Plastic cages are playful cages are made of different plastic compartments connected by tubes. Plastic homes are fun to put together, but they are expensive. Plastic homes are a little like the burrows hamsters have in the wild, with “rooms” and tunnels connecting them.

a hamster’s burrow in the wild.

There are two main companies of plastic homes: Habitrail and Crittertrail. Crittertrail cages can be found in any pet store, but Habitrail cages are hard to find in a store.

I own a Habitrail Ovo cage network, and it is amazing. The main problem is that they are overpriced for such little space.  The minimum for a Syrian hamster is two Habitrail cages. For a dwarf hamsters, one should be livable, but cramped.  These cages are great for Syrian hamsters because they have large tubes. However, for dwarf hamsters, the tubes are too big to go vertically, but horizontally is fine. There are also smaller tubes for dwarf hamsters, and I have no idea whether they are the right size or not. Habitrail Ovos are fun to piece together and are easy after you get the hang at it. But they are also a bit delicate, so I suggest having an adult putting together the cage parts and kids can connect them with tubes. Also, Habitrails are a lot better in quality than Crittertrails because they are sturdier. Habitrail has a patent on a smart connector (to connect cages, tubes, and other accessories together) that is easy to use and stay put.

Crittertrail is another company of plastic hamster cages. They are made of part plastic and part wire, giving good ventilation.  The tubes are bumpy, so dwarf hamsters can climb up the tubes. However, I am not fond of Crittertrail cages because they are poorly designed, are extremely hard to clean, put together, or take apart, and the connectors for the tubes hurt your fingers to use. Once, a Crittertrail cage fell apart while I was transporting it in a cart. A Habitrail would have stayed put. Crittertrails are easy to find in pet stores, but they are not good cages. It is worth the extra work of buying Habitrails off of eBay or searching pet shops.