Habitrail
Encyclopedia
Rolf C. Hagen Group
Hagen Inc. is a pet supplies company founded in 1955 by Rolf C. Hagen with the help of his brothers, Dieter and Horst. Dieter and Horst Hagen joined the company later after immigrating from Germany becoming key members of the firm.-History:Rolf C...
corporation, is a series of translucent plastic tubes and "houses" for use in home terrariums, designed especially for small pets such as mice
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
or hamster
Hamster
Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera....
s. The design of the Habitrail is modular and can be configured however the owner likes, as well as disassembled for cleaning. The Habitrail is meant to mimic the habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
of the animal in question, usually a series of underground warrens and tunnels. The mascot for Habitrail is "Herbie the Hamster", who even has a video game based on him called Habitrail Hamster Ball produced by Data Design Interactive
Data Design Interactive
Data Design Interactive was a United Kingdom based video game developer and video game publisher. It was founded in 1983, became a limited company in 1999 and ceased trading in 2009. It developed games on the multiple games platforms including PC and consoles...
in 2005 and released for the PS2, and the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
.
The Habitrail has become such a long-running institution that the name has almost become a generic word for any maze-like tubular structure: for example, the habitrail in a pinball game is a cagelike path for the ball, made from wires.
Large Habitrails may contain multiple bathroom spots chosen by the pet, and a good Habitrail should incorporate small holes and metal bars to increase ventilation. Habitrails do not make a good cage for gerbil
Gerbil
A gerbil is a small mammal of the order Rodentia. Once known simply as "desert rats", the gerbil subfamily includes about 110 species of African, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats...
s, due to the tendency of these animals to chew obsessively.
Reception
Habitrail cages are currently one of the most popular and iconic small rodent cages available, however, since the release of the Habitrail OVO the company has received a large number of complaints regarding their products, such as the tubes being far too large for dwarf species of hamster whilst also being too small for adult Syrians (particularly pregnant or overweight hamsters) for whom the Habitrail OVO was designed, leading to many hamsters not being able to access the water supply, although after the growing popularity of the four dwarf species, Habitrail made a similar cage to the 2007 model with more narrow tubes, specially designed for dwarfs. Many purchasers also soon find that the products are much smaller than they were led to believe, this is mirrored by the fact that the accumulative room does not meet, or indeed come close to, the recommended floor space that many organisations set, such as the RSPCA.Although Habitrails make fun and unique homes for hamsters or mice, they are rather small. This tends to be a problem for Syrian hamsters, who may not be able to fit through the tubes. This is typically common for pregnant Syrian hamsters. They often get lodged into the small and narrow mazes, making it quite an issue to get them out. Habitrails don't work primarily well for Dwarf hamster
Dwarf hamster
Phodopus is a genus of rodent in the vole and hamster family Cricetidae. Its three species, together with most of those of genus Cricetulus, are known as "dwarf hamsters", because of their small size relative to other hamsters...
s, such as the Roborovski
Roborovski hamster
Roborovskis or desert hamsters are the smallest of all hamsters, averaging under an inch at birth, and three inches during adulthood...
or White Russian
Winter white Russian dwarf hamster
The Djungarian hamster , also known as the Siberian hamster or Russian winter white dwarf hamster, is a species of hamster in the genus Phodopus. It is ball-shaped and typically half the size of the Syrian hamster, and therefore called a dwarf hamster along with all Phodopus species...
types, as they can't climb up the tubes.
In 2007, the Rolf C. Hagen Corp. updated the venerable Habitrail by introducing the Habitrail OVO, which features a very contemporary modular design that makes it easier to observe hamsters and maintain their housing.