Review on Kaytee CritterTrail Super Habitat Animals by Becky Stewart

This is a good size for a hamster cage and I was really hoping it would work as another stronger cage that our hamster escaped from. The cage is big and the metal bars are bigger BUT they are the same thickness as the small cages. The small cages withstand pressure without deforming the metal wire, but a rod twice the length bends easily, like a paper clip but not half a paper clip. The force required to assemble the cage deforms the bars and they are not strong enough. The bars need to be a bit thicker for a cage of this size, which the buyer naturally assumes. Also, one of the small metal hooks was completely ripped off, like a potato chip cracked in half. Installing the soft top was also a challenge. I get a replacement because of a broken wire hook. Looks like Shrek picked it up by kicking it in the street. Our Syrian hamster has literally been in 4 cages and is now in a glass container waiting to be moved to this cage. Even real Syrian refugees move so little. For over $100.00 this should be better built. The animal deserves it. I don't understand why we can build delivery drones, electric cars and mars landers and why we can't build a simple hamster cage for an animal that weighs less than a banana. I suspect that constantly opening and closing the cage only weakens it. I received a new replacement cage which is of the same poor quality and with the same defects. This time the wire hook didn't come off on one side. I bent the hooks a bit so they don't have to be twisted as much. They must interlock to assemble, but the holes are not as wide as shown in the picture. The sides on one end are the same as the side with this plastic connector. On the other side without a portal, a hook engages the bars at regular intervals. There are two wire hooks on the side with the hole which puts too much pressure on these points. Anyway, they probably should have ditched the connector and just used it as a cage, or somewhere else upstairs or something like that. The door doesn't match the plastic at all, like it's too big. I can't imagine how I would clean or care for it without eventually damaging it. Update: The company sent us a new top after the hamster chewed on the plastic and escaped again. One of the reasons hamsters get bored with this is because after the big platform and ramp there is no more room for things. The base is a little deep, but too difficult to clean and maintain effectively without permanently deforming the lid and sides. Bedding and rubbish will fall out through the grate if we stack it high. The new top is the same. Our hamster died anyway, maybe from swallowing plastic or just being disgusted with living in that thing. We ended up with a glass aquarium and another hamster and it seems to fit better and is easier to clean and properly care for especially without disturbing the hamster when the cage rattles like a 12.9 magnitude earthquake just around the bowl to fill with food in this cage. There is no point in buying this cage unless you are trying to kill a hamster. It would be easier and more humane to just kill him at the pet store registration to save him all the trouble and suffering.