Are you here because you googled “Are kaytee brand hamster tunnels compatible with pawhut?” I hope you are. I’m writing this I wondered the same thing myself, and because I took a chance, for you dear reader, and for my son, and for my hamster that my son named Junkie.
Before I waste anymore of your time, the short answer is: kind of. The longer answer is kind of BECAUSE the PawHut tubes are slightly larger in diameter than the Kaytee tubes, but the connector rings from the Kaytee tubes will fit over both to connect the two different brands.
A note on the terminology. In this article I used the words “tubes” and “tunnels” interchangeably. Language is inherently imprecise and while there is no perfect word to describe the cylindrical passageways used to link modular hamster cages, “tunnel” and “tube” are used in common vernacular and on eCommerce sites like Amazon, so I have use the words here as well.
Now, let me tell you a my story, complete with my Amazon Affiliate links, so that I can try and monetize my stupid trivial life. That means if you were wondering whether or not to pull the trigger on that new Kaytee CritterTrail Fun-nel Lazy Look-Out Accessory Kit because you weren’t sure if it would work with your PawHut tunnels, you can click my link and I’ll earn a mere pittance of a commission of Amazon.
I’ll be honest with you all, so far I have made a whopping $0. The only person who has clicked any of my links has been my boyfriend. So if you’re thinking to yourself, “I’m not going to help some loser on the internet who probably got to quit her day job and live a life of luxury suckling off the tit of our technofeudal lords” you can rest assured that I am still living out the American dream as an uncomfortable lower middle class serf, on my grind.
Anyway, a few months ago I was taking my toddler to the poor persons zoo (Petco) and after about a half hour of looking at rodents, birds and spiders he decided he wanted to bring home one of the “meeces” which was actually a dwarf Siberian hamster. It was painfully close to nap time so I took a gamble and told him sure, we just have to go home and set up a nice house for her to live in before we could buy her. He fell asleep on the way home and I figured he’d forget by the time he was up.
I was wrong, he woke up asking if I got a home for his meece yet. The thing was pretty fucking cute so I crumbled faster than a blueberry scones my kid leaves in his car seat cupholder. We picked up a cheap cage, which was MUCH smaller than the pictures suggested. from a neighbors who hinted at an early demise of her son’s hamster. No shit lady, you were keeping it in teeny tiny cage. I may be impulsive but I still did some research before buying the little thing because I’m not a fucking monster and don’t want the little fluff to live in miserable conditions.
Hamsters are burrowers, so you’ll want to make sure they have a lot of horizontal space. Bin cages, I learned, are popular on reddit. Like the big plastic totes you can get at box stores. PawHut also makes a bin cage with a secure lid.
On the drive back to the PetCo I asked my son what he was going to name his new hamster. Without skipping a beat he replied, “Junkie!” He acted like he didn’t know what I was saying when I asked him why. My sister pointed out that he loves garbage and garbage trucks (junk) and his favorite bird that visits our feeder is the Dark Eyed Junco, so it probably has nothing to do with his dad being a former heroin addict.
Once we got home, my hope was that I could score a cool cage like this Kaytee Critter Trail cage or this awesome thing on Facebook market place for cheap. But I live too far away from the people with fuck you money and all the poors around me were trying to recoup the full dollar amount for their old cages.
My vision was that I could keep adding on more tubes an cages to build a sort of hamster Winchester mystery house, or maybe closer to the Bordello in Oakland.
I ended up settling on this cage from PawHut because it was significantly cheaper. I think there was a used one available so I scored a pretty good deal. The Kaytee cages definitely look cooler, but they’re way more expensive. You can’t deny it, no one offers a better selectin of random shit to add on to your hamster cage than Kaytee. Did I fuck myself by trying to save money and settle for an off brand? Would I still be able to realize my dream of constructing a modular rodent architectural masterpiece? Could these two star crossed brands be compatible in any way? Can I connect two different brand hamster tunnels? I searched high and low, I sifted through countless useless amazon reviews, but no one out there seemed to be able to answer my question. But fear not, fellow visionary. I have ventured into the depths of this engineering nightmare so you don’t have to. Prepare for a journey into the world of “close enough.”
The Dream was a seamless, interconnected utopia where Junkie could travel from her Pawhut penthouse to her Kaytee summer home without a single hurdle, bureaucratic or otherwise. And I think I’ve officially ascended to the pinnacle of small pet ownership, the proud curator of a multi-brand, modular rodent habitat. You have the sleek, European engineering of your PawHut 2-Level Hamster Cage . And perched sloppily on top, the classic, all-American charm of your Kaytee CritterTrail Fun-nel Lazy Look-Out Accessory Kit. I had to also get the Kaytee CritterTrail Fun-nel Twist & Turn tubes to get a three way connecter to branch off from the PawHut tubes.
Behold.
I can officially confirm that Pawhut and Kaytee tunnels are somewhat compatible. The keyword here is “somewhat.” It’s like saying a square peg is somewhat compatible with a round hole if you have a spare, slightly different-shaped peg in your junk drawer.
The Pawhut Tunnels have wide spacious diameter. It’s the double wide trailer treasure of the rodent world. However, the connectors that come with Pawhut tubes are designed for this behemoth. They are too big to interface properly with the dainty Kaytee system. They are useless here.
The magic key, the golden ticket, the only thing standing between you and a connected habitat is… using a Kaytee-brand connector.
Yes, that’s right. The small, humble Kaytee connector is the universal adapter you never knew you needed.
You’ve probably gotten the idea by now, and I cannot imagine why anyone would still be reading at this point. Maybe you just figured you had to scroll down to get to anything good and skipped over all the pertinent information I just shared with you. Maybe you are still reading because your my boyfriend and I asked you to read this to save me from the public humiliation of using the work “great” too many times.
I’m going to keep writing though, in hopes of maximizing my chances that the search engine gods smile kindly on my and I accidently stumble into a search engine optimized jet stream and start raking in that sweet sweet amazon affiliate cash, or change or whatever.
So here is what you do:
- Take your vast Pawhut tunnel.
- Abandon the oversized connector it came with.
- Grab a standard connector from your Kaytee set.
- Now, force the Kaytee connector onto the end of the larger-diameter Pawhut tube. This will require a firm push and a disconcerting “crack” that will make you freeze and question every life choice that led you to this moment.
- Once the Kaytee connector is (somehow) securely(?) attached to the Pawhut tube, you can now click that end into any standard Kaytee habitat or tunnel port. It will fit with the same satisfying click you know and love.
Will it hold? Probably. It defies physics, logic, and good product design, but it holds.