Trixie Hamster Steps

My guinea pigs have rather larger cages and with this comes problems as I need to try and find items which are going to appeal to them but also make the cage look like it is being used.

I used to have small tunnels and little tiny toys but they never seemed that bothered by them and then I came across these steps in a local pet store. The steps are designed according to the lady in the store for both hamsters and guinea pigs.

The idea behind them is that the animal has the option to play around with other animals and use these steps as a source of entertainment. My guinea pigs were unsure at first about this item as was I.

The item looks cheap because the wood is rather flaky and this goes for every single step. You have one long step which is supported by a long beam. Then you have two more steps which decrease in height and all of them support one another with various sized beams.

The entire item is really fragile in my view. The steps can twist to create various angles and for me it was a good option to have available to me as it meant they were not always facing the same direction. I teased my guinea pigs so they were unsure what was going on.

Around the sides to every single step is the effect of pine wood it is like the top texture which is flaky has been pulled away. However although the item was decent to begin with after a few weeks problems developed.

The first was how easy my animals could rip apart the steps. They would scratch and bite away at the steps and this created huge holes which were extremely sharp and even cut my own hands on them several times. Apparently this is natural wood so if your pet does chew on the wood it would not cause them any harm.

Not only was this a problem but the item seemed to fall over so easily. If the guinea pig pushed against the side of the steps the entire item falls down to the floor and you have to keep putting it back up. It falls down so often that eventually you cannot even get it to stand properly.

I had to sand away the long beam and make sure the bottom was flat to have any chance of this item standing still. I found if you spilt water on these steps or if your animal went to the toilet on them the steps soaked up the water and it would drip underneath.

That to me was not good and how it easy it was to fall apart was worrying for me. I expected this product to remain standing throughout its time in the cage but it kept falling over and needed me to constantly alter the longer beam.

The item was large so it fitted in a larger cage very well and at first my guinea pigs loved to climb up the item but after it got dangerous with flaky parts and not at all stable they began to shy away from the item.

It was valued at £5 in the shop and I am not sure if this was discounted or whether this is the recommended retail price but it is far too much money for an item I can really say failed. In the last few weeks after getting fed up of altering every aspect of the steps I decided to throw them away.