OVO Dwarf Hamster Habitat

Disclosure: bought for substantially less as an Amazon Warehouse item.I didn't want to pay full-price for this. When I saw one come up for less due to a damaged box item, I took the plunge. There are two "outhouse" globes - both larger than I thought. This also comes with a nifty 5-way cube connector, one T-joint, two elbows, and two larger straight T-joints. I've found it a challenge to find a use for the large T's, but the other ones get used sometimes.The mice seem to avoid the larger globe, but 3 of them sometimes crammed into the smaller one to sleep. Another cosmetically damaged one came up and I bought it - it was cracked at the joint, but once assembled, fully functional. What I found is that one of my pregnant Mom's preferred to turn this into her nest - and dragged bedding from all over to completely fill the globe. She birthed the babies in a "Habitrail OVO Maze". When she found this smaller globe, she moved bedding from all over the cage overnight and culled her litter down to 2 - and moved the 2 to the globe. I can see then kicking around while I took the pictures for this review.I tried 7 different outhouses for my mice. I am keeping all of them and leaving reviews for each one. Four are from Habitrail , 2 are from Crittertrail, and 1 is from Tiny Tales (The Tiny Tales one isn't on Amazon, but only at PetSmart - short story on that one is it's spacious, but has the opening at the bottom).The good thing about both globes that came with the Adventure pack is that the entrance is higher than the floor - rather than coming right through the bottom of the floor. The mother mouse probably realized her babies could easily fall down the hole in the Maze and moved them once she was aware of the globe. The other outhouse I have with a side entrance is the "Kaytee CritterTrail Fun-nel Small Animal Outhouse" and another mother chose that as her nest - although she birthed them in there and didn't cover the entire structure with bedding. Although the Habitrail globe has air holes, I see condensation on the inside. The Kaytee one has no air holes, but so far, I see no fogging up inside that one.Since the floor is below the horizontal entrance way - making the bedding inside naturally stay inside unless the critters purposefully try to dig it out Some of the other outhouses have the entrance from the bottom - which makes the others naturally have the bedding fall through the entrance. The other ones could also have babies wander and fall down the tube - probably why one mother chose to move hers after culling to this one and the other chose the Kaytee.The big globe seems to be too large for the mice's comfort. I have found that mice prefer cramped spaces when given the choice between a large spacious >1000 sq in cage, >500 sq in cage, or even the >150 sq in ones by Habitrail or Kaytee and the like. When they get into the big spaces, they get disoriented and uncomfortable and zip around from side to side and quickly exit. My mice have access to very large spaces in multiple cages, and prefer to spend most of their time - and birth in cramped spaces like the smaller globe.Some of them even prefer the 5 way connecting cube that came with this kit - sometimes I'll see two of them cramped in the cube and sleeping - there is one male mouse that prefers to spend most of his time awake in the 5 way cube - he will traverse long distances to the food accessible through the large open area cage - and bring back one or two pieces of food to the small cramped cube - then eat it - then repeat.The Habitrail connecting rings are very secure - but also very tricky to secure and use correctly. If the rings included are not secured or used correctly, the structure falls apart with the slightest lateral movement. I still haven't been able to master the use of the Habitrail connecting rings - some of them don't seem to engage at all - are they will grip one tube, but not the other. I prefer the Kaytee or Tiny Tales connecting rings - they are more difficult to affix and detach than the Habitrail, but they are also more secure and there is no question if it's connected correctly.If another one goes up on Amazon Warehouse, I'm getting it.

I have a Habitrail OVO Studio set for a hamster, and I wanted to have some additional tunnels and rooms for my daughter's little guy. Looking for Habitrail indiviudal pieces was very discouraging because of the relatively high price. It could cost quite a lot to buy a bunch of spare parts to replace broken ones or to add on to a hamster set.For the price (I paid about $18 with tax) you absolutely cannot beat the contents of this set as an addition to your Habitrail. Just look at hte picture and you will see that you get:1 - 6"carrier with a handle that can be used as a medium sized room in the habitat1 - small "den," which despite it's roughly 4"diameter is my hamsters new favorite place1 - cube with five open sides and one permanent "window" (that should be the bottom of the piece)3 - 90 degree elbows2 - 10" long straight tubes with a side passage hole1 - standard T-shape tunnel5 - snap-on "windows" to plug tunnel ends or openingsand10 (Yes TEN!) - connecting rings. This is enough to add all the pieces in this set to an existing Habitrail.I usually don't list parts like this, but I wanted to emphasize how much value you really do get for the cost of this set. I don't believe that it is enough to make a complete habitat (it is intended for use with a main large "maze" and you will need a water bottle piece. With a little creative effort you can definitely add a nice side passage and a couple of cozy hiding places to an existing habitat. Also, I broke one of the locking rings used to connect tunnel pieces, and this kit offers a nice number of parts for replacements. I still have to leave one tunnel piece out of my set (I am short one ring to join it to the set), but for the cost of 6-9 rings (when bought as 3-packs) I got all the stuff listed above.Why you should love this set:-You could use this set as a temporary home for your animal while giving his big house a nice thorough cleaning-You can replace broken parts of another set with parts from this one and still have some extra goodies-This set can add 2 nice rooms to an existing Habitrail (one medium and one small)-if you buy a water bottle piece, a large "maze" and one of the "gym" wheels, you can have a decent full set-up for a reasonable price-our hamster loves his new tunnels and rooms. . . maybe yours will tooWhat I don't like abou tthis set:-my hamster chews on some of the plastic parts, which will eventually wear them out, and I am not sure if he is eating tiny bits of plastic (I hope not)-It can be frustrating trying to link together a bunch of different kits because you have to be creative in how you arrange them to get them to link together right (seriously, having extra parts is a must)-The connections between tunnels are not super strong and tight. They will stay closed, but if there is even a little weight on an elevated tunnel it will slowly fall down from the force of gravity. It is not a big problem, but a concern that means you have to be careful as you design tunnels (make sure they are supported)I am still giving five stars because this set is a great value and I love the entire line of OVO products. The negative items are only here becuase I thought they were worth mentioning. I still highly recommend this line and this set.NOTE: This is sized for a larger hamster. At this price I was concerned it would be "dwarf" size, but it is full size OVO tunnels. Big enough for teddy bear hamsters (large mouse size) and definitely not big enough for rats or guinea pigs. I don't know if the little dwarf hamsters can use tunnels this size (I think they may be too big), but I know that Habitrail has a line of "dwarf OVO" stuff for them. Not sure if anyone else is confused about this.

Was a little difficult to put together but once it was the Hampster loved it.