-A lot space. My hammies really enjoy running and digging through it!
-In my opinion it looks better than a cage
-It’s space-saving if you have more hamsters
-It was cheaper than to buy four tanks/aquariums in that size
-The big doors: I can reach everything in the cage easily and pick up my hammies everywhere
- I can observe my hams very well

Cons:
-It’s very heavy. If I want to move it, I’ll have to take it apart.

HH: What DIY works did you do to the cage?

Flea: I screwed on a back board made of laminated chipboard. On the front I screwed on a rail with a height of 10 cm to avoid bedding from falling out from the cage. At these rails, I fixed the doors with hinges. To make the doors, I’ve sawed the holes with a jig saw and fixed the mesh inside. For locking the doors, I screwed bars/lock bolts on the doors. I used an electric staple gun to attach the wire mesh onto the door. Then I glued a barrier on the floor for the wodent wheel area. At last I’ve sealed the grooves with silicone for aquariums (non-toxic) to avoid urine from infiltrating the chipboard.

HH: Did you make the wooden toys? They are beautiful!!

Flea: I made the houses myself using plywood. Unfortunately my hammies don’t use them. They sleep behind their wheel

HH: What are the parts that make up your entire set up & estimated costs?

-Expedit Bookshelf 40 € (used/ second-hand)
-Chipboard 35 €
-Screws, hinges and locks abt. 50 €
-Mesh 0 € (got it as a present )
-Edge bander 6 €
-Silicone 6 €
-Varnish (to paint the hinges white) 5 €

Entire cost for the hamster home abt. 142€
Excluding: Wodent Wheels and ‘furniture’ costing about. 80 € (I had a lot at home. The running wheels are the most expensive.)

(Note: The currency is in Euro €)

HH: Thanks a bunch for doing this interview!
Flea: Thank you as well for your interest in my hamster’s home!

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Read the previous issues here.

Proud of your hamster’s cage?

You can submit your hamster homes photos via HH Forum or Flickr

In this week’s edition of “Featured Hamster Home“, we look out how hammyhamsters build her very first bin. What caught my attention is how she attach a Crittertrail door on the bin, which really struck me as very clever.

Hamster Hideout (HH): How did you attach the Crittertrail door on the bin?

hammyhamsters (hammy): Since I used to have all my hamsters in Crittertrail cages (that is, until I realized how cruel it was to keep hamsters in such a small, confined area), I have a lot of extra Crittertrail cages. For this bin I cut off the door and back of one of the Crittertrails. Then I cut a hole (the size and shape of the door) with an electric jigsaw in the bin. I also did this on the back of the bin. After this, I got some screws, washers, and nuts and attached the pieces of the Crittertrail with these.

HH: Do you usually access your ham from the doorway or the top?

hammy: Usually when it’s night time and time for the hamsters to be awake, McLovin (the hamster living in this bin) is standing at the doorway, ready to come out! It’s easy to access him from the doorway at night, but if I have to clean their cages during the day, I access him from the lid.

HH: How did you make the top lid?

hammy: For the top lid, I cut out a hole in the lid, measured how much wire mesh I needed, cut the wire mesh, and attached the mesh with screws, washers, and nuts.

HH: What tools did you use?

hammy: For tools, I needed a drill with a couple different bits, an electric jigsaw (used to cut the holes in the bin), a lot of screws, washers, and nuts.

HH: What are the estimated costs for setting up this home for McLovin?

hammy: If you don’t include the tools I had to buy (since I didn’t really have a lot to begin with) then the bin was basically free! I already had the storage bin in my house, so I didn’t have to buy that either. If you have tools and a couple bucks to spend on a plastic storage bin, you can make a bin cage. It’s really not too hard.

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Proud of your hamster’s cage?

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This week’s edition of Featured Hamster Home features Munchkins’ home for her hamster Sherbet. Munchkins is using a UK brand of hamster cage called Gabber Lux (Note: not available in the US currently).

I’d admit it, what attracted me first to this set up are the super cheery colours and cute, compact design. In my opinion, it’s ideal for those who are looking for a more compact set up, and more suitable for singly-housed dwarf hamster. It is a good alternative for dwarf hamster owners who want ready-made commercial cages (versus DIY bins or modular expansion kits that takes up more space).

Hamster Hideout (HH): What are the parts that part up the entire set-up, & estimated costs?

Munchkins (M):

- Gabber Lux cage - £28 (bought at local pet store)
- “Cushy tunnel” - £2.25 (sherbet loves it!)
- Wheel - £2.99!
- Rotastak water bottle - £1.99
- Silent Spinner - FOC (gift from friend)

Total: Approximately £39 (including other accessories).

HH: What are the dimensions of the main cage?

M:

Height - 11 inches or 28cm
Width - 22 inches or 55cm
Depth - 15 inches or 40 cm

HH: What are your reason(s) for choosing this set up?

M: I chose the cage mainly because I wanted a large cage to suit my dwarf hamster - Sherbet, and I didn’t want to have to make a bin cage, as I needed a new cage quickly, (Sherbet and Cookie absolutely hated each other and I needed to separate them as soon as I could.) I settled for this cage because of the attractive layout, large size and low price!

HH: What are the pros and cons of using this set up for Sherbet?

M: The only problems I’ve had with it are that the water bottle and wheel supplied with it were truly awful, the water bottle leaked everywhere and wouldn’t stay in place, and the wheel was really small, didn’t turn smoothly ( it wasn’t even properly round :|), and was quite sharp in places!

Having said that, It’s super easy to clean out and looks great, plus it’s a fun cage for Sherbet - with the little ladders, wheel, toys and spiral tube. It’s great watching her whiz up the tubes and down the ladders!
I also found that it is really easy to get Sherbet out - the door is easy to open but she can’t reach it to escape! I think that it really is the best cage I’ve had for a dwarf hamster, it’s very durable and has lasted for the past two years!

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In this week’s edition of “Featured Hamster Home“, we bring you Christmas Hamster’s setup for her hamster Damion. When I first saw the set up, my eyes almost popped out of my sockets - what an elaborate and fun set up of tubes and tunnels! This set up is definitely any hamster’s dream, come true. Lucky Damion.

Hamster Hideout (HH): What are the parts that make up Damion’s set up, & the estimated costs?

Christmas_hamster (CH): His set up is made up of Habitrail and SAM tubes. There are about 30 ‘curved’ tubes, 4 8″ straight tubes, 3 U-turn tubes, 1 Habitrail loft, 1 Habitrail tower, 1 Habitrail den, 1 Habitrail playground cage and 1 Habitrail space station cage. The estimated cost if getting it all new is about $200 (Canadian Dollars).

HH: How much time do you need to clean his home each time?
CH: It takes me an 1 and 1/2 to clean his cage and tubes. Not very fun but it’s worth to see his happiness.

HH: What are your reviews about using this set up for your hamster?
CH: The only con to this type of cage is that they are expensive, alone they are too small and with many tubes they are a pain to clean.

But there are many pluses - The habitrail/SAM tubes are sturdy and do not fall apart if you are using the Habitrail lock connectors. The tubes are wide enough for most syrians and dwarfs to fit through and come apart effortlessly for easy cleaning. The cages themselves are easy to clean as well as sturdy and strong. I have dropped the Habitrail space station, which was my first cage ever, countless times and it has never broke.

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And last but not least, a very cute picture of the lucky inhabitant of the awesome setup, Damion.

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In our third issue of Featured Hamster Home, we present Hamster Hideout member Nicky85471’s amazing set up for her lucky hamster, Crush.

The hamsters at Hamster Hideout sniffed out this amazing set up with their ultra sonic whiskers and are quick on their little feet to secure an exclusive interview with Nicky85471. Thank you Nicky!

Hamster Hideout (HH): What are the parts that make up Crushes’ set up, & the estimated costs?

Nicky85471 (Nicky):

Rotastak Creepy Castle - £30
Rotastak Pod - £20 (i got it off a friend for £10 though)
Bin : 64 litre box, measuring 28 x 17.3 x 12.2 inches (L x W x D) - £10
Rotastak Spaghetti Junction - £15
Toys and Accessories - £15
Total Cost - £90

HH: What is your rationale for building something like this?

Nicky: When I first got him he was just in the Rotastak Creepy Castle, after which I bought the Rotastak Pod (triangular unit) off my friend for £10 because I felt that the castle was too small. I attached a bin because the Rotastak wheels were too small and a bigger wheel wouldn’t have fitted inside any of the units, and also to give him more room to run around.

HH: Is your hamster able to climb the long winding tubes with ease?

Nicky: Crush has no problem climbing the spaghetti junction … he runs through them.

HH: How do you make the holes on the bin’s lid?

Nicky: For the bigger hole to fit the tubes through I used a Stanley knife, it took me an hour to an hour & a half to do but I wanted the hole to be perfect so that the tube would fit snuggly. For the smaller holes I just used a drill, I can’t remember what size it was, it was the biggest one I could find.

HH: What are your views after using this set up for some time?

Nicky: One downside I have is that it’s pretty difficult to gain access to Crush when he is in the Rotastak because he will just run into a tube if you go to pick him up. But on the whole, I find it easy to clean and assemble once you’ve done it a few times. Crush loves the tubes. I find that the Rotastak provides smaller spaces for Crush to nest in whilst the bin provides him space to run around and allows a bigger wheel.

A look inside the bin’s interior

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Proud of your hamster’s cage?

You can submit your hamster homes photos via HH Forum or Flickr