My first hamster was Manx, a Syrian ("Golden") hamster I had when I was about 8 or 9. I don't really remember much about her, except that she lived in a Rotastak and gave birth on my birthday :) I got Jeri when I was about 18, and I've had an unbroken chain of hamsters since then (unless you count the gap of two days between the passing of Jeri and the coming of Sabrina...)

Hamster Homes

I've had a few different types of hamster home in my time. Jeri had a traditional wire cage, which was inherited by Sabrina. This was fine, a decent size and hard to get out of; it only had one door, and as long as that was properly tied up it was virtually impossible to escape from! The main problems were the unexpandability, the fact it looked grotty after being attacked by two hamsters for a total of around 3 years, and the wire floor (which I later discovered could have been dangerous...)

When Willow came along, I splashed out on a Rotastak Adventure Zone. It was HUGE! Like a hamster palace, I suppose...Great cage, crap wheel (Willow looked a bit squished in it.) Rotastaks are a good idea, the hamsters love the tunnels, and Willow had a lot of tunnels due to PetsAtHome having a sale on Tunnel Kits ;) I don't like them much though - the Adventure Zone was great, lots of space for a fuzzy rodent, but the lower models are awful. Seriously, the Starter Homes (which are basically one round unit plus attic bedroom) are horrendously cramped and don't even come with a wheel. There are probably thousands of hamsters suffering in them! That said, if you can afford to expand it a Rotastak's a marvellous cage. Only problem is the wheel - even the Rainbow Runner is too small for a full-grown Syrian, and there isn't enough space for a Wodent Wheel (more on these later!) One other thing you should bear in mind with a Rotastak is that some people think round units are cruel, something about hamsters using corners to orient themselves. I don't know how true this is, but Willow never minded, she used the round and Maxi (kidney-shaped) units as much as the Pod (triangular) unit.

When Willow broke her tooth, I took the opportunity to move her out of the Rotastak and into a glass tank. IMHO, these are the best homes for hamsters; they're easy to clean, if you make a mesh lid they have great ventilation and they have enough room for a Wodent Wheel (For Which May Transoniq Be Eternally Blessed.) I suggest a 12x24x15inch tank - 12x24" for the base gives plenty of room for running, and 15" high means the little sod can't reach the mesh lid! It's great fun watching them "walk" upside-down along the mesh, but recently Rin caught her nose and hurt herself quite badly (her tank was only 12" tall.) She's still recovering, she hurt her gums and is only just getting back onto solid foods.) Rin and Mr Fluffy live in 12x30x15inch tanks, the local garden centre didn't have 12x24x15 so I had to go for the next size up :P Actually, that's not true, Trunky lives in the remains of Willow's Rotastak - it's connected to his tank by tubing, he goes to the tank each night to scurry on the Almighty Wodent Wheel! The water bottle's a bit of a problem, but you can get velcro pads and strips with self-adhesive backs from places like Maplin (May All Their Stores Be Kaze-no-Kizu'd Or Otherwise Razed To The Ground - sorry, former employee here! They're the only place I can think of that does the velcro strips/pads....)

Finally, the Mini-Duna. I bought one of these for Sasami and Misao. Then my cute little girl Sasami turned out to be a cute little boy, became Sammy and got his own Mini-Duna. Great cages for dwarves, and enough space for the Wonderful Wodent Wheel. Then Willow died and I put Misao in her tank. Then Misao died and Sammy moved out of his Mini-Duna. (The two Dunas were last seen heading Stoke-wards in a white van to be populated by my sister's pets.)

Why I Love The Wodent Wheel

As you may have guessed, I have an appreciation of Wodent Wheels (available from Transoniq.) I had never owned a hamster who cared much for the wheel, Willow used hers a bit but wasn't too concerned about it. Then came Misao and the worst wheel I had ever met. The wheel in the Mini-Duna was rattly, and I had to share a room with her, so out it came and in went the Rotastak Wonder Wheel. Bliss! At least for a while. Then it started squeaking. I dreaded her awakening, I was exhausted through the squeaking that just DIDN'T WANT TO STOP. At my wit's end, I bought one of these fancy American things, a Wodent Wheel Jr.02. Good God! An almost-silent wheel! The only time they get noisy is when it's time to give them a thorough clean, or when the little bugger's done a poop or cracked open a sunflower seed in there and it rattles a bit. Or they get some bedding underneath it so it squeaks a bit. Otherwise, it's marvellous! Rin and Lord Fluffybutt love theirs (Rin's used to be Misao's, my first Wodent Wheel, and The Tribble's was first Sam's, he didn't care for it so it became Willow's.) It's a perfect size for a full-grown Syrian, and Misao the Roborovski could hit ~3mph on it despite being tiny! Only problem is that you need a cage with around 10" clearance for the smallest one.