CritterTrail X

My gerbils are named Acorn and Snowflake and this is their favorite CritterTrail.

It does stink if you don't clean it enough but mine mostly just stinks when they push the bedding out of the petting zone and use it for a toilet. If your hamsters/gerbils/mice do the same thing just don't open the petting zone! If you do it'll make the whole room stink.

If you don't like it when they kick the bedding out just cut a box so it's a taller than the plastic bottom and the bedding will just go in there. (Mostly anyway. Unless your pets pile it up all against the side.) Besides cages with bars and plastic like this are better for rodents. They can breathe better this way.

I agree with the other person who gave this cage a good review. When they use the wheel the poop only goes on the track. It could be worse.

My gerbils love the wheel. They don't build nests in it although everyone else says their hamsters do. (Maybe hamsters do that but gerbils don't? Maybe you should only get it for gerbils then. I don't know. Maybe my gerbils are just different.)

If you aren't looking for a perfect cage with no problems then I wouldn't recommend this. But if you want a nice cage that your pets will like then you should try a Crittertrail. If you don't like that you can buy an aquarium and put a SAM Toob-a-Top on it. Acorn and Snowflake my gerbils liked that too but they have their Crittertrails again (two of them anyway) because they seem to like these better.

Also Carefresh brand bedding seems to be better for them than Aspen shavings even though it's a little expensive. My gerbils ran away from me when they had the Aspen kind but we changed it back to Carefresh and they began to run up to the cage door when I came and they are much more tame and fun now.More detail ...

Wonderful.

If you take proper care of your hamster this home will be great for your little friend. In terms of what the other reviewers said you just have to take proper precautions.



For instance my buddy one night when he was getting used to the CritterTrail X also built a nest in the exercise wheel. Well I want him to be comfortable but he needs his exercise! For his own sake I sucked up the bedding from that spot with the vaccuum and he hasn't tried it since. Your hamster may need more coaxing to stop this behavior. Now poop and pee does fall through the holes in the wheel onto the track below but hamsters are gross that way so don't blame the house for the occupant's apathy! At least they were smart enough to build it so the disgustingness will go on the track and not anything else.



I don't know what the other person was talking about in terms of it being "hard to clean". You've got to vaccuum out the soiled bedding every day or two and wash the whole thing about once a week. Of course it will stink if you're gross and don't tend to it. I got my hamster as a roommate though and not a piece of meat for another pet so maybe I just don't mind being reasonable. I also don't see why it would break easily...it seems sturdy enough to me though I partially melted one using drying heat in the dishwasher and had to get another. That was the first time I ever used a dishwasher though and had no idea how to tend to it.



Anyways this house provides a decent amount of room for a hamster when you're unable let him or her play outside of it and it just looks cool too. The wheel and slide are neat as is the two-story nature of the thing. There's enough room to take melted pieces of a second one and put them inside for extra climbing fun. Highly recommended.More detail ...