First enclosure vs. current enclosure(s)

[cursive flint]

Share a photo of the enclosure you started with and your current enclosure!

[vagrant pasture]

Oo like before and after? Ok

[noble mesa]

first cage back in 2018

[shadow wyvern]

When I first got hamsters

“After” - old photo of buttercups enclosure before she passed i don’t have anyone else’s enclosure pics saved loool

[noble mesa]

Vs. now

[cursive flint]

this was my first setup in 2010 (i actually thought i got my first hamster in 2011 or 2012 but apparently it was even sooner). the blue cage was his actual enclosure and the other one was for sort of free-roaming. i originally had a mouse in the blue cage, who did all of the bar chewing. i also added an 11" silent spinner to the blue cage but i don't have a photo of the enclosure with the silent spinner.

and now

[noble mesa]

Sleepy will be getting a cork tunnel though!

[cursive flint]

i also found a one minute long video of 10 year old me filming the two cages and zooming in a ridiculous amount lmfao

[vagrant pasture]

Years ago I thought this setup was really great for a Syrian.The hamster seemed stressed in his tiny cage so I DIY’d a lil bin cage playground for him to spend his nights in, and somehow that made him stop so I thought it was perfect

Compared to today, huge niteangel vista just for a lil robo

[short bramble]

you've come so far! What aprox. year is the first one from?

This is a great thread.

[vagrant pasture]

Snapchat says 2018

[noble mesa]

Everyone did so well upgrading their hamster care 🔥

[subtle gull]

Never took a pic of my original hamster or his cage but my hamster, Iago, from 2014-2015 had this Crittertrail cage

vs Megatron's current enclosure

[frank bone]

This whole thread makes me feel better that I wasn't the only one not taking proper care of my hammy as a kid even tho I didn't , I loved them all to death

Your cages are amazing y'all

[shrewd surge]

This was the first hamster cage I got for my winter white who I named Mr. Wiggles. That was probably about 7-9 years ago. He lived to be around 3 years old, which was a very long time

This was for my syrian Pooh Bear I had gotten after Mr. Wiggles had passed. That was about 6 or so years ago. She was such a smart lady

I had a ‘big’ wooden crate that I had my dad make for me to use as her free roaming area (probably about the size of a 40GB)

Then I got MooMoo January of this year (after Pooh Bear died, I stopped owning hamsters for many years, especially since I started college and wouldn’t be physically around much) and started him with a 40GB.

This was the very first set up I had when I got him. That of course changed very often

Then he got moved to a 75 gallon tank back in October

Then I got Miyagi which is a robo back in about February. He has always been in a 40GB

This was when I first got him

This is now

(Sorry for the spam )

[vague crown]

She’s finally getting a home she deserves!! Welcome home DaBoba!! 🦨💕✨

[frank bone]

What's the point of the small cage in there tho 😭

Unless it's not small

And the other cage is just massive

[tawdry zinc]

I'm not really understanding what you mean?
I put it in to show the difference.

[tawdry zinc]

The old cage was a savic plaza. H50 x W100 x D50cmEDIT This is bs, I got it wrong. I'm not sure which enclosure it was

[tawdry zinc]

You can see the cage next to a ladder, ladders don't tend to be small...

[frank bone]

The cage , in the cage

Which I doubt is small , it just seems small in the huge one

[cursive flint]

River put the old cage in the bigger enclosure so you can see the difference of first enclosure vs current enclosure

[frank bone]

Ye thats what I meant , not that the current enclosure is small or an older cage was improper care , just maybe worded very very wrong

[cursive flint]

i don't quite understand what you're trying to say

[frank bone]

I'll just let it go I can't word it properly, thanks for the explanation

[cursive flint]

i'm pretty sure that's not the savic plaza though. that cage looks like it's more around 60x40 or 60x50. but i love the big improvement! your current enclosure looks huge

[frank bone]

For all I know the current cage seems so massive it could easily fit the plaza

Hell it looks like i can fit in there

[tawdry zinc]

, I was trying to find the enclosure on the petsathome webpage and the plaza looked the closest, but the measurements Enno gave make more sense in comparison to the new enclosure The new enclosure is 160Lx60Wx80H

So i was just talking doodoo, I apologise

[frank bone]

Nah dw I'm sorry I can't really word stuff properly in English and I'm sorry if anything I said seemed rude or anything, I really did not mean to , the cage looks really nice and a massive improvement

[tawdry zinc]

NP! I also just tend to not get things from time to time on account of the 'tism. Just a failure in communication, it's all good.

[minor notch]

My 1st ever cage was this

That was back in like 2019

When i had my hamster Wendy, who sadly passed away

[cursive flint]

could you also post a photo of your current enclosure? :) since that's what this channel is for

[plush hamlet]

From a shit critter trail to a 75 gallon tank! 😊 thankfully I learned quickly and he was only in the critter trail for a couple weeks before first moving into a 40 gallon breeder but that wasn’t big enough for me so I upgraded to the 75.

[minor notch]

You had the same cage as me

[minor notch]

Sure sorry

[plush hamlet]

Lol yeah I used your photo, hope you don’t mind.

[minor notch]

@cursive flint

[minor notch]

I don’t mind 🙂

[plush hamlet]

That looks 1,000 times better!

[minor notch]

Yup

Its a big upgrade

[minor notch]

😄

[wind solstice]

I aim to do some if the chambers like that for my little guy when i get them!

[rocky mauve]

Hamilton’s first enclosure:

10 gallon btw

Just imagine like an inch of bedding in there

Current enclosure

[rough stratus]

cage upgrade

[vagrant pasture]

this is a photo of your new cage? both pics appear to be the same, but if its new it could definitely still use more improvements! primarily the wheel, i would highly recommend trying to get a larger and better one asap

[woeful patrol]

gonna provide a mini timeline of my enclosure improvement with the years:

1. my first enclosure for my first hamster. this was literally our way of ventilating it, and it’s obvious why he escaped numerous times.

2. enclosure #2! i knew he needed more space, but didn’t know the best way to do that. so i upgraded him to a rat cage…

3. gibby passed and i adopted my next hamster, phoebe. i finally joined online communities and began to become more informed. this was my first DIY enclosure, around 620 sq in

4. phoebe was showing signs of stress so i knew she needed an upgrade. here is her ~1,050 sq in enclosure from a christmas tree bin. unfortunately, she was still stressed so i made arrangements to go bigger

5. and so i combined 4 bins to create this final enclosure. phoebe spent the rest of her life in here and my newest hamster, yoshi, is quite happy in this enclosure. approx 2,450 sq in

timeline is 2019-2022

[vagrant pasture]

The mega bin mansion

[frank bone]

HOLY

I love the yoshi plushie

There's some gaps I would really take care of tho , especially at the front

Using some screws at the bottom should help it

[shadow wyvern]

She used plastic sheets for those gaps actually

It may appear like it’s open but it isn’t

[frank bone]

Oh that's clever

I just said it because bedding seems to be out from that gap and it really seems open and cut plastic usually can cut pretty bad

[shadow wyvern]

Mhm, it’s not open

[noble mesa]

now that's really something

[woeful patrol]

thank you!

[woeful patrol]

and yes haha like J said, those gaps are covered by plexiglass! there's a tiny hole at the bottom that yoshi cannot slip through at all

i'm happy to show videos if it reassures you, it freaks out my friends IRL cuz the plexiglass is not visible

[frank bone]

There's no need to, I trust you and I'm sure you are only doing the best you possibly can for your hammy

[woeful patrol]

aw haha thank you! it's not a problem i know it's a valid concern :-)

[frank bone]

It's actually a very nice way to cover the gap and will probably copy it if I ever connect bins for a cage instead of lots of screws

[woeful patrol]

yes! i recommend it. i just threw some big slabs over and it helped to counter my poor bin cutting

[vagrant pasture]

have any of your hamsters tried chewing on those inner parts ever?

thats eventually what began happening with my connected bin, and was one of the reasons i kinda gave up on it and upgraded

but also mine wasnt anywhere near as smooth as yours so maybe thats why

[woeful patrol]

phoebe did actually (my previous hamster) -- i was panicked that something would go wrong but she was trying to chew the plexiglass (bc it covers the plastic of the bin). i guess plexiglass is really hard because it took no damage. not even any bite marks are visible

[oblique nest]

july 2021 - 40 gallon with like 3 inches of bedding, a wheel that doesn’t work, and like 90% of the stuff in there being toxic
december 2022 - 75 gallon that i actually did research on lmao

still working on her current tank but it’s def better than it used to be

[vagrant pasture]

From going through some old pics I found another setup from when I first got a 40g tank.. crazy how nearly every part of it I had wrong in some way lol. Then second pic I just took today

[noble mesa]

how does that paper tube in the enclosure on the left work out? I've been considering keeping my poster tubes and using them in the enclosure

[vagrant pasture]

Can you take a zoomed in screenshot of what you mean

[vagrant pasture]

If it’s the one in the middle, it’s just used as a little climbing obstacle for the robo. She doesn’t really go inside of it ever from what I see. I think safe stuff like this can definitely be good for Syrians if you’re filling empty space but also you could fill them with treats and various stuffing (bedding, tissues etc) to make it a mini boredom breaker

[noble mesa]

this one

[vagrant pasture]

Hard to say. I kinda move it around a bunch (here it is a month ago in a slightly different spot) but I feel like occasionally I see her run across it

[noble mesa]

Thank you, I was considering adding it as a some sort of a bridge from one place to another.

[woeful patrol]

it’s crazy seeing how things change

and we all meant well with our first enclosures, we thought we did a good job

[frank bone]

I was trying my best as a kid , I still felt bad because I just knew the cage wasn't big enough but I didn't knew any better , I loved my past hamsters with my whole life

Looking back , I kinda feel bad and hate myself a bit , but on the other hand I tried , and bought them new stuff to play with whenever my parents could help me

[noble mesa]

I like when parents are supportive and also willing to contribute towards a better care (in case when kids/teens don't have their own money yet)

[frank bone]

My mum even tho she is , kinda toxic let's say , as far as my pets go she doesn't say anything about my pets , she's always like " you know best " , even tho I'm not a teen anymore I'm still studying and they still help me

[plush hamlet]

I remember the tank I had when I was a kid. I think it was maybe a 20 gallon? Poor Henry. I loved him so much but back then there wasn’t google or any hamster websites (I know, I’m old). There wasn’t any info out there about proper hamster care so I just did what I thought was right.

[noble mesa]

I like it! I would burrow the cardboard in the far right corner halfway in the bedding though so your hamster can reach the top, you could then place some stuff there as well if they'll be able to reach there.

[nova saffron]

oooh ill do that!

[noble mesa]

is the front part open?

[nova saffron]

wdym?

[noble mesa]

I think it is, you can turn it around so the part where it's open is against the wall of the enclosure and then cut out an entrance in the new front part.

It can give more safety for your ham

[nova saffron]

ohhh yeah

[noble mesa]

I hope u don't think I am criticising you in any way, I'm giving you ideas on how you can improve with what you have at the moment. ^^ I really like your upgrade!

[nova saffron]

oh i dont lol! i know i still need upgrades like a sand bath

[noble mesa]

Do you own a single plastic container? Like a tupperware?

[nova saffron]

yeah

i need to order sand tho

[frank bone]

I started with a very simple , small , wire cage , I then changed to something like your critter trail cages but a two story one ( can't find any pics ) none were big enough and none had enough depth

I now have this

The sticks are willow sticks which serve as decoration
some millet
a Trixie 28cm wheel that is usually on a platform but I had to take it out for some repairs
The sandbath is right under the mushrooms

Looking to add some moss soon

Now after the bad cages I have a hand crafted 100×50cm cage with 25cm of bedding depth

[hollow moth]

NIICCEEE

Looks great!

[frank bone]

THANK YOUUU

Still open to things to add to achieve natural looks , any ideas just ping me

[noble mesa]

forage toppings! dried flowers, leaves

even for aesthetics

[frank bone]

I just got some hay actually

Maybe I'll add some more on top

[noble mesa]

flowers would be a pop of colour in the enclosure

and maybe Pip would like to nibble on them

[frank bone]

Nah he doesn't like flowers but I'll try to add some for decoration only, who knows he might get curious

But I did get cat grass

[noble mesa]

my hamsters go crazy for cat grass

I should plant some tomorrow

[frank bone]

I just planted some , we'll see how that goes

[hollow moth]

First enclosure. The base of it is 30x12 inches. My girl thought he would be fine in this... Could barely fit the wheel in there and needs multiple levels to get anything he needs.

Current enclosure! This one is longer then what my tape measure will measure, and it goes out to 60 inches. Has 6 different hides, lots of different substrates and plenty of burrowing space, a minimum of 14"!

[nova saffron]

@noble mesa should i do that with this one aswell?

[noble mesa]

Yes, hamsters prefer hides where they can hide.

[nova saffron]

this is it right now

[noble mesa]

Wow, I like it! this looks so good now.

With the box you took out you can do a peek-a-boo house.

[nova saffron]

wdym?

all the boxes are still there

[noble mesa]

Bury it halfway in the bedding, the open side of that box against the glass and make an opening to it somewhere accessible.

oh, sorry then.

[nova saffron]

i could still do that with it

[noble mesa]

if your hamster decides to make a nest in there, you will be able to look at them

something like this in the right bottom corner

you know what I mean?

[nova saffron]

ohhh

[noble mesa]

this is the best I could do trying to explain

[nova saffron]

@noble mesa

[noble mesa]

YES! That's what I meant, you can put some toilet paper in there for nesting OR you can put some of the bedding inside.

[nova saffron]

ill go fet some toilet paper!

[wind solstice]

First.. little dude probably didnt like it.

Current!!! We’re waiting on more stuff including the wheel which comes this week

[noble mesa]

Are you also getting him a bigger sand bath?

[wind solstice]

Hes getting his first, actually

And yes im ordering it tonight

[noble mesa]

Ahh, I'm so excited for him

[wind solstice]

Got it ordered!! Wheel should arrive sooner than the bath, around the 3rd-5th

[wind solstice]

Current product with him in it! Sand bath is about as wide as the wheel

[noble mesa]

It looks amazing!

[wind solstice]

ty,,

[noble mesa]

I love how you left a small space under a bendy bridge so he can hide under there

[wind solstice]

Hes very active in it!

[compact fractal]

To be honest my first enclosure is identical to the one now 😔

[modest hawk]

this whole thread makes me realize that for a 12 year old i tried really hard to give my first hamster a good home

but i dont have a

pic anymore

i found a picture. including my fisrt hamster: cotton

My third hamster Dedenne moved into a Detolf

my second hamster had the same cage. However she had a tumor on her leg and it needed to be amputated. I decided to not let her go and try to giver a good live with three legs. But i took off the upper part of the cage for her, as i worried she was gonna fall and not be able to get up

[frank bone]

I say use the whole transparent area at the bottom to fill it with bedding and completely get rid of the floor , can never have too much depth

But thank you for not giving up on her

[modest hawk]

This is not my cage anymore. Now i have a detolf

[frank bone]

Oh I just can't read 💀

[modest hawk]

i had this hammy and cage between the age 12-16. I switched to a detolf at 16

[frank bone]

We love an upgrade

[modest hawk]

but looking at some of the other cages made me realize i didnt do too bad for a 12yr old, who did all the research on her own

[frank bone]

Actually yeah , most of us had shit cages at such a young age , good job

And again thank you for giving her a chance and a good life , im sure she appreciated it

[modest hawk]

My mum said i can only get a hamster if i do research before. So i had to give her a presentation of everything that i learned

she lived just fine with three legs. She became two years old

[frank bone]

Now that's a W mum

You and your mum are amazing owners , thank you for researching everything before you got a hamster

[modest hawk]

my mum used to have her own hamster when she was younger apparently. Thats why. His name was Elwood. She told me about it

Named after one of the Blues Brothers from the movie (if anyone knows that)

[frank bone]

It's rare that we have parents not causing a mess when hearing that hamsters need a big cage lots of bedding and lots of other basic care stuff

[modest hawk]

After our bunnies died i really wanted an animal, so i was looking at turtles and parrots. My mother knew that those are a bit too complicated for a young kids though

[frank bone]

Again, W mum

[steel beacon]

I've improved a lot but I still need to grow and improve a lot more. Comparing to before she looks way more happy and way more healthy. The space she have now still looks a bit small but with time I'm gonna buy some new things and new enclosure

Last enclosure: 9" L x 6-1/2" W x 6" H (+/-)
New enclosure: 20" W x 15" L ( +/-)

Last enclosure: no beding
New enclosure: 6"/7" Bedding

Last enclosure: One Hideout made out of cardboard
New enclosure: Multiple Hideouts

And a lot of new things...

[noble mesa]

I love the improvement! ♥

[steel beacon]

Thank you so much 🥰

[fierce bluff]

my first hamster ever, a male robo named spoon- pic from may 2018, vs my current syrian hamster (yet to be named!)

first enclosure was a bin cage not even sure of the dimensions. had maybe 3” of bedding? a teeny tiny saucer, a single hide, a water bottle, and a food dish. no enrichment whatsoever :( i feel sad i didn’t give spoon the life he deserved, but i know he’s up in hammy heaven and he knows if i had him today he’d be living it up!

the current enclosure is 49”x24”x25”. 8-12in of multiple kinds of substrate, an appropriately sized wheel and sand bath, several bridges, tunnels, and hides, along with sprays and herbs to keep him enriched :3

[frank bone]

Now THAT'S an upgrade

[vagrant pasture]

That bridge with stars going onto the rainbow hide is so cool

[noble mesa]

It looks like a rainbow going up to a cloud

[cursive flint]

hey man, just wanted to tell you that i'm proud of you. i know how hard you are working on improving your care and that you're facing a lot of obstacles while doing so. keep up the good work! i'm sure your hamster is already a lot happier

[cursive flint]

the new enclosure looks absolutely gorgeous!

[steel beacon]

Thank you for your words! Ir really means a lot to me. She is way happier and healthier 🥰

[tired horizon]

to

I am so grateful for this server and the people who are in it and who made all the resources for helping me help my hamster get all the things she deserved. Without this server she may have very well still been in the terrible cage she started in

[nova saffron]

i read that as "for 12 years i tried really hard to give my first hamster a good home" 💀

[modest hawk]

[nova saffron]

idk how i thought a hamster would live that long

[noble mesa]

immortality

[frank bone]

Even the pacing stopped

[tired horizon]

Yea, once I started cluttering the new enclosure she quickly stopped

[nova saffron]

vs

no more escape attempts, no more hiding as much, and most importantly no more cage biting

[woeful patrol]

a huge difference!

[vagrant pasture]

love to hear it

[halcyon steeple]

First picture: All Living Things hamster starter kit, hamster who lived in it: Keywee
Second Picture: 110qt Sterilite diy bin cage, hamster who lives in it currently: Mochi
(My past hamster, Keywee who can be seen in the first photo, also lived in this bin for half of his life. I wasn’t able to provide him with a lot of enrichment, and his enclosure was really bland, but he was a super hammy, because he loved his new home anyways. I miss him )

Still making improvements, but I wanted to share because I just realized how far I’ve come since January 1st, 2020.

[frank bone]

Damn what an improvement

Can't wait to see your new setup all finished up

[tropic crane]

My first hamster had a cage like this I believe… or maybe a 10 gallon tank at one point. It was around 2002, and I don’t have a picture

The blue cage was the first one I got for current hamster - it’s like 542 sq inches. I tried to expand it not realizing the ground needed to be “unbroken”

[halcyon steeple]

I remember when people recommended that blue kaytee enclosure (the one in the second photo) it’s crazy that that was “suitable” a few years ago

[tropic crane]

Then we got this one like a week ago - 40 gallon breeder tank and way too small wheel for my female Syrian

And now today! … but I’m totally getting a dwarfy for the 40 gallon breeder 😂

[tropic crane]

That blue cage would be considered crazy hamster lady level in 2002

[glacial thicket]

You’ve done a lot of improvements already, that’s for sure!!!

[tropic crane]

Thanks! I got better yesterday too 😂

[noble mesa]

Looks amazing compared to where you started, it's a beautiful sight! Also a small advice on how to make the igloo non-transparent. You can use elmer's glue and either tp or cardboard shreds or even moss to cover the igloo ^^

[tropic crane]

Yes I want to get moss

[wind solstice]

First:

Current:

[oblique leaf]

first^

current^

[glass geode]

updating this because my current has changed so much through the past month

first:

current:

[noble mesa]

Before:

Now:

[woeful patrol]

i love it!

[wind solstice]

Yooo awesome

[halcyon steeple]

I love the way it looks in the last photo!!

Cant wait to do this from my bin to the diy

[hidden flare]

Still got a ways to go and I would really like to get her a bigger enclosure, but im still proud of how much better her set up is now (she's a robo)

I was so proud of her first set up lol, I have no idea how much stuff they needed

[noble mesa]

It's an amazing improvement! I like how you set up her sand bath

[woeful patrol]

i love how you make use of the space!

[oblique nest]

before:

after

there’s still plenty i could improve on but i’m proud of how far i’ve come :)

[slim bluff]

Before vs after

He’s already destroyed it but it’s ok

My first hamster had a smaller cage actually

[wooden marsh]

damnn the bedding looks so nice

[noble mesa]

how many inches is that? It looks so comfy and nice

[oblique nest]

it’s about 12 inches on the deep side and 8 on the shorter side!

[noble mesa]

Woah, I love it a lot

the only thing I'd suggest is some colorfur forage to add some colors ^^

[upper portal]

What aquarium is that? It looks amazing!

[upper portal]

Megatron! XD I love it