Sunday, January 12, 2014

Iris Hamster Cage~ The Dome Tower~ Part II (Review) + some random stuff~

So I'm just going to come right out and say it... This cage didn't work for my hamster AT ALL! Honestly I hate giving negative reviews, and that is mostly the reason I put this post off for ages. On the other hand, it's not necessarily the cage that's at fault.. maybe it just didn't work out for Dexter (AKA Princess Peach). 




Meet my hamster!



 photo july2013029-rs_zps5e30bc58.jpg

^ Because a name could be completely agreed upon, we ended up with her given name: Princess Peach, her nickname: Dexter, and what we actually call her most of the time: "Hamster"


I brought her home in an adorable lil carrier that is also by Iris. It comes in a blue that matches the Dome Tower, but I went for the pink this time!




 photo july2013017-rs_zps145c5205.jpg

~

 photo july2013001-rs_zpse1dec14a.jpg







Meeting the cat!


 photo july2013006-rs_zpsefe36995.jpg






Holding a seed!





 photo july2013023-rs_zps42add489.jpg






Eating an apple wedge!





 photo july2013030-rs_zps91d117b8.jpg






Running in her wheel!





 photo july2013008-rs_zpsdb34b242.jpg

Wait... this is where the problem started, the wheel. As you can see, the stick that connects the wheel to the stand hits her right in the middle of the back. I had anticipated this might happen because of the type of hamster I chose and had already bought a backup.




 photo july2013019-rs_zpse27f1598.jpg

I would've liked a blue one but they were all sold out. Sadly, fixing the wheel wasn't enough, because this was also happening:




 photo july2013016-rs_zps551ad057.jpg

^ Every night she was filling her tube with bedding and whatever else she could fit in in an attempt to seal herself off from the other levels. The main trouble being that she would then be trapped in the lowest level and be completely separated from her food and water. I assumed she would dig through eventually and find her food, but it became apparent that once the tube was sealed off, I had to move her up to her food level myself or she would starve. Eventually I realized it was futile to unstop her tube and left it stopped after putting her on the upper level. She just never went down there again.

In addition to everything else, Princess Peach was also freaking out all the time and I think it may have had something to do with the cage being round and not having corners (something I read about online). The problems finally led me to buy a new cage, but I'm still hesitant to say the Dome Tower is not a good habitat. 

For one, I think the Dome Tower may have been more appropriate for dwarf hamsters (hence the tiny wheel). I believe they are the type pictured on the box the cage arrived in. The reason I decided on getting a larger breed is because the one and only review I was able to find about the cage said that the tubes were too big for her hamster and the hamster couldn't get to the food. As for the round cage issues, I've had other hamsters in round cages before that never had a problem.

I'm planning to keep the Dome Tower for a future hamster and maybe I'll have better luck. In the meantime, Princess Peach loves her totes basic Crittertrail for now! Not as much as she enjoys being allowed to run about of course~




Waiting at the door!



 photo newhamster2014098-rs_zps6bcdbf92.jpg






On the run!





 photo newhamster2014099-rs_zpsc493a327.jpg





Scaling Mount PresentPile!





 photo newhamster2014107-rs_zps42e38d5f.jpg



I did my best to contain my endless supply of hamster photo cuteness to a minimum. 


*random* Here are another couple shots of the winter sky from a few weeks ago (sorry but it's beautiful, and the pictures came out all magical)!






 photo winter2014147-rs_zpse9f3b400.jpg


Admit it! That is gorgeous!





 photo winter2014143-rs_zps67c0a46e.jpg

I'd even say it rivals the sunset over the beach when I was in SE Asia! And those beach sunsets are pretty hard to compete with! I'm impressed, California, this is the nicest thing you've shown me thus far.




By the way, if anyone enjoyed the doll post, here's a taste of some of my crazy Black Friday scores!




 photo monsterhigh2014125-rs_zps12f986a7.jpg

~

 photo monsterhigh2014132-rs_zpsbe3851b0.jpg

I still haven't deboxed the others yet. Most of the wrapped gifts pictured are for the nephews. Did I forget to mention that I got a new nephew right before Christmas?! :O








No comments: