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Old 07-12-2020, 03:10 PM   #11
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: New hamster worries

The house looks good. I reckon she’ll move in. Put a smelly treat inside it that should tempt her in. Eg a bit of cucumber or cheese. Did you put a litter tray inside it? They usually use it if it’s inside a big house. I put it in the back corner opposite the door as the other end is darker for nesting.

I have tended to avoid ladders mostly because of the space they take up - and partly because they’re difficult to secure on a shelf and are hard if landed on (eg if the climb to the top and fall). I’ve used a large cork log before - it works well. You put it next to the shelf or partly under it and it makes a ramp up to the shelf plus a nice big tunnel as well. And leaves a lot more floor space. You just adjust the height of the shelf to the right height next to the log.

In Moo’s plaza I do have a wood ladder with rungs but I stuck hemp mat on it so it’s softer if fallen on. It’s also at quite a shallow angle. But you wouldn’t want your shelf much lower as you have the house under it.

Another thing I’ve used instead of a ladder is the cokoured bendy bridges that screw to the bars - they make a very secure ramp - it takes two of them to be long enough. I’ll link them. Had a bad experience with a ladder in our robo’s cage as it wasn’t made for the shelf and fell down a couple of times and he couldn’t get to his water bottle.

The cage looks nice - maybe something to fill some of the open space on the left would give her more interest as well and make it cosier. The rat sputniks make good overhead cover and another hide to sit in. But as that cage is tall they either need to hang next to a shelf or tie a tunnel to the roof from the shelf so they can get into the Sputnik.

Have a look at some of the other cage set ups for ideas . Luna has some videos on the Savic plaza. I have a big flat roofed house at one end and a wood shelf at the other end. So both ends have overhead cover- and the wheel in the middle. I’ll add a photo later when on my computer.

But as you say you don’t want to change a lot just yet while she’s settling in. You could add the odd new thing - they find that interesting usually - but best not to start moving things just yet. I reckon adding a cork log in the middle just in front of the shelf would fill the floor space up a bit, provide a ramp up to the shelf and also give some overhead cover as it’s a tall tunnel. And an interesting texture to climb over.

And then see how she goes. Bathtub taking sounds good too. Maybe every 2 or 3 days so she gets a break in between and can still settle into a routine in the cage.

They do tend to ignore everything I find - except things with food stuck to them! None of our hamsters have taken any notice of toys but they make a fuss if you remove them! It’s just part of the furniture to them.

Is the coconut hut on the shelf fairly stable sitting on there or does it move if used? They also like things to feel secure and not wobbly. If it does wobble a bit on the hard shelf then how about putting it in the substrate in the front left corner - they tend to really like coconut huts - Moo goes to sit in his to groom - it might tempt her over to that side of the cage more.

This is the cork log I’ve used. The Rodipet ones are the right size for a hamster cage - reptile stores also sell them but they’re huge long things.

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/accessorie...-diameter.html

The bendy bridges that screw to bars aren’t available at the moment - they’re made by ranch house cages and some smaller businesses haven’t got back to normal yet with the virus situation.

Last edited by Pebbles82; 07-12-2020 at 03:18 PM.
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Old 07-14-2020, 02:12 AM   #12
heyheyitsaimee
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2020
Posts: 8
Default Re: New hamster worries

Thanks so much for both the reassurance and suggestions everyone!

Mabel woke up at about 11 last night, and at first didn't seem to want to interact with me much and was quite nervous, so I decided not to have a bathtub session.

However, after leaving the room for a couple of hours and returning, she came over to me from her wheel as soon as she saw me and seemed keen to interact, so i started by giving her a few treats through the bars. I guess she was just a bit tired and sensitive when she first woke up, but is in a more playful mood a bit later in the night, I guess I can work around that!

I managed to get her into a small box with some meal worms and took her to the bathroom where I had put her new toys that I was planning on adding to the cage in a few weeks time as to not startle her, which were the wooden trixie wheel, trixie willow tunnel and a wooden ladder? (Not really a ladder as there aren't any gaps between the steps, I turned it into a bendy bridge). Well, we had a great time! She chewed away on the wooden ladder which is the first time she's chewed anything other than bars! She enjoyed running through the tunnel and even put her paws onto the palm of my hand to take food. She absoloutely loved her wooden trixie wheel, she seems to be able to run a lot better in that wheel than the plastic one, and stayed on it for longer periods of time. I do want to replace her plastic wheel with that one but don't know when the best time would be, don't want to change too much at once.

We finished after about 20 minutes at half 4! After I took her back to her cage, she didn't chew the bars or climb all night, which I was really happy with. I'm beginning to think maybe the plastic wheel is what's causing the problem, as watching her run on the wooden one last night was like watching a different hamster.

As for the shoebox house, I'm not sure how she's taken to it. Her original nest is in the front right hand corner of the cage, so the shoehouse box hasn't covered it up or messed with it. But yesterday morning, she spent hours moving bedding out from under the box and she's doing the same now, so she had piles of bedding around the sides of the box and the box has now sunken quite deep into the base of the cage. I'm not sure if this is her "moving nest" into the box or if she's just not happy with it, anyone have any ideas? She doesn't seem stressed, especially as this is the first night she hasn't chewed.

Once again thanks so much for all of the help. Being a new hamster owner is very stressful, all I want is for her to be happy!! So I really appreciate all of the advice and reassurance.
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