I have a Savic Plaza 120

[RainbowBrite]

How unusual the seller included those. Do you know which wood they are? You could try my idea of a chew stick.

 

[Maz]

It's just pine wood, the same as the shelf. They make a lot of chinchilla shelves mainly so maybe wood blocks are the kind of thing chinchillas chew so they add an offcuts gift perhaps. They only use safe wood.

Which was your idea of a chew stick again?

 

[RainbowBrite]

To dip it in egg white and cover with seeds, then bake in the oven.

 

[Maz]

Thank you I remember now. One of the longer pieces might work for that

 

[Maz]

So put the cage together this evening to measure inside the bars depthwise. I put a couple of things inside to try and show perspective of size. A 28cm trixie wheel - a large Guinea pig house (not quite as big as a multiroom house but not far off) and a rat Sputnik. Although they still don’t give much perspective with no bedding in there.

The top door is great - so easy to lower a wheel or house in and out of. Although the front door is fine for that too. The big bonus of the top door will be when setting the cage up and needing to attach things to the back bars - which would be impossible for one person to do without that top door. Eg when trying to fix a wheel or shelf to the back bars and needing to hold it steady on the inside while screwing it in from the outside.

The exterior lip round the base is quite thick and chunky and sturdy - much more so than on the Plaza 100. Presumably due to the base being such a large size.

So the interior measurements. ,I haven’t measured the outside yet) are as expected - slightly less than the quoted size which will be maximum exterior measurements.

Front to back it’s 58.5 cm between the bars. Left to right (lengthways) it’s 112.5cm between the bars. These are minimum interior measurements though - the edge lip of the base is quite deep and adds a bit more depth and length at substrate level. Kind of.

The interior height is 50cm. Which is as expected. Because the Plaza 100 interior height is 48cm and this cage is 2cm taller overall.

When put together it’s good. It doesn’t seem quite as massive as it sounds - it literally looks like a big brother Savic plaza but in proportion. It’s a big cage though and might seem bigger when I try and stand it on something!

It’s nice though. I’m looking forward to setting it up at the weekend. Meanwhile it’ll be dismantled again tomorrow to make space until the weekend.

Sorry the photos aren’t that good - I couldn’t get back far enough to fit the cage in the screen! Or get the right angle - so it looks a bit distorted. For additional perspective - that's a 3 door wardrobe behind it which is the same length left to right approx.

 

[elusive]

That is an odd selection of bits of wood! I can’t tell how big they are but I guess some might make little ledges with some drilling for screws, probably not what you need though!

It looks great all put together now & sounds like a good sturdy cage. It’s going to be amazing once all Raffy’s stuff is in.

 

[Maz]

It just looks like a Plaza cage but bigger However, considering that is an 11" (28cm) trixie wheel in there, I think it gives an ideal of scale as it makes the wheel look like a smaller 20cm one!

I will also redo the measurements properly once it's ready to set up properly. I was only really looking for the measurement to cut the shelf size! I may not have had the end bars fully in their grooves for the temporary set up. So they are minimum interior dimensions

 

[Maz]

You can also see a giant bag of fitch in the background . Tbh I am finding this quite exciting! It's reminding me of when I first set up the Barney cage. It's the extra depth/floorspace depthwise mainly. The extra length is good too, but the extra depth gives so much more scope.

 

[RainbowBrite]

I am excited too. Isnt it amazing how 20cm or so makes a huge difference to size when it comes to hamsters?

 

[elusive]

It is exciting, you’re making me want to go out & buy one

 

[Maz]

I had intended to swap the current kallax stand for a cupboard in the other room which is larger and deeper. But the footprint of the cage (ie the leg parts underneath where it stands on something) is actually quite a bit larger than the top of the cupboard! It's a 90cm by 45cm cupboard! So this is going to be the jiggling about before I can set it up at the week-end. Finding the right thing to stand it on and rearranging the furniture. I do have an old sidetable with extendable leaves that might have a bigger area for standing it on. Although tbh the 90 x 45 cupboard is probably fine with some overhang.

Our coffee table is the perfect size to stand it on. It was an inexpensive flatpack one and I considered getting another one but decided against that, as that would be too low for me. I like the cage higher up so less bending and the front door at a nice height (which means I will probably use the front door more than the top door).

 

[Maz]

I am excited too. Isnt it amazing how 20cm or so makes a huge difference to size when it comes to hamsters?

I think it was measuring the 58.5 cms depth between the bars that made me really aware of the size. Which is a minimum depth. The Barney was 54cm maximum depth up to the edge of the base. So it's 3 to 4 inches deeper than the current Plaza which does make a huge difference as that 3 to 4 inches is along the whole width of the cage.

 

[elusive]

It can be tricky trying to find something to stand a cage that large on, sounds as though the table would be better unless you could put something like a large thick piece of wood on top of the cupboard, once the cage is full the weight should keep it pretty stable.

 

[Maz]

It can be tricky trying to find something to stand a cage that large on, sounds as though the table would be better unless you could put something like a large thick piece of wood on top of the cupboard, once the cage is full the weight should keep it pretty stable.

That's a good idea Although I don't think I have a large thick piece of wood! As the current plaza 100 sits on top of a kallax unit with overhang, the cupboard might be ok. I have hemp mat under the plaza 100 at each end, so it doesn't slip about on the surface. I am slightly iffy about the leaf table in case the leaf supports get moved somehow as then the leaf would drop and the cage fall.

I can try the base on it's own on top of various things.

 

[elusive]

That is a bit of a scary scenario with the table! Maybe not then.

 

[Maz]

I know - I was thinking worst case scenario. The leaves of the table are held up by a sliding piece of wood underneath, which is not stiff to slide. Why anyone would go under there and knock it I don't know but it has worked loose before. Unless I can secure the supporting struts permanently so they can't slide any more. It's a manky old second hand table so would be good to stand a cage on! And it's the right height. On the other hand, if I use that I lose my Christmas tree table! It normally gets used to stand a small Christmas tree on.

 

[Maz]

Frankly - I think this is the cage I've been waiting for, for years The Plaza 100 is fine but I did miss the extra depth of the Barney cage (but didn't miss the small front doors on the Barney cage). This cage has both the extra depth, a bit more length and two big doors - one on front. The version due to come out later this year (the Aura) will have the perspex bedding panels as standard and that extra height to allow for deep bedding. And I had intended to wait for that but was impatient! Plus I think you can still get plenty of bedding in this one and I already have some perspex panels.

 

[RainbowBrite]

That is wonderful! It sounds like the perfect cage for you.

 

[Maz]

I hope it is for Raffy as well! He really loves that front door.

 

[elusive]

Really good to hear it’s meeting all your expectations & was well worth the hassle & wait!
I’m sure Raffy will love it too, they do seem to like a big front door as much as we do.