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Pebbles82 · 01-25-2020, 04:59 PM

Are you moving him from one cage to the bin cage? If so I would put some of the new toys straight in the bin cage, leaving space to move across his existing stuff from his old cage. A cage move can be quite stressful for them, so when moving him across, move all his old substrate,house, wheel, any toys etc across as well without cleaning anything - it'll be fine left for another couple of weeks. If the bin cage is bigger it'll need more substrate, so you can put new substrate in it first, plus the new toys - then on moving day, spread the old substrate on top of the new and try and put his existing items in similar layout as before - eg house front right, wheel back left and so on.

One thing I always do before a cage change is a gradual transition - I think it helps them settle in much quicker. So the day before you plan to move him you could pop him in the bin cage with the new substrate and the new toys and let him explore and have a play. You could also add an existing favourite toy from his old cage in there - and put it back in the old cage again afterwards. If he freaks out then put him back in his old cage and try again later or leave it till next day and put everything back a day. Second time in there he will probably be more relaxed and interested and explore. Scatter the odd bit of food for him to find as well.

Anyway assuming he doesn't freak out the first time and enjoys spending some time in the bin and exploring, then put him back in his old cage overnight. Then next day move everything over and move him into the bin cage.

That's how I would do it. It's less cold turkey.

01-25-2020, 04:59 PM
Pebbles82 Hamster Antics Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 23,533	Re: Introduce new toys in free roaming time? Are you moving him from one cage to the bin cage? If so I would put some of the new toys straight in the bin cage, leaving space to move across his existing stuff from his old cage. A cage move can be quite stressful for them, so when moving him across, move all his old substrate,house, wheel, any toys etc across as well without cleaning anything - it'll be fine left for another couple of weeks. If the bin cage is bigger it'll need more substrate, so you can put new substrate in it first, plus the new toys - then on moving day, spread the old substrate on top of the new and try and put his existing items in similar layout as before - eg house front right, wheel back left and so on. One thing I always do before a cage change is a gradual transition - I think it helps them settle in much quicker. So the day before you plan to move him you could pop him in the bin cage with the new substrate and the new toys and let him explore and have a play. You could also add an existing favourite toy from his old cage in there - and put it back in the old cage again afterwards. If he freaks out then put him back in his old cage and try again later or leave it till next day and put everything back a day. Second time in there he will probably be more relaxed and interested and explore. Scatter the odd bit of food for him to find as well. Anyway assuming he doesn't freak out the first time and enjoys spending some time in the bin and exploring, then put him back in his old cage overnight. Then next day move everything over and move him into the bin cage. That's how I would do it. It's less cold turkey.