Funky hamster cages with tubes - any good?

[stripeyknickersspottysocks]

Thinking of getting DD a hamster. She loves the look of all the Rotastack/Crittertrail type cages with tubes, etc. I think they look fiddly to clean and that there will be wee and poo in the tubes and everything will have to be dismantled weekly for a good clean. Am I right or are they OK?

Can anyone recommend a specific cage?

Brilliant cages but believe me when I tell you that there is a special place in hell for whoever designed them. Putting them together is a nightmare. We have this and the air was blue when I put it together. Our hammy loves it though.

I can cope with it being hard to put together for the first time. How easy is it to clean out? Does it have to be taken apart to clean it?

Nightmare to clean out mainly because the tubes all have to be realigned when reconnecting if you have one with lots of tubes. With our cage I have taped one end of the tube to it's exit meaning I only have to connect the other end at the top.
Cage comes apart pretty easily though now I have done that and can be cleaned.

Beware if you have a cat as the tubes can be knocked out fairly easily - rescued my hamster not 5 mins ago from my cat. Hamster is an escape artist though.

Ah, we have 2 very keen cats and an even keener dog. A hamster wouldn't last 5 mins if it escaped. Guess we may be better off with a more traditional cage. Thanks.

Only problem stripey (you are going to hate me ) is that we replaced the traditional cage because the cat was plucking the bars like a guitar with her claws. The hamster who is not strong in the brain department was waking up and thinking "ooh I wonder what that noise is"?
Cue cat attempting to lacerate hamster through cage bars. Hence the rotastack cage - better but still not totally cat proof.

we have the habitrail, basically the setup shown on the front page. the only bits that the hamster messes is the main bowl, the top one which you can use as a portable bowl and it's sleeping bed, never messes in the tubes. It's not much of a faff to clean, the tubes etc.. fit together wtih rotating cuffs, so easy to get apart and put together again.

www.habitrail.com/ovo/eng/index.php

Actually stripey - if you are getting a hamster have a look for a breeder rather than a pet shop one. A breeder will have handled the hamster froma young age so it will be tame. Syrian hamsters tend to be thre easiest to tame afaik.

Hamsters tend to only wee and poo in one spot which helps. But the Rotastak cages are a pain in the bum to disassemble and reassemble each time. It took us a good hour plus to do ours and some bits were just too fiddly for the DCs to do. By contrast, a simple "normal" cage takes about 10-15min.

We got our 2 hamsters from Pets At Home (Russian dwarf) and they are super tame.

I like the look of the Habitrail one, does that take less than an hour to clean?

Already busy with rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens. Seem to spend all my life cleaning up poo!

Thanks for all the advice.

My hamster has a Habitrail home,this one with the additional big room. We buy cardboard mazes or lorries to go inside it. Hamster seems happy enough in it.

Doesn't take me long to clean. 15 minutes and it is done. I don't feel the eed to take it all apart. Every so often - maybe every couple of months or three I take it all apart and give it a more thorough clean and take it all apart. That obviously takes longer but definitely not needed every tme.

Ours was pretty straight forward to put together too.

Re. wee - the Ovo has a little bed think hidden away near back. That s where our hamster goes. We put either litter or hay in there which soaks it up and makes it easy to clean out.