Alexander Cage Review
As you can probably guess from the fact that four of our cages are Alexanders, this is my favourite cage by far. I wrote a review for an online magazine about it, but they wanted 50 words instead of the 500+ it takes to talk about the cage well, so here's what I'd have liked to put in the mag if they'd not demanded short and silly instead.
The Alexander
At 101cm long and 51cm wide this cage is one of the bigger hamster cages available in the UK, and at 52.5cm tall is able to fit all hamster wheels. Its 7mm bar spacing so is suitable for all species of hamster and shelves give the hamster extra space for toys and play. The sides of the base slope quite gently which leaves the inside base measurements only slightly smaller than the full cage measurements. The base is also deep enough for a good amount of substrate so is fantastic for a burrowing ham, it has also recently been changed and is now more flexible allowing the cage to survive travel much better and making it slightly easier to fit the top of the cage to the base.
The base and top of the cage are held together securely with clips at either end of the cage and a long but small "hook-like" bit in the middle of the sides of the base that holds the middle of the bars down very securely too. The cage also comes with some free houses, which can be a bit difficult to put together but our hams like both of the smaller ones. The biggest sits against the end of the cage and is too big for our hams to have realised what it is, so we don't use that.
The cage has three doors, a big one at the top and two smaller ones on the sides so it gives great access to your ham(s) and with a carefully placed toy/ramp hams can easily reach the side doors if you wish to let them. We also find that in barred cages our hamsters interact with us a lot more, which makes us very happy. The downside to the bars is that a bar chewer will need a different cage.
The other negative points are that the shelves and houses do benefit from a coat of ham-safe paint to waterproof them, the cage is heavy but all large cages are, the ramp is quite large, so some may prefer to replace it, and hams do need something by the door to allow them to leave the cage easily for playtime. Sadly the only place to buy the Alexander is from zooplus and they're not always the most reliable company, so that and the price (normally £90, £60 from the German zooplus website) have to be additional downsides.
Despite the bad things, I would highly recommend this cage. It gives us great interaction with our hams, gives the hams lots of space, is great for burrowing and allows us to get them out easily even when the cages live on a shelving unit. We have four Alexander cages, three house lone roborovskis and the fourth houses a hybrid group. The roborovskis love the size and space for playing, as well as the ability to get handed the occasional treat through the bars, while the hybrids like the space, deep base, and chances to interact with us through the bars. I also know of syrians who are very happy in this cage, and if I had to buy a cage for a new hamster there would be no doubt in my mind that the Alexander was the best choice.
Rating - 9/10, due to both the stockist and the lack of a single large front door
The Alexander
At 101cm long and 51cm wide this cage is one of the bigger hamster cages available in the UK, and at 52.5cm tall is able to fit all hamster wheels. Its 7mm bar spacing so is suitable for all species of hamster and shelves give the hamster extra space for toys and play. The sides of the base slope quite gently which leaves the inside base measurements only slightly smaller than the full cage measurements. The base is also deep enough for a good amount of substrate so is fantastic for a burrowing ham, it has also recently been changed and is now more flexible allowing the cage to survive travel much better and making it slightly easier to fit the top of the cage to the base.
The base and top of the cage are held together securely with clips at either end of the cage and a long but small "hook-like" bit in the middle of the sides of the base that holds the middle of the bars down very securely too. The cage also comes with some free houses, which can be a bit difficult to put together but our hams like both of the smaller ones. The biggest sits against the end of the cage and is too big for our hams to have realised what it is, so we don't use that.
The cage has three doors, a big one at the top and two smaller ones on the sides so it gives great access to your ham(s) and with a carefully placed toy/ramp hams can easily reach the side doors if you wish to let them. We also find that in barred cages our hamsters interact with us a lot more, which makes us very happy. The downside to the bars is that a bar chewer will need a different cage.
The other negative points are that the shelves and houses do benefit from a coat of ham-safe paint to waterproof them, the cage is heavy but all large cages are, the ramp is quite large, so some may prefer to replace it, and hams do need something by the door to allow them to leave the cage easily for playtime. Sadly the only place to buy the Alexander is from zooplus and they're not always the most reliable company, so that and the price (normally £90, £60 from the German zooplus website) have to be additional downsides.
Despite the bad things, I would highly recommend this cage. It gives us great interaction with our hams, gives the hams lots of space, is great for burrowing and allows us to get them out easily even when the cages live on a shelving unit. We have four Alexander cages, three house lone roborovskis and the fourth houses a hybrid group. The roborovskis love the size and space for playing, as well as the ability to get handed the occasional treat through the bars, while the hybrids like the space, deep base, and chances to interact with us through the bars. I also know of syrians who are very happy in this cage, and if I had to buy a cage for a new hamster there would be no doubt in my mind that the Alexander was the best choice.
Rating - 9/10, due to both the stockist and the lack of a single large front door