The enclosures I've been looking at have plentiful horizontal space, they're just not very "tall", which made fitting a wheel inside (without mounting the enclosure sideways and having it be permanently sealed) pretty impossible. Until I found this thing. It's what Megafucker has been using for exercise ever since I took him home. It's compact and will fit neatly in one of two enclosures I've found. The dilemma: Only one is rated for submersion. This one:
As you can see it's opaque, which sucks. But it's scuba grade and rated for 100 feet deep. Overkill for what I need. The alternative is this fella:
Slightly larger inside (though both will comfortably fit the saucer) but not rated to be submerged. I know this is bullshit to some degree as I have a spare drybox of the same type (but smaller) and it's watertight so far as I can tell from testing it in the pool. The question is, play it safe and get an opaque enclosure for the exercise room? Or take a risk so that the whole habitat can be transparent?
Cost of each?
ReplyDelete$34.95 for the opaque scuba rated drybox.
ReplyDelete$39.95 for the transparent one.
That's quite the dilemma. I would probably opt for the transparent one myself, and if it has any problems I would see about manually fixing them. But yeah, that's a hard decision.
ReplyDeleteI'd honestly opt for the opaque one. It sucks, but nothing to dismay about.
ReplyDeleteI'd go with the transparent one and fix anything if necessary
ReplyDeletePerhaps you should get the transparent one and test its ability to keep water out. Theres also the fact that the first tests show that there is pressure forcing air out and that might help with its water repelling ability. Also, if it turns out it cant stop water from coming in, you can turn it into a permanent "farm" section by planting what ever vegetation you want or making it the algae production compartment and use the silicon sealant to water proof that section.
ReplyDeleteGeneral consensus seems to be "buy the transparent one". And yeah, if it leaks I'll try to turn it into an LED mini-greenhouse. Probably for clovers, as hamsters enjoy eating those.
ReplyDeleteIn the worst case you could always seal it with the silicon.
ReplyDeleteId go for transparent, but you could always mount it at a lower height and have the tube running diagonally up to the main room, so if it does leak it wont flood everything. (though the dark, horrible part of me secretly wants to see it happen)
ReplyDeleteHave you considered having one above-water compartment, so you can submerge the whole system, then add the hampsters in after you know it's watertight?
ReplyDeleteNah, I don't want any part of it to be above water. That sort of defeats the purpose.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, I'll go for the transparent one. If that doesn't work, I'll swallow the loss and buy the opaque one with my own money.
Go for the transparent one. Only a coward would choose life in a watertight container over a horrible drowning death with a pleasant view of a muddy lakebottom.
ReplyDelete