Ball or Play Pen

[Toria]

I was intrested in what other people use when their little hamsters come out to play.

Currently i use play pens. But with having to split up the group of 4 robos, and getting Leo and having a russian too.
Setting up the play pens and cleaning them up every night is getting to be a real drag, so i was thinking of getting them all balls. Plus with the play pens they sometimes just sit there and go to sleep

So yeah what do you guys use?

[helenf]

I like handling my robos when they're out, and wouldn't like the thought of them only getting to go out in the ball, so currently I use a playbox for them. My robos are too fast/not tame enough yet to take them out just in my hands.

However, I only have the one box. I only put the hamsters in it one at a time, but I'm sure some people would say they shouldn't have the same box at all, as they can then smell each other in it. But I don't really have the space for two cages and two big play boxes to be setup in my dining room, so I'm relatively satisfied with the arrangement for now.

I like playing with them while they're out, so I take the lid off the box and kneel/sit so I can rest my arms in it, so they can get used to running over me. McNulty has worked out that if he runs up my arms when they're at an angle he can get much nearer the exit, so he spends a lot of his time doing that now

It's quite a big box, and I've just started putting Carefresh as a base in it so it's a bit softer for when they jump around and fall. I usually put a dish of sand in there too - they are far more likely to use that one than the one in their cages for some reason and it's cute to see them spin round in it in close up

I've got a few items (wooden bridge/seesaw, etc) I put in there when they're alone - they seem to quite like them.

I've also ordered a metal playpen so I might try that too. I have a ball but they only use that very occasionally as I'm paranoid about them getting out.

[Toria]

I'm pretty paraniod about the balls too, although i'm more paraniod about the play pen as they can squeeze out and now a couple of them can climb over
My girl robos are unusually tame so they just sit on my lap each evening one at a time, come out for a cuddle. Meredith has even started jumping up when i come in the room to hold her, which is so weird for robos, they have been that tame since the day we bought them home.
Leo the new adoption robo isn't tame at all. And i put him in a ball today while i cleaned him out and he seemed much less scared than in a play pen, so i think i will let him run in there instead of the play pen...

It's just takes so long to get 3 playpens out, with play mats and toys, and then having to clean it up afterwards too....

[merita]

I've only Koda for a week and I've never heard of hamster playpens before. He has a ball that he seems to enjoy and goes racing around the living room in it while I clean his cage. I'll have to research playpens and see what I can do about getting/making one.

[souffle]

I wouldn't but the playpens with the coloured mesh panels as Syrians find it VERY easy to scale the sides. I have heard of dwarfs getting stuck in the mesh panels too.
A good playpen is a large deep plastic storage box but the still need supervised in these.

[merita]

Just a large deep plastic box? Oh that's easy peasy, hobbycraft sell them quite reasonably and I can use for my craft bits in between 'sessions'.

[heleni0]

You can also make a playpen out of coroplast, which has nice smooth sides so it can't be climbed. My coroplast is being delivered tomorrow, it's all very exciting :P

anything with bars is just climbed out of

[Bunsey]

for robos i use a playpen as they love zooming round it, but the WW aren't interested for more than 2 minutes as they just want to crawl on people. Most dwarfs don't seem to like balls, only a few robos i've had. My Chinese and WW seem to really dislike them. Syrians i don't use the playpen as aside from the fact they can climb out, they just seem bored in there. They LOVE balls though and will run and run until you stop them. I'm sure they'd run all night if you left them in there!

[taylr1996]

ball but if i need to get my hamster out for a min i bought a hamster playpen from pets at home and i built a lego base he loves trying to escape but i soon put a stop to that ! on the ball idea, my hamster hates to be cuddled so i let him out in his ball 2,3 times a day! when ever im home annd hes awake i let him out ,he hasent been sleeping very long at the moment but he was out 3 times yeterday and slept from 9pm till about 7pm the next day ball is a good idea but it is not a very natrual way for them to move so if you can hamster proof a room (no wires or things for them to hide behind sofas washing matchines ect) in most houses hall ways are the best place, close all the doors and genrally hallways have no wires or things for them to chew on or hide behind but if you dont close a door properly hamsters can squeeze through!

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