the quality learning environment i have provided for my children

KP:
Regarding your comment, I definitely think you should get your daughter a hamster when the Zhu Zhu pet love wears off.

I don't think the hamster smells, but then I haven't had it up by my face because I don't want my face gnawed off. Some breeds are more into being handled than others. Ours is NOT into being handled, which I prefer because otherwise I think the kids would be too comfortable with it. It is a lot of fun to watch, though.

The cage (or rather, the bedding) smells when I take the lid off, but the lid contains the smell. It smells sort of like a bag of peanuts in their shells. It's a dry, dusty smell and I don't like it. I use some sort of paper bedding. The bedding is always dry, so all I have to do is dump the entire bin into a trash bag. I change it every week... or 2 or 3.

Over the shoulder of my angry son below, you can see the full cage in all its glory. On top of it is a hamster fence system, for letting the hamster roam on the floor. We have a ball for ours, and that works better. I use a rice sock to keep the ball from rolling down the basement stairs.

The lid, with holes expertly drilled by Monsieur Urine.

Two holes also drilled here, to attach the water bottle.

Inside the cage.

His/her little nest inside the wood "house."

The exercise wheel is very quiet. I had a hamster when I was little, and her stupid wheel kept me up at night. She also chewed on the metal bars of her cage, which was noisy. This cage is a big improvement.

Ice Cream peeking out of his/her nest.

The reason we leave the lid on the cage.