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Thought this would make an interesting thread 
Some of us started off with the wrong cage, then upgraded, and then possibly changed layouts etc.
So in this thread it's about showing the hamster's cage progression - if applicable!
For the last few years, mine have all gone straight into 100cm cages - Savic Plazas, so not much to show there.
Our first hamster Charlie, however, got to a 100cm cage by a circuitous route!
His first cage was this awful Rotostak space command (now discontinued thankfully - in fact I think the company has closed down)! He was only in it two weeks.
I had done minimal research, and at the time, googling showed a cage needed to be about 60cm x 40cm. The only other hamster I had part owned some 25 years previously, had been in a Rotostak so I just looked those up. But the older rotostaks didn’t have external tubes - he free roamed and was a smaller hamster (hindsight). The base unit was only about 41cm by 57cm, but I convinced myself that with all the units combined, it would add up to enough floorspace. And made space for this sized cage. Our 6 year old loved it of course, But it became very clear in the first couple of weeks that the hamster didn't love it. There was bedding in the bottom unit and he nested there. He used the inner tubes to reach the other units and the long, yellow outer tube to get down to the base again from the top. The round yellow top piece held an integral food dish so we put his food in there. He would go up there, pouch his food, then turn round and poop in the food dish. Coming down in the yellow tube he would then pee in the tubes.
Scarily, the tubes kept coming apart easily and I was worried he might push them open and escape (he didn't but it can happen).
When I put my hand in the top door of the base unit he would charge at my hand. He had cage rage - I realised that wasn't right. He also looked a bit depressed somehow. And while he used the vertical inner tubes and seemed to get used to going up and down vertically, he seemed to be growing quite quickly.
Within those first two weeks he would often sit in the middle unit (with small bars at the top) and frantically hang onto those bars chewing them. It was clear he wanted to get out. That unit did have an exit hole that could be unplugged, so we'd let him out into a hamster ball when he chewed those bars (sorry yes, he used a hamster ball as well - but they were commonly used circa 2014).
I was having my doubts about this cage though very quickly - the bottom unit used to get a bit steamed up with condensation - there was virtually no ventilation! Just a few holes in the lid. Then one day he got stuck in one of the vertical tubes. He had grown noticeably larger very quickly and the internal tubes were narrower than the yellow external tube. We weren't sure what to do - he'd climbed up it - his head was sticking out of the top and he was wedged. I was about to start dismantling the whole cage when he managed to pull himself through.
But that was it - it wasn't safe. I immediately felt like a terrible Hamster Mum and had to make things right for little (or rather big) Charlie. I detached all the vertical units and had them horizontally on the floor, joined only by the yellow tubes, while I sat up all night, researching online and found the RSPCA minimum cage size was recommended as 80cm by 50cm - read a few hamster sites to see cage recommendations, and that night, ordered a Savic Micky 2XL (80cm by 50cm) which arrived the next day. At a cost of £86 - which was a lot for a cage then. I had already spent about that on the first cage - I think it was £40 but we bought a few addons and extras. And also got a bigger, 29cm wheel as well.
My next mistake
The Savic Mickey 2XL arrived and I set it up, with about 3" of wood shavings, a shelf from a Hamster Heaven (sold separately) and a hanging ladder thing with chains (which I quickly realised wasn't safe).
And then took him out of the rotostak and put him in his new cage before I went to bed. Wrong. I had moved him cold turkey. Next morning he was just sitting shaking and not sleeping anywhere. This carried on for a few days - sitting shaking. We were so worried we nearly moved him back into the rotostak - but couldn't because he'd got stuck in the tubes. We put a blanket over the cage.
After about 10 days he was suddenly happy and enjoying his cage and loving his new big wheel.
This was his first set up in the Savic Mickey 2XL - hardly any bedding.
At that time the advice was 3 to 4" of bedding. The cable ties sticking out at the side were to close larger gaps at the edge of the cage - I didn't realise you could snip them off at the time 
You can just see a bit of his nest poking out of the green pod house on the shelf, which was where he chose to nest and hoard. It would get so stuffed with bedding and food, the top kept popping off and he'd be very upset and look at me as if I had done it. The potty with sand in was moved to the corner of the shelf to cover a little yellow pot, that was supposed to be a food bowl, but because it was in a corner he thought it was a toilet and kept peeing in it, which got messy with pee running down the shelf. So I moved the potty over the top of it. Every morning I'd come down and he'd pushed the potty away from the corner and it was half way down the shelf and he'd pee'd in the pot underneath. One day I saw what happened and he'd been pushing the pot up from under the shelf which moved the litter tray. Another time he actually ended up aquaplaning down the shelf, in the potty as it was wet underneath from him peeing on the shelf! There is a little wood house in there which he completely ignored. He'd investigate it, look perplexed and go back to his tiny pod house.
The first thing to go was the hanging ladder when I found he'd climbed on it one night, his legs went through the rungs, and he then jumped off it, and nearly got a foot caught in one of the chains. Dangerous. So that went. And instead I bought a large fleece hammock for the corner of the cage. Wrong. He loved it but immediately started chewing it, so that had to come out too.
Eventually the shelf and pod house had to go as well - the ladder broke and the little pod house just kept popping off and messing up his nest. I still have that little green pod house and use it in the pet carrier as a hidey place. Charlie was always very attached to it and so happy when he saw it again in his playpen. That’s when I learned hamsters have memories - of familiarity at least.
So then I basically had an empty cage to re-do and after a bit more research, bought a few more natural things. I had this idea that I could replace the shelf with a large flat topped house, to make a shelf and a house. That went down a storm - he loved the large house, moved straight in, built a big nest. But stopped using his litter tray. He was peeing in one corner of the house. So I moved his litter tray inside the house.
This was before I knew that the Germans sold houses you could fit litter trays inside! I learned by trial and error watching Charlie and observing his likes and dislikes - he was a sensitive hamster and we formed a close bond and I studied his behaviour and learned a lot from him. He was also our family pet and loved all of us. But I did most of the care and was in love with him! Wanted everything right for him.
So this was his next incarnation in the Mickey 2XL. I can't remember where I came across the idea of a vine branch - maybe I'd seen some German websites by then. But it filled that corner and gave access to the large sputnik. This was a guinea pig house. The bendy bridge over the door was to give him access to the roof but he loved the tunnel entrance - and it makes it dark inside which he seemed to love. So he was very happy with this set up. Mostly. The smaller sputnik over his house roof was where I would put his veg and he'd climb into it from the little red bench. I'd also switched to Fitch by then although that isn't fitch - maybe it was Carefresh natural. I wasn't keen on Carefresh though so used Fitch after that.
As you can see - more bedding - I decided he needed more to make it cosy. I say he was mostly happy in this cage - he wasn't keen on the long stick ladder as it moved if he climbed on it and it didn't really go anywhere. Then it snapped at one end - more broken rubbish hamster toys and money down the drain! So that came out.
I also thought he didn't really have enough to do in there. Although this was the size of cage that most people used for Syrian hamsters. The RSPCA minimum 80 x 50 and the Hamster Heaven (same size) was massively popular at this time. These cages were seen as huge. There was, however, a bigger one. The 100cm Alexander cage from Zooplus and after I bought the Mickey 2XL I regretted not having bought something bigger like the Alexander. I had rearranged the entire room to fit this cage in and actually had another 20cm of space in the end and could have fitted a bigger cage in.
He loved his sputnik and could actually pull himself up into it from floor level - but he also sometimes jumped out as well which worried me a bit. So I tied his cardboard rat tube to the roof of the cage, leading between the house roof and the sputnik. This did two things. It stopped him jumping out of the sputnik and it gave him a "roof run". Somehwere else to go and more to do. And I kept having roof runs for quite a long time as hamsers seemed to love them.
So then it looked like this (not very glamorous!)
Some of us started off with the wrong cage, then upgraded, and then possibly changed layouts etc.So in this thread it's about showing the hamster's cage progression - if applicable!
For the last few years, mine have all gone straight into 100cm cages - Savic Plazas, so not much to show there.
Our first hamster Charlie, however, got to a 100cm cage by a circuitous route!
His first cage was this awful Rotostak space command (now discontinued thankfully - in fact I think the company has closed down)! He was only in it two weeks.
I had done minimal research, and at the time, googling showed a cage needed to be about 60cm x 40cm. The only other hamster I had part owned some 25 years previously, had been in a Rotostak so I just looked those up. But the older rotostaks didn’t have external tubes - he free roamed and was a smaller hamster (hindsight). The base unit was only about 41cm by 57cm, but I convinced myself that with all the units combined, it would add up to enough floorspace. And made space for this sized cage. Our 6 year old loved it of course, But it became very clear in the first couple of weeks that the hamster didn't love it. There was bedding in the bottom unit and he nested there. He used the inner tubes to reach the other units and the long, yellow outer tube to get down to the base again from the top. The round yellow top piece held an integral food dish so we put his food in there. He would go up there, pouch his food, then turn round and poop in the food dish. Coming down in the yellow tube he would then pee in the tubes.
Scarily, the tubes kept coming apart easily and I was worried he might push them open and escape (he didn't but it can happen).
When I put my hand in the top door of the base unit he would charge at my hand. He had cage rage - I realised that wasn't right. He also looked a bit depressed somehow. And while he used the vertical inner tubes and seemed to get used to going up and down vertically, he seemed to be growing quite quickly.
Within those first two weeks he would often sit in the middle unit (with small bars at the top) and frantically hang onto those bars chewing them. It was clear he wanted to get out. That unit did have an exit hole that could be unplugged, so we'd let him out into a hamster ball when he chewed those bars (sorry yes, he used a hamster ball as well - but they were commonly used circa 2014).
I was having my doubts about this cage though very quickly - the bottom unit used to get a bit steamed up with condensation - there was virtually no ventilation! Just a few holes in the lid. Then one day he got stuck in one of the vertical tubes. He had grown noticeably larger very quickly and the internal tubes were narrower than the yellow external tube. We weren't sure what to do - he'd climbed up it - his head was sticking out of the top and he was wedged. I was about to start dismantling the whole cage when he managed to pull himself through.
But that was it - it wasn't safe. I immediately felt like a terrible Hamster Mum and had to make things right for little (or rather big) Charlie. I detached all the vertical units and had them horizontally on the floor, joined only by the yellow tubes, while I sat up all night, researching online and found the RSPCA minimum cage size was recommended as 80cm by 50cm - read a few hamster sites to see cage recommendations, and that night, ordered a Savic Micky 2XL (80cm by 50cm) which arrived the next day. At a cost of £86 - which was a lot for a cage then. I had already spent about that on the first cage - I think it was £40 but we bought a few addons and extras. And also got a bigger, 29cm wheel as well.
My next mistake
The Savic Mickey 2XL arrived and I set it up, with about 3" of wood shavings, a shelf from a Hamster Heaven (sold separately) and a hanging ladder thing with chains (which I quickly realised wasn't safe).
And then took him out of the rotostak and put him in his new cage before I went to bed. Wrong. I had moved him cold turkey. Next morning he was just sitting shaking and not sleeping anywhere. This carried on for a few days - sitting shaking. We were so worried we nearly moved him back into the rotostak - but couldn't because he'd got stuck in the tubes. We put a blanket over the cage.
After about 10 days he was suddenly happy and enjoying his cage and loving his new big wheel.
This was his first set up in the Savic Mickey 2XL - hardly any bedding.
At that time the advice was 3 to 4" of bedding. The cable ties sticking out at the side were to close larger gaps at the edge of the cage - I didn't realise you could snip them off at the time You can just see a bit of his nest poking out of the green pod house on the shelf, which was where he chose to nest and hoard. It would get so stuffed with bedding and food, the top kept popping off and he'd be very upset and look at me as if I had done it. The potty with sand in was moved to the corner of the shelf to cover a little yellow pot, that was supposed to be a food bowl, but because it was in a corner he thought it was a toilet and kept peeing in it, which got messy with pee running down the shelf. So I moved the potty over the top of it. Every morning I'd come down and he'd pushed the potty away from the corner and it was half way down the shelf and he'd pee'd in the pot underneath. One day I saw what happened and he'd been pushing the pot up from under the shelf which moved the litter tray. Another time he actually ended up aquaplaning down the shelf, in the potty as it was wet underneath from him peeing on the shelf! There is a little wood house in there which he completely ignored. He'd investigate it, look perplexed and go back to his tiny pod house.
The first thing to go was the hanging ladder when I found he'd climbed on it one night, his legs went through the rungs, and he then jumped off it, and nearly got a foot caught in one of the chains. Dangerous. So that went. And instead I bought a large fleece hammock for the corner of the cage. Wrong. He loved it but immediately started chewing it, so that had to come out too.
Eventually the shelf and pod house had to go as well - the ladder broke and the little pod house just kept popping off and messing up his nest. I still have that little green pod house and use it in the pet carrier as a hidey place. Charlie was always very attached to it and so happy when he saw it again in his playpen. That’s when I learned hamsters have memories - of familiarity at least.
So then I basically had an empty cage to re-do and after a bit more research, bought a few more natural things. I had this idea that I could replace the shelf with a large flat topped house, to make a shelf and a house. That went down a storm - he loved the large house, moved straight in, built a big nest. But stopped using his litter tray. He was peeing in one corner of the house. So I moved his litter tray inside the house.
This was before I knew that the Germans sold houses you could fit litter trays inside! I learned by trial and error watching Charlie and observing his likes and dislikes - he was a sensitive hamster and we formed a close bond and I studied his behaviour and learned a lot from him. He was also our family pet and loved all of us. But I did most of the care and was in love with him! Wanted everything right for him.
So this was his next incarnation in the Mickey 2XL. I can't remember where I came across the idea of a vine branch - maybe I'd seen some German websites by then. But it filled that corner and gave access to the large sputnik. This was a guinea pig house. The bendy bridge over the door was to give him access to the roof but he loved the tunnel entrance - and it makes it dark inside which he seemed to love. So he was very happy with this set up. Mostly. The smaller sputnik over his house roof was where I would put his veg and he'd climb into it from the little red bench. I'd also switched to Fitch by then although that isn't fitch - maybe it was Carefresh natural. I wasn't keen on Carefresh though so used Fitch after that.
As you can see - more bedding - I decided he needed more to make it cosy. I say he was mostly happy in this cage - he wasn't keen on the long stick ladder as it moved if he climbed on it and it didn't really go anywhere. Then it snapped at one end - more broken rubbish hamster toys and money down the drain! So that came out.
I also thought he didn't really have enough to do in there. Although this was the size of cage that most people used for Syrian hamsters. The RSPCA minimum 80 x 50 and the Hamster Heaven (same size) was massively popular at this time. These cages were seen as huge. There was, however, a bigger one. The 100cm Alexander cage from Zooplus and after I bought the Mickey 2XL I regretted not having bought something bigger like the Alexander. I had rearranged the entire room to fit this cage in and actually had another 20cm of space in the end and could have fitted a bigger cage in.
He loved his sputnik and could actually pull himself up into it from floor level - but he also sometimes jumped out as well which worried me a bit. So I tied his cardboard rat tube to the roof of the cage, leading between the house roof and the sputnik. This did two things. It stopped him jumping out of the sputnik and it gave him a "roof run". Somehwere else to go and more to do. And I kept having roof runs for quite a long time as hamsers seemed to love them.
So then it looked like this (not very glamorous!)
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He had a cage upgrade didn’t he? It happens to so many people with a first hamster when a pet shop sells them something.
. However he soon got going building up his hoard under the platforms, coming to the bars so that I could hand him Harry Hamster muesli items, and dashing into his burrows and turning straight round to come back for more. Then he got busy trying to chew the HH to bits, starting with the metal bars. My first video on the Hamster Forum was footage of Socks drilling cardboard boards with his teeth.
and was encouraged to get Socks a wheel and a bigger cage. The Savic Plaza XL is his present home, and it is nice and spacious and sturdy, more escape proof than the HH with it's plastic bits and bobs.
