Bath-tub play area with towel

[FelicityAnn]

As I have nowhere that I can make escape proof, I decided to use the bath as Esmeralda's play area. So far, so good.

I read that people put a towel in the bottom, with toys / hiding places, wheel, tubes etc on top. Again, so far, so good.

The towel was larger than the bath bottom, so I folded the extra cloth underneath, and popped her in there. She showed absolutely no interest in all the things on top of the towel, but was fascinated with the 'tunnels' made by the folds of the towel. She then found that she could 'burrow' underneath the towel, and I spent 15 minutes watching a lump under the towel moving about in the bath.

This carried on for 4 or 5 days, until I thought, "Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". So I put the tubes, bendy bridges, half-coconut UNDERNEATH the towel, with toilet paper tubes popping out at the sides.

It works a treat! She has a great time, and tonight when I gave her a treat, she immediately popped back under the towel, through the tubes and (presumably) sat under the bendy bridge to eat it.

Is she weird, or do other hamsters do this?

[Drago]

Definitely not weird. Kopi spends the entirety of her out of cage time trying to burrow within the folds of the towel. I've never had any others do this, I thought it was perhaps a dwarf thing, but if I remember correctly Esmeralda is a Syrian right? Please forgive me if I'm wrong! I wouldn't be concerned, hams do funny things sometimes

[AprilPearl]

Sounds normal. Mushu used to do this all the time with the towels I would put on the sofa before letting him on it. He was a syrian, too.

[FelicityAnn]

Originally Posted by Drago

Definitely not weird. Kopi spends the entirety of her out of cage time trying to burrow within the folds of the towel. I've never had any others do this, I thought it was perhaps a dwarf thing, but if I remember correctly Esmeralda is a Syrian right? Please forgive me if I'm wrong! I wouldn't be concerned, hams do funny things sometimes

Yes, she's a Syrian. And I'm so glad that at least two others do this ha ha ha.

It's amazing - we spend all the money on toys, chews etc and they are quite happy playing with a towel. Same with children - the best thing to do at Christmas is get some really big EMPTY cardboard boxes, wrap them in pretty paper and leave them under the tree. I can GUARANTEE that they will be just as satisfied playing in the boxes as they would be playing with a toy costing a fortune!!