Living Life In A Wheelchair

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Ordered Two Additional Ginuea Pig Cages For My Future Hamster Cage
[ Monday December 4th 2023 at 1:17 am ]

In 2022 I ordered a 2 story guinea pig cage. This particular cage appealed to me for 2 reasons:

  • The surface area of the 2 levels exceeds the minimum requirement for a Syrian hamster. A Syrian hamster should have a minimum of 900 square inches (for example 36" x 25") to walk around, run and play in. With a cage being multiple floors it is easy to exceed this minimum requirement so the hamster is able to thrive and have the best life possible. At the same time a cage that is multiple floors doesn't require giving up as much surface area in the room it is setup in.
  • The other appealing reason for this is because how deep the plastic base is. On account of my physical disability the pet store told me to have about 4 inches or 10 cm of shavings. The droppings a hamster makes aren't significant. Only spot cleaning is necessary before all the shavings need to be changed monthly. This is significantly easier for me on account of the issues in my legs.

The shortcoming is that a guinea pig doesn't need near as many bars as a hamster requires. A hamster cage requires a horizontal bar every ½". In part this is so a hamster won't break out. This also allows the hamster to climb and plays into their natural behaviour. When a pet cage is manufactured a spot welder is used. Using a spot welder isn't technical. It doesn't require the same skill set and training of welding using a filler material. For this specific application I am able to create a timing circuit using an Arduino. This will provide the consistently in turning the spot welder off at the same time and prevent me from melting the wire that was used at the time of manufacturing to form the original guinea pig cage.

My physical disability is deteriorating. I am not able to physically endure the pain of my next hamster living in the fish tank Rocky used. I really enjoyed Rocky eating out of my hand. It was very special. I want to be able to do this again. I need to get the guinea pig to hamster cage modification done as soon as practical. I am planning on creating a hamster village. The same cage I purchased in 2022 is on sale. I have purchased 2 more. When the work is all done I will have a 6 story hamster cage. Having a pet hamster brings a lot of joy to my life. I also really enjoy sharing the hamster with others. I am looking forward to being able to do this in spring 2024. I miss this a lot.