Setting up Plaza for a Chinesey.

[elusive]

Thaks you all

Roza lots of food, sprays, flowers & leaves to freeze, things like cork tunnels & coconuts have already been in the freezer. Beryl’s explained that in Davy’s thread for you.

 

[Roza]

Thank you elusive.

 

[MacKyen]

This is a stunning setup elusive!!
And it’s so useful to know the thinking behind the design especially because Chinese have quite different needs to other hamsters. Your experience is hugely beneficial.
And the fuzzbutt hammocks are lovely and I imagine the overhead cover is beneficial to helping the new hamster feel safe in their enclosure
Thanks for sharing this!!

 

[elusive]

Thank you MacKyen.

 

[ilguy]

That looks fantastic, I love the use of all the platforms! Looking forward to the day you give that home to a new ham

 

[elusive]

Thanks ilguy.
Everything is nearly ready now so hopefully not too long.

 

[4melyon]

Still a hypothetical Chinesey at this point, no imminent arrivals just yet.
I’ve been trying to get my head around Zak not being here any more but being without a hamster for the first time in nine years is hard but I’ve been slowly making plans.

I found the Plaza easy to put together but first impressions were it looked so much smaller than I imagined! I did have the Mamble & Borneo several years ago which were both a lot taller but only 4cm deeper but I think both had much less of a slope to the base than the Plaza which does seem very narrow at the bottom. That makes things quite tricky if you want to put things on legs, the last cage I set up was the Kevin which has very little slope to the base & in comparison I could get more in that one, so a few challenges to start off with.
Also I don’t like having the wheel attached to the bars, I just find it awkward & noisy removing it & I do generally need to clean my wheels weekly so that cut down on how much extra substrate I could fit in, 50cm somehow didn’t seem very tall any more!
In the end i went for just 6cm above the bars, not a huge difference but that does give about 22cm of substrate which isn’t too bad.
I was going to get custom panels from Viking laser but changed my mind & went for panels cut to size from Simply plastics for the front & back & just used cardboard at the sides, I couldn’t really be bothered trying to work out the holes for where the bar clips are & it cut down on cost a bit, the sides should be easy to replace if they get chewed whereas the back would be more of a hassle & the front looks nicer with the panels!

Lots of waiting for glue & paint to dry later the main set up is finally done.
I splashed out on a new Rodipet house & went for the dwarf medium which I think is a nice size for a Chinese, it’s the same size as their Syrian medium but has four rooms instead of three.
I’ve gone for the flat white on wooden surfaces to be less slippery but wanted some colour so went for yellow outside & painted inside the house black so it’s nice & dark, with black legs it looks a bit like that & the ceramic house are floating in mid air!
I got far less in than I wanted or expected but that almost always the case, I always get a bit over ambitious with my cage plans!
In spite of the problem fitting the legs in while trying to keep some things close to the edge I did manage to fit in a platform for the wheel & one of the sand baths, the ceramic Rodipet house & the Getzoo sand bath which I’ll use as a dig box.

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Getting there, substrate going in plus a few more bits & pieces.
A larger than life Zephyr watching over proceedings!
I didn’t want the hole in the roof of the house & was going to put the sand bath over it but the bits on the underside that stop it sliding around wouldn’t fit that way so I took the fixings out of one of my cork ledges & glued that over the hole.
I didn’t have space for the bridge I planned to put over the door of the house so I used some small dowels to make a thingy over the door!

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It always takes a bit of figuring out getting a hammock in the right place & right height but that worked out quite well with this set up, I splashed out again on some new Fuzzbutts to have matching hammock, snoozecube & corner crush, going a bit posh this time!
The Plaza was a real pain for this though, I had to take the top off so many times, turning it upside down or on it’s side & just when I got things right it started to come apart! Got there in the end though.
I really wanted to add more ledges & other things on the bars but simply ran out of space, I wish I had space for the Plaza 120 but I really don’t. Unless I get rid of the sofa…

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Just needs sprays, flowers, forage, chews & of course a hamster now!

I did add in another little ledge over the sand bath between the coconut hide & corner crush to make that a bit safer, I could just see someone trying to climb on to the slippery glazed sand bath.

Just to note for anyone that isn’t aware Chinese hamsters generally don’t chew fabric so while I wouldn’t advise using hammocks or other fabric items with any other hamster species it is ok for Chinese although there could be exceptions & it’s best to check frequently.

What a beautiful set up and so much inspo for my foray into hamster ownership w the same cage. Looks fabulous ! I love all the little hammocks and hideouts. I’m sure this awesome cage must now be occupied.

 

[elusive]

What a beautiful set up and so much inspo for my foray into hamster ownership w the same cage. Looks fabulous ! I love all the little hammocks and hideouts. I’m sure this awesome cage must now be occupied.

Thank you!
Yes there is a ham in there now & she’s loving it, you can see her in the cage here.

Liriél

She’s here at long last! A little bundle of joy arrived this morning, she’s tiny (about five weeks) quite nervous but still doing lots of exploring & full of beans, she’s already been making me laugh with her antics. Her markings are a bit unusual with her white diamond patch on her forehead...

www.thehamsterforum.com

Just to say in case you didn’t see it you can only really use hammocks & fabric items with Chinese as they’re the only species that don’t chew it so it’s safe for them.

 

[4melyon]

Thank you!
Yes there is a ham in there now & she’s loving it, you can see her in the cage here.

Liriél

She’s here at long last! A little bundle of joy arrived this morning, she’s tiny (about five weeks) quite nervous but still doing lots of exploring & full of beans, she’s already been making me laugh with her antics. Her markings are a bit unusual with her white diamond patch on her forehead...

www.thehamsterforum.com

Just to say in case you didn’t see it you can only really use hammocks & fabric items with Chinese as they’re the only species that don’t chew it so it’s safe for them.

Oh I’m so glad you told me only Chinese hamsters do well w hammocks and fabric items. I didn’t buy one initially wondering about material and choking. Since my dude is a winter white, I will skip the hammock and any fabric items for sure.

Can I just say, I am so thankful for this active community !! Finding proper hamster care items and info ended up being SO MUCH HARDER than I ever thought when I agreed to get a little hammy for my 5yo son. But really, Blue is my baby haha.

 

[elusive]

I think we all probably felt the same with our first hamster, I’m really glad to hear how helpful you’re finding the forum & it’s lovely having you hear.

 

[Maz]

Oh I’m so glad you told me only Chinese hamsters do well w hammocks and fabric items. I didn’t buy one initially wondering about material and choking. Since my dude is a winter white, I will skip the hammock and any fabric items for sure.

Can I just say, I am so thankful for this active community !! Finding proper hamster care items and info ended up being SO MUCH HARDER than I ever thought when I agreed to get a little hammy for my 5yo son. But really, Blue is my baby haha.

Oh tell me about it! Our first hamster was for a 6 year old but ended up being my baby - and I've been keeping them ever since The boy is no longer interested!