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Old 07-06-2016, 03:20 PM   #11
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Everything Zen

Ooh! Goodness she must think she's in heaven in that cage It looks fun - lovely set up. She really likes the wheel I love that little ceramic house with "Home" written on it. She is very sweet and looks quite confident really. Goodness they're fast aren't they?
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Old 07-07-2016, 12:16 AM   #12
cypher
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Default Re: Everything Zen

Thanks everyone

Serendipity I really must get a vid of one of them running full pelt one of these days, that's not fast at all lol!
She was funny when she first found the wheel she really wasn't sure what to do & was going so slowly the wheel hardly moved, she soon got the hang of things though bless her!

She wasn't confident at all, I was a little way off from the cage with the camera zoomed in when I took that first video & photo, she's much more like Zephyr was when she first came home than either Whisp or Zeki, very very timid & shy, scared of hands but still curious & quite the intrepid explorer once that curiosity won out.
She had a good look round at everything, had a nice time in her sand bath & wheel then began to dig herself in. Because she was so nervous I decided to spend quite a lot of time around the cage talking to her & not leave her completely alone as I had the feeling she would just disappear underground & start to go a bit feral left to her own devices & she soon began to come out of her shell, coming to the front of the cage to see who or what I was!
I tried offering her treats a couple of times but she was still much too nervous to come to my hand so I put a sunflower seed down for her & without moving my hand away to much she came straight back & took it, after we'd done that a couple of times she went to sit in her wheel to eat them, began to have a little run & kept stopping to look around as though she couldn't understand why the shells were raining down on her
I had to intervene a bit anyway as her bottle & water bowl were in danger of either disappearing under the substrate or just getting tipped right over! I've only seen her give the bottle a couple of brief licks, she seems to think it's there to climb on mostly but finally saw her have a good drink from the bowl this morning, funny how they take to those Rodipet bowls, when I was worried about Mickle not drinking enough & tried her with a bowl whatever I used she wouldn't touch but as soon as she had the Rodipet bowl she was happy to drink from it!

She was very determined to dig under her wheel & make a tunnel along the length of the back of the cage, everything along there was sinking lower & lower as she kicked all the substrate back toward the wheel half burying it! I rescued the wheel once but within about 10 minutes it was half buried once again

I was a little apprehensive going to bed leaving her to it & wondering what I might find this morning…
Well it looked like the wheel had been hit by a mini substrate tsunami! t was at a really silly angle, half buried & almost full!
I had to take the wheel out, just about everything along the back out & put a new fence around the wheel, it was a bit of a tight squeeze with the new fence so the nice ceramic home house had to go, I don't think she even wants a house lol! She still has the small wooden one & the shelf to sleep under if she wants to.
She's one very determined little lady though, now I've finally managed to prevent her from digging under there she's doing her best to chew her way in
There's only enough substrate under the wheel to hold the little fence up anyway so I'm trying to leave her to figure it out for herself & dig somewhere else, fingers crossed she'll get the idea sooner or later…….
She did have a nice set up but now it looks as though everything has been randomly thrown in with a bit of substrate on top! I don't think she'll ever be a "nice" set up kind of girl, more a happy chaos kind

Her confidence has come on so much I'm amazed at her After all the disruption this morning I thought I ought to offer her a little reward for putting up with me & with only a moments hesitation she took a seed from my fingers, we've done it a few times now so she's really getting quite brave, almost unrecognisable compared to the frozen little ball hidden in a tube less than a day ago.
Each time I go to the cage & ask "What are you up to now?!" she comes to the front & looks up at me with such a cute & innocent little face "Who me?"

I have to say I feel quite exhausted already but I haven't laughed so much in ages!


ETA it's suddenly gone very quiet, I was beginning to wonder if she's ever stop to sleep lol! but a little fitch mountain has appeared at the door of her little wooden house so, dare I even think it.... maybe she's seen sense at last!

She wasn't still enough for photos this morning but here she is happy amongst her chaos having a quick nibble on a whimzee.
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Last edited by cypher; 07-07-2016 at 12:28 AM.
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Old 07-07-2016, 07:03 AM   #13
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Default Re: Everything Zen

So very cute!

Cypher - can I ask, in what way should a chinese set up differ to a set up for a russian hamster? Just in case I am ever tempted by a chinese hamster... which I can see happening one day :P
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Old 07-07-2016, 08:43 AM   #14
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Default Re: Everything Zen

Love the chaos and her clamped onto her whimzee. Such a cutey!
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Old 07-07-2016, 10:40 AM   #15
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Default Re: Everything Zen

How did I miss this.....

Love her name.....welcome little Zen, you've landed on your little paws and sounds like she's quite the explorer already and digger! So glad she has made you smile and laugh!

Congratulations cypher on your beautiful addition x
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Old 07-07-2016, 11:39 AM   #16
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Default Re: Everything Zen

Congratulations cypher! Very Zen indeed, hello EZ! Sounds like the two of you will have a grand ole time
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Old 07-07-2016, 08:03 PM   #17
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Default Re: Everything Zen

How did I miss this wonderful news?
Oh Cypher, congratulations on your little girl Zen, who's absolutely stunning!
Love the video, I would love to see her go faster lol!
And that pic with her whimzee made me laugh.
I'm so happy for you and your new addition.
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Old 07-07-2016, 11:45 PM   #18
cypher
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Default Re: Everything Zen

Thanks everyone

Chaos still ensues but things have settled down just a tiny bit lol!
She's still digging like crazy, I think I might have bought a mole home by mistake, tunnels & mountains everywhere.
She's given up trying to bury the wheel or dig under it thankfully but everything else is still like a bomb site, her house was more or less at a 45 degree angle when I got up this morning & soon after was looking a bit like a sinking ship with just it's bow poking up above the waves until I rescued it, I don't think she was impressed by that lol!
By the sound of things & the way everything moves when she's underground she now has a nice network of tunnels over the whole floor of the cage, she's a very industrious little lady
I was hoping to begin scatter feeding soon but I'm at a bit of a loss as to where I can hide things & keep an eye on them right now, nothing stays still for long!

She's still quite timid but coming on really well & has graduated to climbing onto my fingers to take some seeds so for less than two days I'm very impressed with her bravery



Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodent Fan View Post
Cypher - can I ask, in what way should a chinese set up differ to a set up for a russian hamster? Just in case I am ever tempted by a chinese hamster... which I can see happening one day :P
Sorry to be a bit slow answering your question, Zen has been keeping me rather busy & entertained so I haven't been on much! Anyway...
One of the main differences is the house, I initially had a lovely labyrinth house in the cage & Russian hams like to have that type of house & use the different rooms for various things, a Chinese really isn't interested in rooms we provide, they would much rather just dig their own burrows & a house is basically something to burrow under, even if you put it on the base of the cage they'll find a way to burrow under it! So a labyrinth house would really be a waste of space & it can make it difficult to get to them if you need to without taking the whole thing out.
Sand baths a bit different too, I had put quite a large plastic container full of sand in but again a Chinese would just try to dig under it & you do have to be a bit careful with anything relatively heavy like that which they'll try to get under, from my experience anyway they seem to like their sand baths to be smaller, round & enclosed or partially enclosed so salt pigs work really well.
They're a lot more agile & better climbers than the other species so you can give them the opportunity to do more of that although you still have to take care to make things safe, if I'd known I was bringing a Chinese ham home I might have put a hammock or corner crush in to begin with, you still have to watch for chewing but it's much less likely than with the others, even if I hadn't put it in to begin with I would have done the basic set up with space to hang one or more whereas now I'm struggling a bit to figure out quite where I can put them, I'm sure I'll find a way though.
Other than that it's the same as with any species in that you have to wait & see what they do or don't like, make use of or enjoy in the cage.
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Old 07-08-2016, 01:53 AM   #19
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Everything Zen

Goodness she sounds like an active little lady and is sorting her home and having fun by the sounds of it.

Maybe the bar attachments for the wheel might help? So it stays put and she can do what she wants underneath it lol. I thought she moved around the cage fast, rather than running fast in the wheel, but I bet they can run really fast in the wheel! Lol at her mountains.
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Old 07-08-2016, 05:27 AM   #20
cypher
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Default Re: Everything Zen

I did try the cage attachment for the wheel when I was setting the cage up but I found it quite hard to fit, I needed another pair of hands! Because they run so much & so fast I guess the bolt can come a bit loose occasionally so I like to take the wheel out & check it daily & I need to take it out for a good clean once a week so it's much easier & placement is much easier with it on the stand tbh.
She does seem to have accepted that she can't get under there, for now at least lol! & is making herself burrows just about everywhere else so I think her wheel is safe now, hopefully not famous last words
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