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Pebbles82 · 06-22-2022, 04:29 PM

So Pip had a substrate cage clean today. Hadn't meant to leave it this long. But he is remarkably clean and there is a huge amount of substrate in there - almost 10" deep. I know where he pees - strangely he pees in a ceramic hide on top of his house, in a cardboard tube, and on his little back shelf. Unusual hamster. All of which are easy to wipe now and then.

But I needed to see what was going on underground in case he'd been peeing there too.

So I started removing things and substrate, took the house roof off (no Pip in there) but he had carefully stuffed two compartments with paper so didn't disturb those. He eventually appeared in the house from underneath it when he could hear me, then went over to the other side of the cage to watch. I hoped to get him out at the same time and the opportunity arose when he was investigating the hole/big dip in the substrate, so I put a mug there. He walked in and popped my hand over the mug. He had a good go at getting out past my hand!

I'd set up the playpen on a different bit of floor than Raffy uses with separate Pip sized toys and his old hyacinth house he used to have in his cage. Put him down in there and he shot into the hyacinth house.

He then made quite a lot of noise. Part squeaking, part chirruping - for quite a while - especially if I moved anything in the Playpen. Was a bit worried about him at first. Still not sure if it was Raffy's scent in the playpen that was making him noisy, or me moving the odd thing - ie movement in the playpen. Our last robo just ran around exploring when he was in the playpen.

So I lifted the hyacinth house off him and he stopped making the noise and explored a little bit. Mostly though he just seemed scared and hid under things. I'd lift them up and he'd go exploring again and seemed more interested then. But then mainly just sat still in one place.

I thought he maybe needed somewhere smaller to feel secure, so used a box with some bedding in on its side. He walked into that so turned it upright again and put a little house in - he disappeared into the bedding and seemed to settle in there, so left him while I sorted the cage out.

After much rummaging around and removing half the bedding - all clean and dry so kept most of it to put back again, I found the only slightly damp bit was under his house and it really wasn't that damp but full of poops. So cleaned out the substrate under the house (managing to keep his paper stuffed compartments in tact - one looked like a nest). The rest of the cage was clean and dry as far as up to the shelf, right down to the base.

So he's a very neat little thing - he poops under the house and pees in the ceramic pot on top of the house! And on the back shelf. He'd used the potty inside the house and it had started to seep down under it. But really didn't smell. The only thing that smelled was his cardboard tube he'd pee'd in - and had chewed the string off holding it to the bars so it's amazing it hadn't fallen down. Replaced that with another cardboard tube.

In between doing that I'd go and check on Pip. Then when all back together again I thought I'd try handling him in the box. And managed to scoop him up and tunnel him between my hands - for about 5 seconds! Didn't try any more as he clambered up the bedding and out of the box and ran away into another part of the playpen (box was inside the playpen).

By then though he seemed a bit more confident exploring things. But he is going to be hard to tame and get out very often. He is still even too wary to take food from your fingers and edges back and forth. He's always been like that.

Anyway at least he's been out. Back in the cage he dived into his house but came out again later. Since being back in the cage he has looked rather pensive. Sat in his wheel still for ages just looking at me - he does a lot of sitting still. Then had a good run in his wheel and started snacking. I've put quite a few treats out to make up for the upheaval.

Anyway. Here are a couple of photos of him in the playpen, and one after he went back in the cage. He's fully grown now. And a video of him in his wheel this evening.

You can just see his nose sticking out under the wood train. He decided to hide under it at first.

Attachment 53353

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Attachment 53356

Roborovski Hamster Pip in his Rodipet wheel - YouTube

06-22-2022, 04:29 PM
Pebbles82 Hamster Antics Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 23,533	Re: Say hello to Pip (Aka Pipkin) So Pip had a substrate cage clean today. Hadn't meant to leave it this long. But he is remarkably clean and there is a huge amount of substrate in there - almost 10" deep. I know where he pees - strangely he pees in a ceramic hide on top of his house, in a cardboard tube, and on his little back shelf. Unusual hamster. All of which are easy to wipe now and then. But I needed to see what was going on underground in case he'd been peeing there too. So I started removing things and substrate, took the house roof off (no Pip in there) but he had carefully stuffed two compartments with paper so didn't disturb those. He eventually appeared in the house from underneath it when he could hear me, then went over to the other side of the cage to watch. I hoped to get him out at the same time and the opportunity arose when he was investigating the hole/big dip in the substrate, so I put a mug there. He walked in and popped my hand over the mug. He had a good go at getting out past my hand! I'd set up the playpen on a different bit of floor than Raffy uses with separate Pip sized toys and his old hyacinth house he used to have in his cage. Put him down in there and he shot into the hyacinth house. He then made quite a lot of noise. Part squeaking, part chirruping - for quite a while - especially if I moved anything in the Playpen. Was a bit worried about him at first. Still not sure if it was Raffy's scent in the playpen that was making him noisy, or me moving the odd thing - ie movement in the playpen. Our last robo just ran around exploring when he was in the playpen. So I lifted the hyacinth house off him and he stopped making the noise and explored a little bit. Mostly though he just seemed scared and hid under things. I'd lift them up and he'd go exploring again and seemed more interested then. But then mainly just sat still in one place. I thought he maybe needed somewhere smaller to feel secure, so used a box with some bedding in on its side. He walked into that so turned it upright again and put a little house in - he disappeared into the bedding and seemed to settle in there, so left him while I sorted the cage out. After much rummaging around and removing half the bedding - all clean and dry so kept most of it to put back again, I found the only slightly damp bit was under his house and it really wasn't that damp but full of poops. So cleaned out the substrate under the house (managing to keep his paper stuffed compartments in tact - one looked like a nest). The rest of the cage was clean and dry as far as up to the shelf, right down to the base. So he's a very neat little thing - he poops under the house and pees in the ceramic pot on top of the house! And on the back shelf. He'd used the potty inside the house and it had started to seep down under it. But really didn't smell. The only thing that smelled was his cardboard tube he'd pee'd in - and had chewed the string off holding it to the bars so it's amazing it hadn't fallen down. Replaced that with another cardboard tube. In between doing that I'd go and check on Pip. Then when all back together again I thought I'd try handling him in the box. And managed to scoop him up and tunnel him between my hands - for about 5 seconds! Didn't try any more as he clambered up the bedding and out of the box and ran away into another part of the playpen (box was inside the playpen). By then though he seemed a bit more confident exploring things. But he is going to be hard to tame and get out very often. He is still even too wary to take food from your fingers and edges back and forth. He's always been like that. Anyway at least he's been out. Back in the cage he dived into his house but came out again later. Since being back in the cage he has looked rather pensive. Sat in his wheel still for ages just looking at me - he does a lot of sitting still. Then had a good run in his wheel and started snacking. I've put quite a few treats out to make up for the upheaval. Anyway. Here are a couple of photos of him in the playpen, and one after he went back in the cage. He's fully grown now. And a video of him in his wheel this evening. You can just see his nose sticking out under the wood train. He decided to hide under it at first. Attachment 53353 Attachment 53354 Attachment 53355 Attachment 53356 Roborovski Hamster Pip in his Rodipet wheel - YouTube Last edited by Pebbles82; 11-26-2022 at 04:18 PM.