Chewing the plastic of the cage

[Pebbles82]

Although changes are generally stressful for hammies, sometimes a change meets with their approval and they like it if something is added that they like.

[miss_eva]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Amazon sell the 28cm Trixie wheel which is about £9. The 12" silent runner is a great wheel but it's quite tall and also expensive at £25. Most people find the Trixie wheel is quiet enough and it's a good size for a Syrian.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Exer...m+Trixie+wheel

Definitely give her loads of torn up paper nesting material though (if you don't already). One difficulty with deeper substrate is if they decide to tunnel under the house it can sink on them a bit - so you could keep an eye on that. Or use the long house buried as well She might move into it.

Ok! Wheel has been bought! I'll do a big re-arrange today. Thank you so much for all of your help! I'll let you know how I get on

[Pebbles82]

Looking forward to seeing it I hope she likes it. You might need to leave her alone for 2 or 3 days afterwards to adjust. Unless she shows she wants to come out for a while. It should keep her busy lol.

[Pebbles82]

Just wanted to add that Fitch is a popular substrate on here and works out a lot cheaper than Carefresh as you buy it in bigger bags. It's like Carefresh but less dusty. You could maybe mix that in with the Finacard instead of the Carefresh (although it only comes in off white ). Hammies seem to really like Fitch and use it in their nests as well along with the paper strips.

https://www.fitchrecycling.co.uk/ani...-delivery.html

This was our Syrian's Barney cage full of Fitch (same size as the Alexander but a few cm lower and flat top).





Finacard and Carefresh won't fall out of the bars either You might have guessed I'm itching to set another cage up lol.

[WelshHammi]

My Syrian just started this and I changed the layout and put a big straw ball over by the area and now she has stopped!

[miss_eva]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Just wanted to add that Fitch is a popular substrate on here and works out a lot cheaper than Carefresh as you buy it in bigger bags. It's like Carefresh but less dusty. You could maybe mix that in with the Finacard instead of the Carefresh (although it only comes in off white ). Hammies seem to really like Fitch and use it in their nests as well along with the paper strips.

https://www.fitchrecycling.co.uk/ani...-delivery.html

This was our Syrian's Barney cage full of Fitch (same size as the Alexander but a few cm lower and flat top).





Finacard and Carefresh won't fall out of the bars either You might have guessed I'm itching to set another cage up lol.

Oh wow! This cage looks like fun! You can feel free to come over here and re-arrange my two hams cages Fitch looks good! I currently got some big bags of carefresh for free so once I finish them I think I'll move onto fitch. Carefresh is so expensive and (imo) not worth what you pay for it! My other hamster is long haired, would it potentially get caught in his fur or should it be okay?

[miss_eva]

Originally Posted by WelshHammi

My Syrian just started this and I changed the layout and put a big straw ball over by the area and now she has stopped!

I am glad to hear yours has stopped! It gives me hope because I was worrying she would never stop!

[AmityvilleHams]

Paper is fine for long haired hams Wood shavings would be much worse,and pelleted substrate is inappropriate as it cannot be burrowed in.If some does seem a bit stuck on it should be easy enough to get off without hurting your hamster,but substrate doesn't bother hamsters if it is just stuck on and not tangled(wood shavings would tangle,plus they're also usually very rough and can cause allergic reactions so they're risky to use).

[miss_eva]

Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams

Paper is fine for long haired hams Wood shavings would be much worse,and pelleted substrate is inappropriate as it cannot be burrowed in.If some does seem a bit stuck on it should be easy enough to get off without hurting your hamster,but substrate doesn't bother hamsters if it is just stuck on and not tangled(wood shavings would tangle,plus they're also usually very rough and can cause allergic reactions so they're risky to use).

Yeah, not used woodshavings for a long time and Ive been using the finacard/carefresh combo for a while now and its been working well for the long haired ham, occasionally a couple of bits of carefresh get stuck but it is very easy to remove. Just wasn't sure about fitch, would be handy if I could use it for both of my hamster cages! Sounds like an ideal match

[Pebbles82]

I think Fitch will be no different to Carefresh in that respect. The odd bit might get stuck to the hamster but I'm sure they would groom it off easily It's not like tiny bits like aspen or whatever. Mixing it with Finacard sounds like a good idea for a long haired hammy.