# Pets at home wouldn’t sell me a hamster…



## Gabby Williams (12 mo ago)

Hi, 

This is sort of a long one I apologise! 

I need a bit of advice because I’ve been made to feel like I’ve done something wrong by Pets at Home. 

Yesterday I went to get my hamsters some treats from Pets at Home and saw a beautiful little ginger Syrian. I thought….’your my soul mate’. I currently have 2 Syrians who live in separate 138L storage boxes with a large wheel and all the enrichment they could ever want or need! They also have a lot of time out of their cages basically walking on me in their own rooms. 

So after me thinking this beautiful hamster was my soul mate I decided what an excellent idea to take him home as I have a spare storage box the same size. This little hamster, who was going to be called soba was a baby so he had a lot of room to grow into the cage. 

I asked one of the people who worked there if I could have him and then she asks have I had hamsters before, which I have and I named them, because I like to over share about them! She then without any hesitation asks that’s good have you got a cage set up, I said yes my partner at home is doing it now. She said ‘is it one of our cages?’ I said no as I don’t think they are big enough and there isn’t room for enough bedding. She said ‘well we will have to see a picture of it set up’, I said absolutely as we have done a lot of research into the most suitable, my partner takes a picture and sends it to me I show her and she says ‘no this is not suitable, I will check with somebody else though’. So she takes the picture and shows somebody else then comes back and says ‘no it’s not good enough it will have to be one of ours’. 

I was a bit confused as they hadn’t seemed too bothered selling me 2 hamsters before. 

Both my hamsters are really happy and have been tamed, they both go for check ups on their health because I want them to be the happiest they can be. 

So, my question, am I doing something wrong or do Pets at Home want you to purchase their own cages as they don’t make enough money selling just the animal?

Any suggestions would be amazing! 
Thank you,

Gabby


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## Engel98 (Oct 7, 2018)

I agree that it isn't suitable for hamsters. Temporary accommodation maybe but for a home, definitely not. I would like to see a picture of your set-up though.

Reasons why I don't recommend bin cages:
-lack of ventilation
-they can easily be chewed out of
-they are too small. Bins taper and the floor space is smaller than initially thought. I haven't been able to find a bin that is 80cmx50cm which is the absolute minimum.

That being said I've never had a hamster happy in a 80x50 cage. My robo was happier in a 100x50 and so were 2 of my Syrians, however my current female and one of my previous females probably would have benefited from an even larger cage.


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## ForestWomble (May 2, 2013)

Hi, I agree with the lady at Pets at home, bin cages are not suitable homes for hamsters, I've never agreed with the use of them as a home.


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## Gabby Williams (12 mo ago)

Engel98 said:


> I agree that it isn't suitable for hamsters. Temporary accommodation maybe but for a home, definitely not. I would like to see a picture of your set-up though.
> 
> Reasons why I don't recommend bin cages:
> -lack of ventilation
> ...


Thank you for your reply. I honestly thought I was doing the right thing after loads of research and a lot of YouTube videos.

Both hamsters have the cage from B&Q it's the Kaze 138L which is 78cm x 58cm.

With the range at Pets at Home I've often thought I was doing the right thing because the ones they sell were tiny. When we first got Udon (male Syrian) he was in one of the cages from pets at home, he would constantly chew the bars and everything seemed too small for him even with enrichment.

I'll take a picture of the set up as soon as I can of the homes I have for both of them but they are the link above.

In your opinion, what would be the best option? As like I said I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. I don't want them to be unsafe or happy so any feedback on what would be better would be great.

Thank you.


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## Engel98 (Oct 7, 2018)

I started off the exact same way and I know a lot of people have too. I believe it's because there were a lot of YouTubers (mostly from the US from what I saw) using them and promoting them. It was a trend with misinformation really.

Pets at home cages are awful and wouldn't buy one even if it was the last cage on Earth. The plaza that I use is available from [email protected] and marketed towards rats and is probably the only cage is use for hamsters from there.

I use the savic plaza for my Syrians. Some use the IKEA detolf/ skyline Barney/Alexander. At the moment there's a wave of DIY cages from IKEA furniture which look good from what I've seen. 

Google search german hamster cages to get an idea of what size cage you are aiming for. Germany seem to be paving the way for a few hamster bits at the moment so worth having a look at.


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## Gabby Williams (12 mo ago)

Engel98 said:


> I started off the exact same way and I know a lot of people have too. I believe it's because there were a lot of YouTubers (mostly from the US from what I saw) using them and promoting them. It was a trend with misinformation really.
> 
> Pets at home cages are awful and wouldn't buy one even if it was the last cage on Earth. The plaza that I use is available from [email protected] and marketed towards rats and is probably the only cage is use for hamsters from there.
> 
> ...


Hi, thank you, that's wonderful. I think that's exactly where I got my information from.

I'm moving house in a couple of weeks where I will be able to get a lot more room so will definitely look at the ones from Ikea where space will be a lot more available too!

Thank you for your help!!!


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