Basic budget set up August 2023

[Maz]

Here is a thread to show a basic, budget set up for anyone who is short on cash. This one is for a Syrian (or a dwarf if bedding is deep enough to reduce cage height)

Cage: Second hand Savic Plaza £45 approx



Wheel: Trixie 28cm wheel £19 approx



Bedding: Fitch 70 litre paper bedding (this will fill the cage up to 25cm deep bedding with more to spare) £37.40



Cardboard box (eg Amazon box) - for cutting up and attaching inside bars for deep bedding Free

Rosewood Trio of balls - the seagrass ball to use as string to attach things to the bars - the wheel, the cardboard and anything else. The hyacinth ball as cage enrichment, the wicker ball for out of cage time £7 approx



Shoebox - to make a nesting box/house Free

Pringles tube for a floor tunnel Free (assuming you eat Pringles anyway)

Water bottle Approx £5

Sprays - Rosewood Pick n Fly Approx £4



Tissue box for sand bath (or household dish) Free

Sand - childrens play sand 10kg £3.50

Buy Rainbow Eco Play Natural Play Sand 10kg for GBP 1.50 | Hobbycraft UK

Buy Rainbow Eco Play Natural Play Sand 10kg at Hobbycraft UK.

www.hobbycraft.co.uk

Cork granules (alternative enrichment substrate/dig box) £2.99

Cork Granules

Cork Granules are a great substrate to add into a dig box! Adding additional substrates into dig boxes can add enrichment into your hamsters enclosure as they provide new textures to dig in. Suitable for Hamsters, Gerbils & Mice you will get approx. 100g of Cork granules they are a natural item...

hopeshealthytreats.com

Tissue box for cork granules to make digging box Free

Extra hidey places - egg box hide, tissue box hide Free


TOTAL £124 approx

 

[Maz]

If anyone can make that even more budget - set out below! It's a shame that a basic budget set up can't be achieved for less than a £100. Bedding is not cheap any more (and I think the Fitch works out the cheapest for the amount).

 

[Emx93]

This is a really useful guide that will help a lot of hammies and their owners thankyou for taking the time to make it

I dont think i can get it cheaper (and im far from an expert) but i can suggest some free/cheap additions/alternatives if itll be any help?

Would it be possible to make a sort of multichamber with cardboard and a flour/water mix as glue too assuming you have cardboard and flour at home? not sure how long it'd last but it would probably be a start
can also use the flour and water method to attach seeds/forage to a kitchen paper or toilet paper tube to make a boredom breaker- we did this with maple during lockdown as a multitasking keeping the kids entertained and hamster enrichment on a budget - he loved it

Coco coir can also be picked up for around £3 from a lot of pet/reptile shops as an alternative or addition to the cork granules and will save on delivery cost

Amazon do beech chips for £7 and the bag is big enough to probably refill an average digbox several times over?

B and q do terecotta plant pots to use as hides between £1.50 and £4.50 depending on size
Terecotta saucers are also around £2 from there and would serve as a food bowl/ somewhere for hammie to explore

If fitch is being hard to come by amazon do an 85l bag of kaytee clean and cozy for £24

Pets at home do water bottles for £2 sometimes less

Wooden mushroom chew- pets at home £2

 

[Maz]

Thank you! That is even more helpful. A cardboard multichamber hide is better than a shoebox house Even though a shoebox house is large, it doesn't have the rooms. I allowed £5 for the water bottle to get a good one that doesn't leak! (Eg the ferplast drinky 75ml) although the Classic ones are popular and they may be a bit cheaper.

I think Fitch works out cheaper for the amount needed. There was a calculation on here a while back Good tips on the other items too!

 

[Maz]

I forgot about those little mushrooms. They are very popular!

 

[Lovelyness]

Shredded cardboard as an alternative substrate instead of cork granules in a dig box.

 

[Maz]

Absolutely. I use shredded cardboard too.

 

[ktm4224]

Hello, I am new to the forum and look forward to learning lots from everyone. I have already made every rookie move there is so please allow my some grace and excuse my ignorance, I promise I am trying very hard and wish to give my little guys a wonderful life. I certainly would not have showed up here and admitted to my mistakes if not. LOL I am a pet lover, I have 2 elderly dogs, 2 crazy cats and now 2 dwarf hamsters, Mike and Harvey. I am also an empty-nester working from home. I will do an into thread and get caught up but right now I need to deal with the cage situation. I know everyone hates the Crittertrail cages, and I get it but is it not possible to link those to a larger cage? Are they terrible as a whole or just as the "main enclosure" for these sweet babies? I certainly do not want to do anything to harm them but I'm thinking about how to stack and link and create a fortress. Thanks in advance!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Hello, I am new to the forum and look forward to learning lots from everyone. I have already made every rookie move there is so please allow my some grace and excuse my ignorance, I promise I am trying very hard and wish to give my little guys a wonderful life. I certainly would not have showed up here and admitted to my mistakes if not. LOL I am a pet lover, I have 2 elderly dogs, 2 crazy cats and now 2 dwarf hamsters, Mike and Harvey. I am also an empty-nester working from home. I will do an into thread and get caught up but right now I need to deal with the cage situation. I know everyone hates the Crittertrail cages, and I get it but is it not possible to link those to a larger cage? Are they terrible as a whole or just as the "main enclosure" for these sweet babies? I certainly do not want to do anything to harm them but I'm thinking about how to stack and link and create a fortress. Thanks in advance!

Hello and welcome to the forum. It is lovely to have you hear.

With hamsters they need a solid floor space. By linking many smaller cages together they do not have the same experience of displaying natural behaviours such as burrowing, digging and foraging. I understand there is a lot of misinformation out there and especially in pet shops as they just want to make money.

I am not sure which country you live in but there are often tanks on the classified adverts and other bargains to be found so do not be afraid to check them out.

Just checking, do Mike and Harvey have separate cages?

 

[ktm4224]

Hello and welcome to the forum. It is lovely to have you hear.

With hamsters they need a solid floor space. By linking many smaller cages together they do not have the same experience of displaying natural behaviours such as burrowing, digging and foraging. I understand there is a lot of misinformation out there and especially in pet shops as they just want to make money.

I am not sure which country you live in but there are often tanks on the classified adverts and other bargains to be found so do not be afraid to check them out.

Just checking, do Mike and Harvey have separate cages?

Thank you so much for your answer as I was thinking they would enjoy the exploring aspect of multiple cages, I had not considered the solid floor space. I live in the US and did get them from the pet store. I am now considering them as rescues. They were together in the cage and honestly haven't left each others side since bringing them home. I do not have an issue with getting separate cages if they start to fight/bully but they seem to be closely bonded. Who knows what their journey was prior to me seeing them. I do not want to create more stress if they are bonded. I will do more research and can't wait to hear more from everyone. I had hamsters as a child but these are my first ones as an older adult. LOL

 

[RainbowBrite]

Thank you so much for your answer as I was thinking they would enjoy the exploring aspect of multiple cages, I had not considered the solid floor space. I live in the US and did get them from the pet store. I am now considering them as rescues. They were together in the cage and honestly haven't left each others side since bringing them home. I do not have an issue with getting separate cages if they start to fight/bully but they seem to be closely bonded. Who knows what their journey was prior to me seeing them. I do not want to create more stress if they are bonded. I will do more research and can't wait to hear more from everyone. I had hamsters as a child but these are my first ones as an older adult. LOL

You are most welcome. I am linking you an article about why hamsters should live alone just to give you more information. Some of the behaviour we see can look like bonding but it is actually dominance and hamsters are much happier living alone.

Can hamsters live together?

No hamsters should not live together. They are solitary creatures who are territorial but will form a close bond with a human owner. Dwarf hamsters can fight to the kill.

thehamsterforum.com

I was also an adult when I first got a hamster. They make such wonderful pets. I bet you are going to get a lot of joy from yours.

 

[Daisy]

Thank you so much for your answer as I was thinking they would enjoy the exploring aspect of multiple cages, I had not considered the solid floor space. I live in the US and did get them from the pet store. I am now considering them as rescues. They were together in the cage and honestly haven't left each others side since bringing them home. I do not have an issue with getting separate cages if they start to fight/bully but they seem to be closely bonded. Who knows what their journey was prior to me seeing them. I do not want to create more stress if they are bonded. I will do more research and can't wait to hear more from everyone. I had hamsters as a child but these are my first ones as an older adult. LOL

Hello and welcome to the forum

I wouldn't recommend linked cages at all with a pair. The separate areas can increase the risk of them falling out and fighting, which is already very high.

I agree with RainbowBrite that they're better kept alone. They can seem fine when they are young but as they mature problems can arise, and often the first noticeable sign of trouble is when they fight.

 

[Frida]

Hello and welcome to the forum

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome - join the club as I’m an adult owner too. They do much better with one large floor area so they can have normal habits - you can almost see how happy they are when they have lots of space and can dig tunnels and lots of hidey places etc. I’ll let ilguy give some tips as he knows where to get good sized bin cages in the US. I believe the minimum size you’d want would be a 160 litre bin. That would mean one each - so hope you have the space. That needs a lid making as well. Or some people use 40 gallon breeder tanks (minimum) which also need a lid.

Now technically - if you a 160 litre bin - you could connect crittertrail cages to it - but it doesn’t really work. Firstly the tube connection can be an escape route and secondly because it skews their normal behaviours. They do much better with an “environment” with everything they need in it so they can dig and roam and have the wheel, house etc all in one environment or habitat.

Dwarf hamsters actually need just as much space as Syrians as they have just as much energy.

I can understand you being reluctant to separate them - so many people see them snuggled together but one day they can just fall out and one gets killed. Do you know how old they are? They do absolutely fine in separate cages and enjoy their independence. They bond with you instead

 

[ilguy]

A great place to get stuff for a DIY setup in the States is Home Depot. They often have sales on industrial size bins, the monster I got for my Henry was just $35. Here's the setup: https://www.thehamsterforum.com/threads/henrys-bin.928/

You can get everything you need to make it there, the mesh goes by "hardware cloth" and you can get a roll of it for $12-20. A box cutter for the lid $2-4, zip ties and duct tape for about as much. They also have massive bags of mealworms in the home & garden section, often sold at all hardware stores for birds, 3 lbs for $9. He's set for life on those

In regards to bedding, if you're willing to make an investment you can make your own to save money. Hardware stores sell paper towel rolls in bulk for cheap, get a good quality paper shredder. I used to set a roll in the top and let it go until it was done at first. It's actually better than store bought bedding, much more absorbent and amazing at odor control. I switched to bought bedding later just because it's convenient.

If you need any help shoot me a message. It's pretty straight forward to do, the only thing is the wire mesh tends to roll back up at first. Zip ties are best for attaching it to the lid initially.

 

[ktm4224]

Has anyone tried this habitat?

 

[RainbowBrite]

Has anyone tried this habitat?

View attachment 5305

Unfortunately, this does not offer enough space. You want one level space without the levels. If you like tanks then you can often pick them up second hand or in a sale.

Ilguys ideas for bin cages are a great idea too.

 

[Maz]

It's interesting I think with the height, it's more for rabbits than hamsters maybe. The basic floor area is a bit small again at about 2'6" by 15" and it's the floor area that is important - levels don't count as floor area although a platform or level is good to have as well. Did you like the idea of front opening doors? There is a very good Niteangel cage in the Us but it's also very expensive! The medium and large sizes are good for hamsters. The small size is too small.

Niteangel Vista Hamster Cage W/ Oblique Opening - MDF Aspen Small Animal Cage for Syrian Dwarf Hamsters Degus Mice or Other Similar-Sized PetsM - 40.7 x 22.7 x 22.9 inch / Wood

Buy on Amazon

www.niteangelpet.com

 

[ktm4224]

ok, i am getting it now. i was trying to stay within a space i had available. I have city hamsters, they need to live in a high-rise! LOL just kidding, i'm still looking. you guys rock!

 

[RainbowBrite]

It is possible to have stacking cages. Maybe that would be something you could do? I know Niteangel do that option.