Rotastak cages have been around for an absolute age now, and I always wanted one for my hamster as a kid, but we stuck with a wire cage. However, roll on forward years and years, and this year I got two cute dwarf hamsters. And I immediately decided to get a Rotastak cage. Here's what I think of Rotastak.

~~~ Appearance ~~~

Let's begin with the appearance. The cages seem, mostly, to be marketed at children. This is the first criticism I have - as they're marketed at children, children will want to buy them, and obviously, a pet hamster. And if a child is left to care for a hamster alone, they may not be quite responsible enough and neglect it, or fail to take care of it properly, resulting in the death of the hamster.

The cages are mainly plastic, though some do have small wire sections on them, like the circular room, which has wire right at the very top. Otherwise, fresh air comes to the hamster through holes in the roof of each room.

Each room has at least one circular opening in the side, which other rooms can connect to via tubes. Some sections also have holes in the bottom, so rooms can be stacked, effectively, and your hamster can go upwards through the tubes to the next section.

Depending on the set you get, certain parts may follow certain colour schemes. Mostly this is restricted to the roof of each room and tubing, however you can find parts like bowls in a set colour scheme per set too. Straight tubes are usually blue, along with U-bends, though you may find them in other colours if bought in a pack. Curved tubes also come in a variety of colours.

~~~ Building ~~~

Putting together Rotastak cages is without a doubt the worst part of Rotastak cages. So tubes are not gnawed into pieces by your hamsters, you have to place anti-gnaw rings on the tubes, which can be difficult, to say the least.

Each room usually comes in two pieces; the floor and the roof. For some sections, they attach easily and it'll take just a few seconds to put on. For others, you must put the roof onto the floor section and slide on some plastic 'fasteners', I think would be the best word, which hold the sections together. These can be annoying dismantling, if you've only just got your first Rotastak cage, as it's impossible to just pull them off, you have to twist them, pulling them off at the same time.

The circular room is slightly different from the others in that the floor section is just that; the floor. Most floor sections have half or all of the walls, with the roof section holding the rest, but the circular room has the wall attached to the roof. This can be annoying putting together, as if you don't line it up you'll have to pull it apart and reattach it.

Tubes clip together easily, as one slides into the other and clips into place. These are also easily pulled apart. Curvy tubes fit together slightly differently. Each curve comes in two halves, which need to be put together. Then a tube adaptor needs to be attached to each end, to hold them together and to allow them to attach to more curvy tubes or special straight tubes. The tube adaptors are another annoying part of Rotastak cages, if you're using curvy tubes, as they're incredibly different to put on and pull off, and as a result I now no longer use curved tubes in my cages.

Tubes can only enter holes small-end first, which is another criticism, as it can be frustrating trying to put a tube somewhere, or trying to remove it and being unable to.

It's also worth noting that dwarf hamsters cannot climb vertical tubing unless you buy one of the ladders for it.

~~~ Expandability ~~~

This is the feature that was my incentive to buy a Rotastak cage. As the cages can be expanded, I loved the idea of being able to build my hamsters a huge paradise - and I still do, despite having not expanded it at all yet.

As each room is separate, and tubes are not directly attached to each room, your cage can just be expanded, literally forever as long as you have the space. Rooms can be stacked, or attached by tubes, and it can just keep on going. If you're looking for an expandable cage, Rotastak is definitely the one for you, without a doubt.

~~~ Cleaning ~~~

Another gripe with Rotastak cages ... As each room is separate, that means cleaning each room separately. It'd also be a good idea to clean the tubes out too. Cleaning should be done once a week, and this can get tiresome given the amount of time it'll take to clean them out, especially when it's your first time using a Rotastak cage and you're having trouble dismantling and rebuilding it.

~~~ Price ~~~

The price of Rotastak cages is ridiculously expensive unless you're going to buy a big set. A look on UKPetSupplies, where I bought my cage, shows that a 'Maxi Mansion', which is a large room and an attic section attached by a tube costs £26.95 right now, after a price cut. For this much you could get a much larger wire care.

However, if you're going to get a large set, you may find it's about the same size as some of the largest wire cages out there, and also looks a lot more interesting and you may prefer it; if you can stand the cleaning and problems putting it together and pulling it apart every week.

~~~ General Thoughts ~~~

Rotastak cages are expensive, hard to put together, hard to pull apart and takes an age to clean every week. They're also marketed at children, who can be very irresponsible when caring for a pet.

On the plus side, they can be endlessly expanded, they're very interesting to look at and if you get a set, you can change the layout every week so your hamster has an interesting 'new' home to live in.

So, it really depends on where you stand on this. I personally still like my Rotastak cage, even though it annoys me at times, and I plan on extending it within the next six months. However, I'd advise a wire cage for most people, unless you're more into pretty cages - after all, expandability is a good idea and all, but is it that necessary?