The Aquarium Hamster Cage
One great alternative to the traditional hamster cage is to use an old glass aquarium to create an aquarium hamster cage. This articles looks at what you need to consider when thinking about using an aquarium as a home for your hamster.
Cost
It may well be that you have an old aquarium no longer in use somewhere in your home, in which case it is probably a really good idea to set up an aquarium hamster cage as a way of recycling the item. But if you do not then you may well find that purchasing an aquarium specifically for the purpose of using it as a hamster cage is quite a lot more expensive than purchasing a wire hamster cage or a plastic hamster cage.
Cleaning
When considering what to use as a hamster cage it is important to think about cleaning your hamster cage once it is in use. There is an argument that suggests that the glass walls and floor of an aquarium hamster cage makes cleaning quick and easy and that keeping them really clean is easier than other cages. But you also have to consider that the only access into your aquarium hamster cage is from the top which may well make the practicalities of cleaning the cage quite awkward. You should also give some consideration to its weight as the glass will be a lot heavier than alternative cages and mean that moving your aquarium hamster cage around is awkward and cumbersome.
Safety And Security
First, your hamster cage, aquarium or otherwise should be well ventilated. Failure to provide adequate ventilation can harm your pet. Clearly the only form of ventilation that you will be able to provide in your aquarium hamster cage is from the ceiling. So if your aquarium has a cover you should remove it and attach a wire mesh as a ceiling instead. This will provide good ventilation and also ensure that your hamster is not able to escape the cage.
Removing any top will also resolve another problem you may face with an aquarium hamster cage and that is condensation. If you do cover the top you may well find condensation forming on the sides of the cage which will drip to the base and create an unpleasant environment for your hamster to live in.
Aquarium hamster cages do not suffer from draughts in the same way that wire hamster cages may well do but it is important that you do not place your aquarium hamster cage in direct sunlight as this will almost certainly be very unpleasant and even potentially fatal for your hamster.
Finally, you need to consider where inside your aquarium hamster cage you will locate a water bottle which is an essential item to provide your pet. Clearly the bottle can’t easily be attached to the glass sides but you may well find that sticky backed velcro will solve this problem for you.
In summary, aquarium hamster cages can be a great alternative to wire or plastic hamster cages but you need to make sure that you consider all the above before finally deciding as by overlooking some of the above you might seriously harm your little pet.
