Rotastak Genus 200 a Cheap Wire Hamster Cage

The Rotastak Genus 200 hamster cage has a wire-mesh upper that sits on top of a plastic tray. The wire mesh bars are 0.8 cm (8 mm) apart which makes it suitable for both Syrian and dwarf hamsters.

It can usually be found at a sale price of around £20 making it one of the cheaper wire mesh hamster cages available.

What’s in the Rotastak Genus 200 Cage

When you buy the Rotastak Genus 200 you get the usual freebies that are common with hamster cages:

• At one end of the Genus cage there’s a solid plastic platform.
• At the opposite end of the cage there’s a hamster wheel fitted to the bars of the cage.
• A long tunnel runs alongside the outside of the cage.
• A small tunnel is fitted to the platform.
• A water bottle is provided.
• A domed sleeping compartment fits to the platform.
• There’s a single door in the roof of the cage.
• It’s available in different colours: orange, purple and green (although not all sellers carry all three colours).

Rotastak Genus 200 is a Mid-Sized Hamster Cage

The approximate dimensions of the cage are height: 30 cm, width: 51 cm and depth: 46 cm giving your hamster a floor space of around 2,346 cm². The Rotastak Genus 200 has an additional platform but for the purposes of comparing the sizes of hamster cages the space from the additional platform is not taken into consideration. The Genus 200 hamster cage sits somewhere around the middle of the table in a comparison of hamster cage sizes.

In terms of size versus price this makes the Rotastak Genus 200 a good mid-sized cage for the money.

But is it a good cage when considering all other areas…

Genus 200 Reviews

Having gone through all of the available reviews (to be found online at the time of writing) it seems people’s opinions are a bit of a mixed bag. Many are very happy with the Genus 200 but there are definitely some gripes that appear to be with the quality of the cage.

Drawbacks with the Rotastak Genus 200

The main problems appear to be as follows

• Several people complained about the platform not fitting easily, or in some cases at all, into the cage. Most reviewers that mention the issue are of the opinion that it’s a design fault rather than just being ‘a bit fiddly’ to fit.

  To resolve this some removed the platform which provide additional space for toys etc.

• Some found the Genus 200 to be fiddly to put together whilst one reviewer suggested it was actually down to the poor quality of the supplied instructions. This seems to be a common failing of many hamster cages though usually more so with the plastic modular hamster cages rather than the wire mesh hamster cages.

• • Another common observation is that the cage generally seems to be quite flimsy mentioning in particular the plastic catches that secure the wire mesh part of the cage to the bottom plastic tray.

• There’s only a single door in the top of the cage which can make retrieving your hamster difficult especially for children who naturally have shorter arms.
• The sleeping compartment is a bit on the snug side for an adult Syrian hamster.

• The supplied hamster wheel is on the small side for an adult Syrian hamster which would benefit from an 8 inch wheel in order to prevent it from having to arch its back in order to exercise.

  A larger wheel can be purchased quite cheaply.

• Hard-core hamster enthusiasts consider the Genus 200 hamster cage is generally just not big enough.

Positive Points for the Genus 200 Hamster Cage

On the positive side of things you should bear in mind the following points:

• The Genus 200 can be connected with other Rotastak hamster cages by way of the usual Rotastak accessories which fit all cages.

  So if you agree with the opinion that it’s not big enough you could easily connect it to other cages to provide more space for your hamster.

• All Rotastak parts and accessories will fit this hamster cage (not just the tunnel connectors) so if you already have a collection of Rotastak bits and pieces you’ll be able to use them on the Genus 200.

Final thoughts…

Generally speaking the Rotastak Genus 200 looks a great cage and lots of people seem very pleased with it.

However, as reviewers felt the need to mention the ill-fitting platform, the flimsy nature of the cage, and given that the size which is good for the price point but still generally on the small side, we feel there are other cages worth considering before buying the Genus 200.

Other hamster cages worth your consideration would be (for dwarf hamster cages) the Savic Hamster Heaven and (for Syrian hamster cages) the Alaska hamster cage and the Barney hamster cage.