To not want to spend £55 on a hamster cage?

[sharlotroze]

Found one in Argos £19.99 person we are buying it from recommends a £55 one. That's ridiculous. AIBU?

Depends whether you want to keep in a little shoe box where it will gnaw through and be bored out of its proverbial box, or whether you want to give it some quality of life with a multi storey rotostack

Not enough info really.

How big is the £19.99 one compared to the other, and are you then going to have to pay out for other things like 2 water bottles, a wheel etc if you go for the cheaper one?

YABU! If you can't afford the cage, don't get the hamster. And do some research first.

I think you should buy the best one you can afford. I imagine the nicer their cage, the nicer their life.

What sort of hamster is it?

Hamsters need loads of room, especially Syrians. A £20 cage from Argos is unlikely to fit the bill, size wise.

Actually OP, just a thought but you can often get secondhand cages on Ebay/Facebook local groups for a fraction of their original price.

That way you'd probably get more for your money.

Please don't buy a small cage. An adult hamster runs 5 miles a night in the wild, they need a big cage and an adult Syrian needs a 12" wheel to prevent spinal damage.
The Alaska from zooplus is £35 at the moment and a decent size if you can't stretch to the Barney (which I'm guessing is the recommended one).

It's a Syrian

I was going to recommend the Alaska from Zooplus too - it's only £32.99 and the right size for a Syrian. It is massive though, but it's what they need.

Always go with biggest cage possible, and not one of those totally plastic, tube filled things - bars are much better for ventilation and keeping a better temperature and they get to climb on them too

As a general rule... small pet cages aren't suitable for the animals they are advertised for.
Hamster cages are too small for hamsters.
Guinea Pig cages are too small for guinea pigs.
Rabbits need far more space than rabbit hutches/cages provide. etc etc.

Please don't buy a £20 argos cage. Do a bit of research into what hamsters actually need, and maybe look on gumtree/ebay for something bigger 2nd hand.

Another vote for the Alaska, it is a fantastic cage. They need a big cage

We've got a Syrian and her cage is huge.

Adults live alone so they need lots of space for toys, tubes, hidey holes for foraging etc. Please don't buy a small cage just to save money.

The £20 one is likely to be far, far too small. Hamsters need a lot more room than you think, and most cages you can buy in pet shops are quite frankly extremely cruel. However you can buy a decent one for much less. I have the Alaska hamster cage which I got from zooplus for just over £30. Lots of room and space for a good amount of bedding for them to tunnel and play in at the bottom.

The normal wheels are no good for their back and can injure them if they go too fast (thrown out) you should get a flat wheel (called space wheel or something like that) which just goes on the floor, so you will need a big enough cage to fit the large one of those on the bottom of it

Sorry for repeating the Alaska recommendation, was writing my post as others posted; shows it comes recommended by many though!

We have 2 Syrians and their cages are all a metre long. We have shopped around and have picked them up quite cheaply.

Hamsters need lots of room to dig and have a big enough wheel to go on. Please don't buy the cheap one if you want to have a happy hamster.

It's your responsibility to ensure the animal you are caging has the best possible life it can whilst confined. £55 is not much when considering it will house a living breathing animal. Go for second hand if you can, disenfect with non toxic stuff and keep your little Syrian happy.

To back all of this advice up, pets at home sell a lot of different cages in store, and not one of them is big enough for a Syrian hamster (despite what they say) they really do need to be big. They also sell fish tanks that aren't suitable

Don't be cheap, not fair on the hamster. Syrian's need plenty of space and a deep enough cage for them to be able to burrow.

Also, please make sure the hamster has two water bottles, as they can die from dehydration in just a matter of days.

My friend's hamster died because the water bottle became blocked and she had no idea.

Our cages are either the Alexander or Barney. We have so many I cant remember (6 hamsters each in their own cages)

They actually suggested something called the heaven, in pets at home is £75 but have found it for £55

Would you be this shocked if we were talking about a rabbit hutch or the cost of a dog's harness, lead, bedding, toys, food, inoculations, flea treatment, worming treatment etc?

Animals aren't particularly cheap to look after if you want to give them the best quality of life.