Habitrail
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Habitrail is a product made by the Hagen corporation, a series of translucent plastic tubes and "houses" for use in home terrariums, designed especially for small pets such as mice or hamsters. The design of the Habitrail is modular and can be configured however the owner likes, as well as dissasembled for cleaning. The Habitrail is meant to mimic the habitat 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 Hamster Ball.
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, a 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 cages for gerbils, due to their tendency to chew obsessively.
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 tend to either not be able to fit through the tubes, or get stuck while passing through them. This is typically common for pregnant Syrian hamsters. They often get lodged into the small and narrow mazes, making it quite an issue of getting them to safety. Habitrails work primarily well for Dwarf hamsters, such as the Roborovski or White Russian types.
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.
