Giving omlet a try!
I finally did it! I finally took down my Christmas - hamster playpen and replaced it with the new, Omlet size L Hamster Playpen!
Dexter shows us how cute he looks next to the Omlet 10 1/2” wheel inside the size L playpen
Omlet, a UK based brand that started in 2003 when their founders wanted to re-imagine the chicken coop for modern-day, at-home chicken owners (hence the name, Omlet!) now has a variety of unique, innovative, pet products, for all sorts of animals, including Hamsters!
Omlet has recently re-vamped their whole hamster product line, and I made a video all about it. While this enclosure might not be right for everyone, I think it’s a solid option and am delighted to see a brand make such a positive change in their hamster products. ( You can check out the new Omlet hamster collection here)
It would have been easy for them to keep the old products while introducing the new… but they did not! They did away with the tiny cabinet-style hamster cages and now only sell one size hamster enclosure, (approx 740 sq inches), that comes with a 10 1/2” wheel, and an option to add on a sand-bath-on-stilts & a “small” or “large” playpen.
Omlet was kind enough to send me a size L playpen along with a wheel to try out. I will be trying their enclosure as well, but I to just do one thing at a time and just test out the playpen & wheel for now.
Dexter is really enjoying this very spacious playpen!
Okay - so, I have to say, I’m actually VERY impressed.
Prior to this playpen, I’ve been using the (very inexpensive) nylon, pop-up playpens for my hamsters. I like how easy they are to set up and break down, but they definitely have their flaws - first and foremost, the bottom of the playpen is lightweight nylon and in about three seconds my hamsters can and will chew a hole in it. This is why I have to cover the floor of the playpen with a fleece blanket (I have also used an old sheet in the past).
These nylon playpens are also hard to clean- the super lightweight material gets sucked into even the tiniest of vacuums.
Dexter finds a cozy spot to hunker down and snack.
On the contrary, the Omlet playpen floor is a thick, wax-covered-like canvas and feels quite sturdy! It’s water proof and super easy to sweep up or run my dust-buster in it.
The walls of the Omlet playpen are a separate piece from the floor - they also feel really sturdy and solid! In fact ,they are a hard-plastic that can snap into place or flatten for storage.
Once the wall is placed on the floor, the playpen is quite impressive in size. I honestly wonder if this could double as a guinea pig enclosure, although I don’t know enough about guinea pigs to say. But it’s quite large, sturdy and I actually love the rectangular shape. I don’t think I had realized how annoying it was to have a round/hexagonal playpen in the middle of my room. The rectangle just works better and feels much more space efficient.
Does this playpen have any cons? Well, like anything, of course there are some “cons” to consider:
It doesn’t break down to be as small as the nylon pop-up playpen.
Of course, this is the trade-off of getting something more substantial - it’s not some flimsy little thing you can just fold up and throw in a corner. It does take up a bit more space. BUT, I generally have a playpen set up all the time, so, if that’s the case, why bother breaking it down anyway?!
Snapping the floor to the walls of the playpen is a little tricky
…actually, I found it very tricky and I think I only got one to successfully snap. And then I gave up and realized it was kind of unnecessary, my hamsters could not crawl under the wall of the Omlet playpen anyway. I also have dwarf hamsters who are not that interested in escaping. If you have another type of hamster who likes to escape, you may want to devote more time to snapping the playpen floor to the walls just to give the playpen a little more stability.
It’s more expensive
Yes, this is not your cheap, hamster playpen that gets chewed up and thrown away. This is a substantial playpen with a price-tag to match the quality. I know, not everyone has the ability to spend as much on their hamsters as others - this is why I often talk about hamster-care on a budget and how you really can do a lot for your hamsters without having to spend hundreds of dollars on enrichment and so on. I do believe those inexpensive, pop-up nylon playpens are SO handy and great for hamsters! But, I also think this is a nice, upgraded experience, if you can afford it.
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I haven’t done much with the playpen design-wise yet. I’ve been mostly just arrangingsome interesting cardboard, hides & seeds in there for my tiny friends to enjoy. Themed playpens will come in time.
One thing I do think I’ll do once I have a spare moment, is to line the floor with guinea pig cage liners from Luftpets, or maybe even just a fleece blanket - having a removable ply would make clean up much easier!
Have you tried any of the new Omlet products, or are you wanting to try them out? Let me know what you think!
You can check out the whole Omlet hamster collection here!
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