# Complained to Habitrail



## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

about the OVO 

I couldn't find a complaints department on their website, so i've sent it as a question, which I hope will go to the same place.

Here's what I put:

Subject: Habitrail OVO

I cannot believe such a disgusting, inadequate product is avaliable to buy as living accomodation for small animals. The layout of the 'cage' does not give the hamster sufficient room to live comfortably, and the connecting tubes and other compartments are clearly unfair on any animal. Large Syrian Hamsters can easily become stuck in the tubes, and smaller dwarf hamsters can struggle to climb up the tubes.

A hamster needs room to run, dig and climb. The OVO does NOT give a hamster any proper space to carry out any of these behaviours, and I, along with many other people, believe that this is possibly one of the cruelest contraptions ever created.

I cannot believe such a huge, widespread company could produce something which is so clearly unfair and unfit to keep ANY animal inside. This also applies to many of your other cages, which are clearly unfit to house either a syrian or dwarf hamster.

Your company has gained an awful reputation among PROPER pet owners, and it's just such a shame that uneducated, naive children and parents are led to believe that your products are suitable for keeping a small animal inside.

On seeing the OVO, I came to the decision I for one will NEVER buy another Habitrail product, and I sincerely hope that others will sit up and take notice of your frankly cruel range of cages and "housing" and also boycott the company.

Thankyou for reading, and I hope the company soon changes it's priorites from being all about money, to being about the welfare of animals.

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LOL if I can find a proper complaints department on the webiste, i'll send it there too.

I know that one person probably won't make any difference, but that horrible OVO monstrosity just makes my blood boil SO MUCH


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

woooo you go girl!

:lol:


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## marion..d (Nov 12, 2008)

you will have to let us know if they reply...


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

marion..d said:


> you will have to let us know if they reply...


I shall do  it'll probably just be a glorified "piss off", but I said my bit, so i don't mind :lol:


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

LOL i've just got some huge long reply from this woman 

I'd post it all, but it's so long, I don't think anyone would have the patience to read it all :lol: even I got bored, and it was me who ranted to them in the first place :lol:

Okay, i'm gonna post it all, as it doesn't look quite as long on here, the line lengths are shorter on my email, so it looked a lot longer:

"It is not natural for hamsters to be kept in cages, or to use wheels, or to drink out of water bottles, etc. By keeping hamsters as pets we have completely removed them from what is natural for them. If you take a close and critical look at any type of caging for any type of animal, you will never find one that meets all the practical and aesthetic requirements of the consumer and the husbandry requirements of the animal. Each cage type has its own peculiar set of advantages and disadvantages. 

Obviously, some cages get closer than others to satisfying all requirements for all people and pets, and Habitrail certainly gets closer to meeting these than any other that I know of. As you will know well, in their natural state they live in extensive tunnels with little snug areas in them for storage and sleep, etc., and they can travel miles at night time. Yet so often, people keep them in a rectangular cage, with no attempt to mimic their "natural" environment at all. 

How many hamsters have spent their entire lives frustrated, bored, or stressed as they incessantly scrabble at the walls or try to chew their way out. I hate to see stereotypical behaviour from hamsters as they repeatedly gnaw or dig at the corners of their cage, the average pet hamster is often cooped up 23hrs a day in a tiny cage.

We are constantly trying to find ways to enrich the lives of hamsters and move people away from the old fashioned idea of just keeping them in boring rectangular cages. 

The main problem from a husbandry perspective is that hamsters need much more exercise than most people realise. In a totally enclosed metal cage this requirement does not become apparent because there is frequently nothing for the hamster to do that will make this obvious and unfortunately, a hamster's reaction to boredom is viewed by some as being normal behaviour. Pacing, constant use of a wheel, torpidity, cage chewing, frequently repeated behaviours and so on, are all signs of stereotypic behaviour. Hamsters are a prey species and as such, are nervous of large open spaces. A tunnel gives them a feeling of security; they cannot be attacked from above by a bird.

100,000's of Habitrail have been sold around the world in the last 25years they have proved themselves many times over to be more than adequate and suitable for a hamster's needs. The tubes perfectly mimic the sort of tunnels hamsters dig for themselves in the wild, with little "rooms" at the end to either sleep in, or store food in, etc. You only have to look at how a hamster in a Habitrail set up loves to move around between "add-ons" and up and down the tunnels to see how much they appreciate them. They often choose to sleep in one of the small "Outposts", again because it mimics their natural environment. If they did not like the tubes, they simply would stay in the main unit and choose not to use them.

I hope that this has helped to put your mind at rest about the suitability on the Ovo cage for your pet."

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I still don't agree with what she said. Yes, we've taken them out of their habitat, and no it's not natural to keep them in a cage, but that could be said for any animal.

And you don't have to "take a close and critical look" at the OVO to see how crap it is. It's plain to see.

Yes, normal cages are old fashioned and rectangular. But this OVO thing isn't exactly brilliant, is it? And if the rectangular "old fashioned" cages have worked for so long, why try to fix something that isn't broken?

Hamsters do need a lot of exercise, that's why i'd never keep one in an OVO, because it's not spacious enough.

The tubes may "mimic" what they have in the wild, but wild hamsters will build tunnels that they can actually FIT through. And tunnels can be added to any cage, so why would I buy that tiny little thing?

If the hamster didn't like the tubes, it'd be pretty stuffed if it lived in the OVO, because it'd hardly have room to turn around.

I love the end bit, as if i'd actually bought one when I feel so strongly about them LOL


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## swiftgerbil (Sep 1, 2008)

Like a lot of first-time small pet buyers (especially as I was a young kid) I was attracted to the pretty 'play centre' type constructions, they're well designed/marketed to be really appealing to owners. Young pet owners are naturally going to be impressed by a multi-coloured construction named the "Super Duper Space Age Mega-Maze Triple Luxury Apartment With Mini Entertainment Suite" compared to the glass rectangle beside it. 

A gerbil of course will not care about the difference. I'm not very experienced with hamsters but gerbils are powerful chewers and excellent escape artists. The play-centres can be more difficult to clean out too if there are a lot of tubes/compartments. A prefabricated environment is somewhat limited unless you buy the next greatest and latest attachment of course. With a glass tank you're as limited as your imagination.

My gerbils would end up chewing on the bars. Nowadays I use a large glass tank and the play-centre is just used as a light-weight portable pen for taking them to the vet. The wire cage is used as a holding pen during clean-out time for the tank (they spend most of their time in it chewing the bars and trying to get out).


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

She is completley wrong !!!!!

'retangle' cages as she calles them lol

are perfectly fine

you can add cardbord tubes, toys etc hamsters DO NOT like enclosed spaces!!!
if they are in an enclosed space for to long they get Cage paralysis.

Her main point about hamsters being 'bored' and chewing on cage
bars .... whats that i smel?? Bull s**t. they chew on the bars BECAUSE THEY ARE SHORTENING THEIR TEETH, BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO LAZY TO CHEW WOOD PIECES lol 
Hamsters dont have the option to chew bars on that cage lol.


Yes we took them from the wild Originally BUT that is why they Are called DOMESTIC ANIMALS, they Depend on us and would dir in the wild.

Re-inforce habitat my arse....how many wild hamsters do you know living in a confeind space?? 
What they going to do next to 're-inforce' habitat , start selling birds of prey toys??

UGH i just want to buy a cage and throw it on the floor & smash it up !! 


xx


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

LOL she's proper full of crap isn't she! I mean, she's probably paid to market that company, and even if she doesn't agree with it herself, it's her job to convince people that Habitrail are the best in the world and that everyone should own their stuff, but still, she's making herself look a bit of an idiot, she's clearly fighing a losing battle :lol:


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

haahaa so true

what a numpty...

:nono:

xx


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