Hello Everyone, it’s been a little while. Here’s what we've been up to over the last few months - a heavy Uni workload has meant I haven’t had time to actually sit down and write.
After the tragic loss of Penguin back in March, we didn’t plan to get a new hamster so soon, but fate has a way of making things happen. A few weeks after Penguins passing, a chance trip to pick up gardening supplies for my dad led to me discovering a chunky fellow who looked just like our dear Penguin – not exactly what I would have chosen, because it would have felt like we were trying to replace him.
A Syrian of unsure age, possibly five or six months old, this guy was repeatedly left because he was a lot bigger than the other hamsters, and being dark brown all over was not considered to be ‘pretty’ like the multi-coloured. Despite myself, how could I not fall for him? Like Penguin he was a hamster that needed someone, and so we found ourselves hammie-parents again.
Once we got him home, it was very clear that he had had little or no handling, as he was very timid and jumpy. Paying tribute to his quiet and secretive nature, we named him Agent Spectacles. The first week he would only come out of his house for water and food, and only when we were not in the room.
Fortunately this was not far from what I expected knowing his circumstances, and we slowly let him get used to us, letting him smell my hands regularly but nothing too strenuous. He became used to us, but remained very skittish, and while he was able to stand most noise, sometimes he would suddenly be freaked out and dive into the nearest hidey-hole.
It was then one of the disadvantages of the tank became clear - our previous hamster had started in a cage, and had always come to the door to come out, however with the tank there was no door for him to come too. I already knew picking him up was more than he would be able to handle, so I developed a way to set up bridges when the tan was open so he could come and see us if it felt like it, and it worked. As he became more used to us, he started to work out how to use the bridges, and he would come up when I put them in and sniff my hands.
About two weeks after we got him, one night he just climbed out onto my hands, and allowed me to give him a few strokes, before I gently returned him to the bottom of the tank. Delightfully, he immediately ran back up the ladders to climb out again.
This was an amazing breakthrough, I was so proud of how far he had come in such a short time. This became a pattern with him, each night he would cautiously investigate the open tank, and after a short while he would come out onto my hands for cuddles. Once he had climbed out once that night, it seemed to become a game for him – how quickly could he get back out after I popped him back into the tank. Some nights he would do this for more than an hour!
I knew that I needed a more long term solution to exiting the tank, something safe and stable that would reduce the risk he would fall. I also wanted it to be something he could use while the tank was closed so that he became more familiar and comfortable with it.
I knew I wanted something that would offer a gradual incline, because with the tank being as high as it was it would either need to be very long, or very steep if it were to go straight up, and although going up was ok, going down was also a worry if I wanted it to remain in the cage.
Using inspiration from the shelves I had seen on here made from IKEA magazine files, I began designing a set of two shelves that could be connected to allow him to climb right to the top of the cage, but because it was in two layers could go around the corner. I separated one box file into the top flat part, and the bottom with the sides attached, and attached thick legs for stability to both parts. By playing around in his tank I was able to find there was exactly the right amount of space to fit the two around the corner, and by coincidence the ‘castle’ shaped edge of the flat layer even slotted around the vertical support bar of the detolf, meaning it was completely fixed in place with no danger of slipping.
I fitted it to the appropriate height so that he could still get onto the ledge when the lid was on, without taking it too far from the top and fitted a barrier around the top ledge so he couldn't fall. Using Lolly sticks I made a bridge with a gradual slope, and used extra sticks to make steps so he wouldn’t slip.
I made a guard for the side of the bridge that had a fall to the bottom of the tank, gave both levels a good coating of plastikote for protection and set it up. It took less than a day for Specs to work it out, and since then he has been known to sit there when it’s time for cuddles – or when I have put him back in after playtime and he decides that it’s not time for cuddles to be over.
Because he had spent most his life before we got him in a tiny tank approximately 30 x 30cm, nearly everything has been new to him, but it’s been amazing to get to see him investigate and discover a world of new hamster toys and activities.
As my partner works nights and Specs gets up after he has left, I started taking lots of short videos of him so he wouldn’t miss out on his progress, and it turns out he is pretty damn photogenic, even if I am a terrible photographer.
Now that University term has finished, I decided to use some of the videos and photos to make a video showing Spectacles tank set up and playtime. I enjoyed making it so much I made another showing Spectacles what gets up to in a more silly light.
I thought it might be nice to use a bit of my extra time over the summer to document how Specs is doing, and hopefully providing a little bit of useful information on habitat, handling and things I have found useful for bonding with Spectacles. With this in mind I made the following video, showing the mods I tried in the tank to help Specs come for cuddles without having to be picked up.
https://youtu.be/amVgmRVW2SM?list=PL...VXnmUAcFwM5mZi
You can also find the other videos I have made so far on my channel - don't forget to select HD, for some reason it defaults to low resolution!
Tour of Agent Specs tanks
https://youtu.be/nw05fPD75U4?list=PL...VXnmUAcFwM5mZi
Silly Agent Spectacles video - Mock James Bond/Action film
https://youtu.be/FhVctQel7Z0?list=PL...VXnmUAcFwM5mZi
Christmas Memorial Video of Penguin
https://youtu.be/EYXb9aiHV8k?list=PL...XK5bOiw6NaZ1Ow
I hope you all enjoy watching it, I hope to post at least once a week so please subscribe if you enjoy!
Anyway I've gone on long enough, so I'll leave you with this picture of Spectacles posing with Andy last night
Charlie, Andy and Spectacles
Agent Spectacles Thread
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