Playtime ideas for a nervous young hamster

[Fluffagrams]

Matthew has recently been upgraded from his baby tak to the Mini Duna cage that he was using for playtime but I'm a little bit stuck as to how I can give him playtimes that he will enjoy rather than getting nervous all the time.

We usually use a 64L RUB bin cage for playtimes but Matthew seems to find the space a little bit overwhelming so I'm wondering if anyone else has any ideas on what I can do to make playtimes less scary and more fun for him?

[Cinnamon Bear]

I don't know if you can get industrial paper towel tubes or not, they are thicker & stronger than regular paper towel tube. But you could always connect 2 shoe boxes with a paper towel tube? If not maybe a regular paper towel would work, you could cut it to the length you want it to be? Just a thought.

[cypher]

Have you thought about trying a cardboard box that might be a better size for him? Possibly partially covered so he has a little "den" area that might feel safer.
I've always found getting play areas right for Chineseys a bit tricky & they all seem more comfortable with something different which doesn't help!

[CMB]

Add more hides and tubes so he doesn't have to move far between them. Spending less time in the open may help him be more confident.

A shelf may be nice to play under.

[Pebbles82]

Charlie used to like being under his blanket on the sofa with a tube under it. Not exactly playtime, but out of cage time But he did have fun rummaging around under the blanket.

[velma]

Not a chinesey problem but my robo Hector seemed to get overwhelmed by height as well as size of enclosure (which I think is why he preferred his mini duna than his duna multy, his playtub wasn't very large either but old enough he couldn't escape) but a bun/tub was quite good for handling as I don't have to swoop like you would if you had small cage openings. I found that a saucer (as it was lower and less climb-able plus space to hide under) a long kitchen roll tube and whatever boxes I could fit in were good - small food packaging boxes are good. Tunnocks tea cakes already have holes in the front of the box too so they are good (I mean, it was a toughy as I had to eat them all first but y'know....), cereal bar boxes and that sort of thing I liked as they are quite flat so good for hiding in like small tunnels but I think a hole in the top to see/climb out of is good. I think that sense of being contained sort of helps? I've found that with Lewis, my Chinese, too. Not for play time, I grant you but just his normal everyday home - The more crammed his tank is the better. Before I downgraded him, he had one of those long plastic extendable tubes in his tank. (The p@h one is slightly narrower than the ancol one I had for my Syrian and I found that better for Lewis.) He seemed to like being able to get from one end to the other under cover which meant he got braver and didn't always need to, if that makes sense. And I liked it because he felt he was underground but I had a better of idea of where he was so no digging around fr him. Now he's in a mini duna he just has heaps of beddingwhich he loves but until he pops up I've often no idea where he is! They are all all different though so I hope you find the thing that works for Matthew - cheeky beggars having individual personalities.....

[chesca_27]

I think if you turned it into a taming box, that might work? I have the 64L tubs, so I know how big they are.

I would put maybe an inch or so bedding in the base of the tub; clean, used substrate would be best, as it already has his scent. The bedding will make it more familiar and add another way of hiding. It also will protect against falls.

I always cram Jasper's play time area (I get ALL of his toys out, which is a lot so a play pen is too small) full of toys. I found boxes and long tubes to be best. Jasper's favourite playtime toy by far are the extendable tubes. I also have a cardboard climbing frame that can be customised (kind of like a puzzle playground) and if built low, can make a wonderful fort.

Try hiding Matthew's favourite treats around the cage and incorporating his favourite toys or toys that are currently in his cage. It may be a good idea to have a tube leading from his cage to the playpen (if possible).

[Fluffagrams]

Usually our play bins would be shared with one other hamster as we've only got the two bins but since Matthew is not liking the 64L much, I've not been putting him in there. The Mini Duna cage was the perfect size for him to play in but obviously he's living in there full time now. I'll have a look and see what cardboard boxes we have at work and then put some of his used substrate in with a couple of hides and his favourite toys and see how that goes.

He's very tame and now quite settled otherwise so I think it's probably a space issue again - something I've seen a fair bit of in Chinese unfortunately.

[velma]

It might just be me and my weird hams but I've never really put substrate in a playtub - just a small handful scattered to scent the bin. I found that long strips of loo roll and lots of little boxes suited them better as otherwise they just dig down and you have to disturb them to fish them out again which seems counterproductive. Hector's bin really wasn't very big at a all & I mainly used it when I cleaned him and I have a spare mini duna that I put Lewis in for big cleans. If I put either of them in for playtime it was more to give them different things to play with than more space. But then again, my hams are odd so it might just be them...

[Fluffagrams]

We usually have a couple of handfuls of substrate in the play bins because they don't seem to like just the plastic. It seems to give them something to do as well as they seem to like moving it around the bin like some kind of daft chinesey game.

Matthew used the same playbin as his mother (at different times obviously) but I'm going to try giving him his own playbox with a couple of handfuls of his own substrate to see if that makes a difference.