[chesca_27]

Hi, so I realise I haven’t been around much the last few years and I’ve made very few posts about Artemis, my Russian hybrid. She’s lived with me since August 2018, when I adopted her from the P@H adoption centre where she was estimated to be 6 months old (and she hasn’t grown since then). She’s very sweet and tame and I love her very much.

I now estimate her to be 2 years and 3 months old and I want some opinions on what to do about her cage. She has lived her whole life in the Savic Plaza Knockdown, which has worked very well for her as her cage. She has always managed climbing the bars well (to get to her shelves) and she has shelves attached around the whole cage to stop her falling too far. The space is also fantastic (and the big door) and she is still pretty active.

Artemis hasn’t really aged much, except for maybe not running as fast as she used to. However, the last few days I have noticed she is struggling to climb the bars as well as she used to, which I’m putting down to her age. I’m now wondering whether it would be safer to downsize her to the Ikea Billy (Larry-Jasper’s old cage)? It is more of a tank style cage and has no bars for her to hurt herself on and isn’t particularly tall. She has stayed in the Billy before at my Mum’s house, but only once or twice. What I’m worried about is her falling and hurting herself, which is why I’m considering the Billy.

I don’t know whether the stress of moving her outweighs the benefits of the safety of the Ikea Billy. The other factor is that it is quite a lot smaller than the Plaza and she is still a very active hamster, so I don’t know if taking away her bars and floor space would make her too happy with me.

I guess in conclusion, I just want to know some opinions on what the best decision for her is, cage wise. Obviously I want to be the best owner possible, but I would like to rule out getting a different cage entirely, as I already have two cages and it’s kinda hard to make a bin cage in a pandemic. There’s also the cost factor, and I hate to be morbid but Artie is already over 2 and I’m not even sure if I can have another hamster until after I finish university. Sorry to end on a negative note, but what would you do?