old guinea pig cage for hamster?

[amytrip]

now that my guinea pigs have a nice c+c cage, i have been eyeing one of their old cages for my hamster. it's got about 3/4 inch spacing in the wiring and the wiring is really strong and doesn't budge, it is not soft and pliable like some of the other guinea pig wiring i've seen. and the spacing is not as large as in the other guinea pig cage i have either, which made me wonder if i could use it, it's like a cage that is way too small for a rabbit or guinea pig but yet i wonder if it's too large for the hamster. it's not as big as a My First Home cage, the wiring and base are smaller and it opens from the top. The cover is removed via side clips that attach to the base. does anyone know the cage i mean? there are no company markings on it so i do not know the precise model.

just to try, i've had my hamster in it for about 4 hours. it has boxes and stuff so she can climb out of the base area to reach the wiring and i put a wheel in there, etc. and she was able to get into it and spin it...

...nothing fancy right now just a trial run to see if she can escape the cage. so far nothing, but then again, she may try overnight...? i know how sneaky they are and what masters they are at the art of escaping. has anybody ever successfully converted one of those crappy small guinea piggie cages into one for a hamster? it would be so nice and big for her if she could have it too.

[amytrip]

my hamster's been in there for 2 more hours and no escaping yet. she can't fit her entire head through the bars even though she has tried and tried and tried, only her nose etc. get out...am i safe to assume if that by morning she has not escaped, then chances are the cage is secure?

[amytrip]

alright i guess nobody reads hamster cages posts because nobody had any advice for me, i kept checking all night. well just so everyone knows the hamster did not make it out of her cage (the old guinea pig one) and she has established her new sleeping corner already and seems pretty happy in there. i made 2 levels by zip-tying 2 Hagen hamster cage wire levels inside the guinea pig cage - and then covering them with linoleum so she wasn't stuck walking on all-wire levels. i've attached a ladder between the two that i macguyvered out of an old toaster oven grill rack. the reason i decided to give her this cage instead is she wasn't making use of her crittertrails and the mice will welcome the additions. she is a very quiet Syrian who just stays in the same corner all the time unless she is eating or using her wheel. she doesn't tunnel or explore or live around her cage. now she has a home that has far more floor room than any crittertrail model ever did, and she doesn't have unused funnels running into cages she doesn't visit anyway. she seems happy in there and i'm glad it is secure and she cannot get out, my only worries were that because of the bar spacing - but thank god they are a wee bit under 3/4 inch and it does the job. thanks to her super fat bottom, too, she can't get out. and trust me, she would have by now if she could have, she is an imediate escape artist, we've watched her do it before when cages were not secure. i spent most of the night running to her cage to see if she was still in there, relieved each time. so if anyone has ever wondered about a guinea pig cage, if it's a small one, it might work for you too. i will post a picture under other types of cages for anyone who wants to see.

[amytrip]

Here is the cage:

[guineapiglvr14]

I see your pictures in the gallery, how many hamsters do you have?
That cage is fine.

[BabyGrl]

I don't really know much about hamsters but the cage looks nice. Sometimes you have to be patient in waiting for responses. It can take hours and sometimes days.

[bbqbarbiedolls]

What lucky hamster to have all that room to run and play. I like that you recycled your guinea pig cage to make a bigger hamster cage. Now all of your pets have more room.

[citronsoul]

Looks good! I think the spacing may be too big for dwarf hamsters, but for anyone with a syrian it should work. Great idea! And to think something like that is sold for guinea pigs. The space suits a hamster much better.