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Savic Plaza 120

Eric65

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This is my little Syrians cage at the moment. Best bit of money I spent. Have wondered if it would be worth constructing a bigger one myself.IMG20250822103223.webp
 
Ah I know that feeling - when you want to give them more :-) I think it's the Plaza 120, which is a great size. There is the Savic Aura 120 plexi - not sure if you've seen that. The cage is basically the same size but it is 10cm taller and has 10cm built in perspex. In other words it gives it a 10" base instead of a 6" base - so although the cage is the same size, it means you can give her 10" deep bedding throughout the whole cage. That would enable her to tunnel from one end of the cage to the other.

However building a bigger diy cage could be an option too :-) If you're up for making a lid. A lot of people do Ikea hacks - there are some options on this thread here .............

With a diy tank style cage, as long as it's tall enough, you can easily give 10" to 12" bedding throughout the cage - I am sure she would love digging tunnels and burrows. It does mean you need everything on legs/stilts so they don't sink in the deep bedding - most people use platforms to support things (eg a sand bath). Happy Henry homes makes some nice platforms and you can choose the length of legs you want for it (they just screw in). So for example, if you were going to have 30cm bedding throughout the cage, you would choose 30cm legs for one platform (so it sits level with the substrate and you could put a sand bath on it) and a second or third platform with 35cm legs that sits above the bedding and can be used just as a platform and to put other items on. The also do a multiroom house and you can get legs for that as well. With a multiroom house and 30cm of bedding, you might want either 30cm legs or 25cm legs (the latter means the house would be part submerged in bedding, the former means the house would sit "on" the bedding).


The Ikea Pax options make a good height for a syrian hamster cage - they aren't expensive, but they have solid walls all round. Something like the Linmon option gives you a glass front - but you're limited on size with that - to go bigger than 120cm then I think it would need to be solid sided.

To make a lid you need strips of wood and fix mesh across them. It does need a lid or they will escape! They can ALWAYS find a way to the top! they just pile bedding up in one corner and walk up it and climb out!
 
I've seen the Savic Plaza Aura. That's been one of the options I've considered. I use mainly wood shavings for bedding material and occasionally paper bedding. One thing I've found though, paper bedding is expensive. If I could find somewhere where I could buy it in bulk but cheaper, I'd buy it all the time.
 
Bedding is expensive yes, when you fill a 120cm cage 10" deep! I have used the Aura and I have to say it is quite awkward doing a partial clean with 10" of bedding, through the front door (and you don't really want to be taking the top off as that's a pain). Whereas a 150cm tank would be easier - you do everything from the top (providing you don't have a bad back! But it could be sat on a coffee table eg so not at ground level).

I use Fitch paper bedding in the 70litre bags. It's not as cheap as it used to be and it's annoying they don't do the bigger bag like they used to. They do have a bigger bag but it's strips of paper rather than pieces, and that's a bit stringy for hamsters.

So a 70 litre bag of fitch is about £32. It would fill the base of a plaza 120 6" deep and pressed down. So you would need two bags of that to have deep bedding in a 120cm cage and maybe 3 bags in a 150cm cage.

So you'd be talking about £100 to fill a 150cm tank style cage with 30cm of bedding. But - the thing is - once it's full - you don't need to buy bedding very often after that :-) Most of the cage stays clean and dry and you just spot clean out the pee area. Then maybe every three months you would do a "third" cage clean. With a 150cm cage it could be a "quarter" cage clean. ie you do it in sections - one quarter at one end. Then maybe three months later, the next quarter, and so on.

So over a year you would maybe need one or two more bags of Fitch - because even when doing a quarter clean, you would still replace about half the clean bedding. The only unhygienic thing is their pee.

Wood shavings aren't really recommended due to them being softwood. Some people use the Chipsi wood shavings which are part spruce so less phenols in them.


Personally I wouldn't just use all Chipsi - but you could mix it half and half with Fitch :)


So basically - the more bedding you have, the less often you do any clean outs and never do a full cage clean in one go. Less stress for the hamster and less expensive long term - but initial outlay is expensive.

Oddly that Chipsi link talks about wet dog food! :ROFLMAO:
 
Sounds ideal for my needs. As for cleaning the pee corner out, my little hammy uses her sand box for that purpose as well as grooming herself in it. It's quite fun watching her when she goes in it. She'll go to her favourite corner to pee, and won't sit down until it's comfy enough for her
 
To be honest, if she's happy in her current cage, it might be better just to adapt it and give her deeper bedding all through :-) Or use the Aura cage which helps achieve that. If upgraded to a much larger one with deep bedding, it's possible you may never see her again :ROFLMAO: In the meantime, you could maybe add some sprays for extra enrichment :-)
 
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