Fudge's New Habitat

So we all decided that Fudge seemed a bit bored in his Hamster Heaven (HH).  He had taken to constantly seeping and hardly getting up through the night to play.  Myself and my fiancé were getting a bit worried about him so we thought it would be a good idea to build him a bigger habitat to live in and oh boy is it bigger ! Fudge has gone from his HH which gives him 4.3  square feet  to his DIY habitat which gives him 6.2 square feet of roaming floor space.  He had a good investigate of this space and seems to have found himself a beautiful dark little corner to sleep in, the HH was to bright and he always ended up sleeping in the light as he didn't seem to like any other house we put in there for him.

I have put this guide up to show that it doesn't have to cost a fortune to make your own cage as this only cost me £25 for extra wood for the mesh cover and supports, the mesh and hinges and handles.  I also bought face masks as I was sawing MDF veneered wood and safety goggles as I was using a Jigsaw.

Fudges new habitat started off as a plain old TV unit

Firstly I took the top off of the unit so as I could add hinged lids and a mesh lid later, and also let me remove the two dividers inside the unit.

I took one the dividers and cut an arch into it using the Jigsaw and re-attached about a cm further away from its original place as I needed to fit 3 detolf shelves in the large gap.

I then cut and attached some old table legs to help hold the glass in place from the exterior of the cage

I then added the 3 detolf shelves in the front and some support wood on the inside (top and bottom) to hold it. I used aquarium sealer to seal the shelves together and to the sides of the wood.

I cut two pieces of wood from an old wardrobe and added the handles (about £2.00 each) this is the first cost in the building of this cage as I had old wood and screws spare from old furniture and previous cage builds.

I then attached a hinge to each lid (should have been 2 but I mis-judged the weight of each lid. these where about £3.50 for 2 hinges. (There is a mesh covered hole in the top, please ignore as this was not part of the design - It was the last piece of wood suitable for a lid ha ha).

I added a support beam to the outside of the habitat to help support the weight of lid number 2 and made a wire mesh lid for the end lid

I then added a mesh window in the hideaway section to let air get in. the mesh and the wood used to make the mesh totalled to around £15 altogether

I would recommend adding the shelf before putting the glass in but I did it the hard way Ha ha. Add wood shavings/aspen, and hay, and of course, toys.

I hope this helps anyone wanting to build their own habitat for their Hamsters but am more than happy to answer any questions.