Most ANNOYING pet cages in the world (TM) (Rotastak Cages)

Member Name: LittleEwok

Product:	Rotastak Cages
Date:	30/04/05 (7598 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good for mice, gerbils and dwarf hamsters, Mimic their natural habitat, Fun for kids

Disadvantages: A b****r to clean, Too small for Syrians, Impossible to get your pet out of them!

Rotastak cages are a popular choice for pet Syrian hamsters. Basically they are plastic cage units that connect together to form a little maze for your hammy to get lost in. Some of the basic units include…

The starter unit and traditional system- consists of a small circular living section connected to a small system of tubes that leads to a small round “attic bedroom” type thingie. Comes with a small water bottle and an exercise wheel for hammy to run on.

The “Pod” systems- A triangular shaped living space, half plastic, half wire cage. Contains a second shelf level, small water bottle and food bowl. You can also get “mega” and “super” pod units with extras like tubing and running wheels that join on the one of the “tube” holes in the side of the cage.

The Maxi units- Kidney shaped plastic living units with an “attic” bedroom, running wheel, water bottle and food dish. The extras come with add-on units (“dining” rooms etc) and tubes.

Themed units- there is also a grossly overpriced range of “theme” units, which cost about £40 for a small cage and add on bedroom. These include “Jungle” and “Fairground” themes.

Basically the Rotastak cages are designed to mimic the burrow system of the Syrian Hamster in the wild, connections of tubes are used to add all the cage units together to form a tunnel system much like hamster would inhabit in the wild.


Good points

If you add enough of the units together, you have a large and stimulating area for your pet to play in.

Its also great fun to watch them climb through all the tubes and explore their nice big home. If you can afford it, or can afford to buy one more unit a month, you can end up with a veritable fairground for your pets. This is a really fun project, especially for kids. I currently have a colony of mice living in a huge set-up of this type of cage, and its really interesting and fun to add bits and watch them play (although a nightmare when it needs cleaning). When cleaning out the unit, you also have the option of putting it back together in a completely different fashion, giving your pets an entirely new home to explore.

It may well be more natural than traditional type cages, as hamsters live in burrows in the wild.

They are a great fun type of home for kids to watch them play in. One of the big problems of buying kids pets like hamsters is the fact that they tend to lose interest, but with multi-coloured space-age homes like these, its less likely that the kiddies will lose interest in their pets.

They are particularly suitable for mice, gerbils and smaller types of hamster like Russians and Chinese. Chinese hamsters, like mice, are able to squeeze their bodies through a space not much bigger than a pencils circumference, and for this reason, caging with less cage wire and more plastic are particularly suitable for these little Houdini’s. All of the above species are far less likely to chew their way out of this sort of home than an adult Syrian hamster.


Bad points

Rotastak cage units are really far too small for adult Syrian hamsters, unless you have a very large amount of them connected together, even then the fatties might have trouble getting through the tubes. For an animal the size of an adult Syrian hamster, you are really better with a traditional-type cage with lots of toys for interest, rather than a smaller living area with lots of add-ons. Most people using this type of cage only have one or two units, and this is really unfair to the animal. To make this system work, you really need a lot of the little cages added together, otherwise you are cooping up an animal in a small space and being pretty cruel. People tend to think that one or two of these units is enough for a hamster, but its really not enough for any pet.

Secondly, Syrian hamsters are very capable of chewing their way out of these cage. Russian and Chinese hamsters and pet mice are much less likely to do this, but adult Syrians will happily eat their way out of one of these cages. You have been warned!

Another problem is that Syrian hamster pups and full-size dwarf hamsters and mice might have problems reaching up to get into the actual tubing to make full use of their home. This can be solved by adding little “mouse ladders” found in pet shops. Also a big problem is that an animal might get stuck in one section of the cage. It may literally forget or not realise that there is a tube and not know how to get back to the main unit. If there is no water in the area they are stuck in, they may well dehydrate.

Ventilation is one of the major problems of this type of cage. Mice in particular are susceptible to illness if they don’t have plenty of fresh air, and the small ventilation areas in some of these cages simply aren’t enough for them, and they may well get ill. The “Pod” type cages are better in this respect than the traditional types.

Small animals love to climb cage wire, especially mice, and this type of caging denies this natural instinct, although if there is lots of tubing there is some climbing area. I like to add a “net” of very thick thread to some of the walls to allow them climbing space.

Lastly, this kind of cage is a total b****r to take apart and clean. Mice in particular are messy animals and you really need to be cleaning them out once a week. Even if you only have a small set of units, taking it all apart, cleaning it thoroughly and putting it back together are a total pain. For the same reasons, its much more difficult to take the animals out of the cage for a cuddle…anyone who has tried to chase a nervous hamster through a Rotastak system will know what I mean, so perhaps they are better for putting a tame pet in, rather than a new one.

Finally, these cages are really poor value for money, especially given that they are fairly poor quality. The plastic tube endings snap and break easily, and an industrious rodent can quite easily escape. One small unit will only cost you twenty quid, but consider that this will definitely NOT be enough space for even the smallest of pet mice, you really need at least three and probably more large units to make a suitable cage space, and the cost of this will easily reach £60. As for the themed units, you are paying twice the amount you’d pay for a normal unit without any decent increase in size or materials used, which is just a silly gimmick really.


Final thoughts

I would say that this form of caging is suitable only for dwarf hamsters and mice, and maybe gerbils too. Even for these animals, the use of this type of caging is pretty questionable. While a few mice could be perfectly happy in many connected units, ventilation and cleaning of this type of unit are major problems. Another thing to note is that gerbils and mice are much harder to tame than hamsters, and again the issue of easily getting them in and out of these cages is a major pain in the butt. If you would like your hamster or gerbil to live a “natural” existence in a cage type that mimics their natural habitat, the best thing to do is to get a big old aquarium and fill it with sterile soil and sand they can dig into and create their own tunnel system, such as sand. I think these cages are very bad quality for the money they cost to buy one, you are far better buying a large traditional type cage, it will more likely be better for your pets and more convenient for you.

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