Tuesday 17 January 2012

Imac Fantasy Cage Review

Soooo I couldn't sleep, and decided to clean out one of the hams :D. Turned out Pea was the one in most need of a clean so you lucky readers get to see the Imac Fantasy cage review *cheer*.

Pea currently lives in a one storey Imac Fantasy:
This cage is suitable for adult Chinese and Dwarf hamsters and baby Syrians, although I would recommend a bigger cage for a syrian, as they need more floor space and less upward space. Roborovski hamsters also shouldn't be kept in this cage as the bar spacing is too large, and they may try and escape resulting in them getting their heads stuck :(.

One of the fantastic features of the Imac Fantasy is that you can extend upwards up to 5 times, and this means it is great for people with limited floor space. However, the extensions can cost almost as much as the cage so it is best to look on Gumtree, Preloved and ebay for second hand cages that you can salvage the bits needed to extend.

The cage comes like this:
and is really easy to set up. The green area you can see in the picture usually has a large lid on the big hole, but mine doesn't, and I will explain why a little later. You get a small food bowl with it, but nothing else, so you will need a water bottle and something to hold it to the cage bars (which is more than a little annoying >_>).

The base is not massively deep, so I wouldn't recommend it for a hamster that likes digging as you can end up with substrate all over the floor :o. Luckily for me, Pea doesn't dig very much at all. There is also a green top floor with a blue lid. The lid has ventilation holes all over it, and some people complain of condensation but I have never had that problem. There is also a small bed area on the top floor removing the need for a separate house, which is really good, and it fits a lot of bedding in.

The sizing of the main cage is  58cm 38x cm x 28.5cm (aprox 23″ x 15″ x 11″) and the basic cage works out as around the same size (over the 2 levels) as a zoozone 1. As I said before I wouldn't recommend this for an adult syrian as there isn't really a big enough continual running space, but it is fine for Pea, and she loves it.

This is her bottom floor after the cleanout:
That is a 6.5" silent spinner, to give you an idea of the size. it may look bare but you will see why in a moment ;). I use this, which is a long wooden ladder, to put through the large hole at the top for my hamster to climb up and down.
This isn't completely necessary, but Pea struggled with getting up the supplied tube for a while so I put this in so she had another way of getting to her bed. The tube can be difficult for the smaller varieties of hams because they have furry feet, so it may be best to give them another option of getting to the second floor.

The second level is useful for a few extra toys, and of course the bed. Pea doesn't have much on there because she prefers to store food up there. There is room for a small layer of substrate, which I would say is a good idea to put in because the plastic can be slippery for their furry feet ^_^.
 
The empty green bit is the house, and when the blue lid is on there are walls that surround it. I fill it with bedding using the plugged hole in the top.

The finished product:
Overall I would recommend the Imac Fantasy for the smaller varieties of hams, but there are better cages out there. If you are really stuck for space then this cage would suffice, but if not then check the market for something bigger/better.
Any questions please ask, I think I covered most things but it is 6am so I could have missed stuff. For a final photo, see if you can spot the now clean and happy Pea :D

Enjoy.

2 comments: