Pets at Home now stocking Ferplast Domster

[Maz]

Pets at Home are now stocking the Ferplast Domster cages. The 100cm one is £120 - which is massively cheaper than it is on the Ferplast website. Personally I think the 120cm one is far too tall for a hamster but could be good for rats or gerbils. The 100cm one looks good though - the base holds about 29cm of bedding.

Ferplast Domster 100 PAH

 

[Socks' Mum]

Interesting I wonder if the wooden frame is chewing proof for female Syrian hamsters. The part where the mesh rests on the lid might be a vulnerable place for being chewed under. Gerbils would probably put it to the test. It has plenty of room for bedding. I wonder how big the wheel is.

 

[Socks' Mum]

The top cage must be about 30cm tall, but a wheel for Syrian hamsters is about 30cm, so their wheel must be quite small. Accommodating a big wheel might be tricky.

 

[Maz]

The wheel is definitely too small! The height of the 100cm one is about the same as the Aura 120, but instead of a 25cm base (Aura) it's a 29cm perspex base - so there will be height above that to fit a wheel - either attached to the bars or on a platform. Even if the substrate is a bit less than 29cm in the wheel area. But a 12" wheel should fit anyway and an 11" one definitely would.

And no it won't be chewproof! So not a good cage for female syrians. It might be ok for a male syrian. For a dwarf hamster it is really quite tall. So then it may still need perspex inside the bars and even deeper bedding, to make the height safe - meaning it would then only be acessible from the top.

Either that or perspex round the inside of the bars at the TOP to make sure a dwarf hamster couldn't climb to the roof.

I tried that with a dwarf hamster - 7cm perspex all round inside at the top. It wasn't enough! She climbed as far as the perspex and then stepped past it/straddled it to get to the roof! So it would need to be 10 to 15cm perspex round the top.

So yes the cage isn't perfect - either for a non chewy male syrian or with a bit of adaptation for a dwarf hamster.