I bought my daughter a hamster for her birthday along with one of the small Rotastak cages. We then discoverd that the cage wasn't really big enough for the hamster.
Whilst in our local garden centre I came across the Pink Palace cage. It was also half price so cost me £25 (£5 less than the original cage I bought).
Of course, as soon as my daughter opened the present she wanted it assembled. The cage itself wasn't a problem, the spiral tube was what caused me a nightmare. The pieces are quite tight (which obviously stops them coming apart at a later date) but this did mean they were very hard to put together in the first place. The cage probably took me about 40 minutes to put together in the end (which doesn't seem too bad but feels like an eternity when you have an 8 year old nagging you to be quick).
The end result though is quite pleasing. I have one very happy daughter and hamster.
The cage is made from a good quality plastic with metal elements and are easy enough to get into for my daughter get the hamster out.
My only real issue with this cage is it is a pain to clean and you have to take each 'room' apart individually and remove the tube to clean them (metal guards on the end of the tubes which can be awkward to get off but they tubes don't fit back through the holes if you leave them on). The tube itself could also do with a clean but it was that hard to put together in the first place I don't want to take it apart again. Another thing to remember is to check the plugs have been put in properly as with the first Rotastak cage we didn't and the hamster escaped.
The cage also comes with it's own wheel and a small water bottle. There is also the possibility of purchasing additional cages and tubes and linking them together. These cages are available in most pet shops but I have found them to be cheaper to buy off the internet.
In general, this is a smashing cage for the reduced cost but if I had paid £50 I would have been disappointed.
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Thank God my kids are grown up. I remember all the problems we had with a number of different hamsters.
Nice review.
Pip2002 30.10.2009 19:12
My hamsters always seemed to be too fat/ lazy for the Rotastak tubes and would never bother with any of the long tubes outside the main cage. (That'll teach me to feed them on lard I suppose..........no, not really!)
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