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Old 12-11-2018, 10:58 AM   #1
starham dwarfs
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Question elderly hamster cage ideas

my dwarf hamster rocky, is old 19 months now.
she is blind, her left eye has clouded up completely but she is still very active.
only she is clumsy. shes is tiny but eats and drinks plenty.
every night she runs on her wheel for hours she has other toys but the wheel is her favourite. she used to be handled regularly and would frequently spend time with us. a few months ago when ever she came out she would squeak , so we realise maybe she didn't want to be handled anymore due to her age. we have realised that if she want to leave her little home now she has a paddy until we pay attention to her.
she hates people invading into her cage and charges at your hand as soon as it enters the cage, but she has a little hamster pouch that she jumps into, and we use this to move her to and from the cage its been like this since she was young. with rocky hitting the age of 60. she has started falling and being clumsy. so she runs really fast but always falls off and im just wondering if there are any ideas for elderly hamster cage ideas.


Thanks starham dwarfs
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Old 12-11-2018, 10:53 PM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: elderly hamster cage ideas

You do sometimes need to rearrange the cage when they get older, I would just try to keep everything on one level now, if you have any shelves it's probably best to remove them & any toys she might climb on & fall off, keep the layout as familiar as possible so she can find everything easily & just make sure she can't fall at all, if she has little or no sight then it's more important than ever to keep cleaning to an absolute minimum so you don't remove her scent from things.
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Old 12-13-2018, 06:37 AM   #3
starham dwarfs
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Smile Re: elderly hamster cage ideas

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
You do sometimes need to rearrange the cage when they get older, I would just try to keep everything on one level now, if you have any shelves it's probably best to remove them & any toys she might climb on & fall off, keep the layout as familiar as possible so she can find everything easily & just make sure she can't fall at all, if she has little or no sight then it's more important than ever to keep cleaning to an absolute minimum so you don't remove her scent from things.
thanks i think she will be okay i already try and do this, her cage is one level.my biggest worry with her is the fact she falls of her wheel all the time and i dont want this to become dangerous
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Old 12-13-2018, 08:29 AM   #4
alpacassei
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Default Re: elderly hamster cage ideas

Older dwarf hamsters can sometimes become more anxious or cage agresssive, I think it’s because in the wild, a sick older hamster is easy prey and could also become a threat to the colony’s safety. Sometimes downsizing to a smaller cage can help them to feel safer, I’m currently using a Mini Duna for Stephano’s retirement cage. Covering part of the cage and adding more hides can also help an older hamster feel safer.

I have a lot of experience with blind Russian dwarf hamsters. Being blind doesn’t really bother them or affect their behaviour much, blind hammies learn how to use their whiskers and scents to navigate. As long as you don’t rearrange her cage often, you probably won’t even be able to tell she’s blind! One of my blind hammies hated open spaces and needed his cage to be full of hides (so many there was almost no actual floor space left!), but most of them loved exploring and climbing las much as any other hammie!

If she’s falling out of her wheel, move any hard items away from it and make sure there’s lots of soft substrate she can land on (carefresh or fitch is good). Some older hamsters do better with flying saucers than upright wheels, but it depends on the hammie.
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Old 12-13-2018, 04:02 PM   #5
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Default Re: elderly hamster cage ideas

I set up an elderly hamster cage for our Syrian. As Cypher says it's important to remove any shelves so she can't climb and fall. But then with a one level/floor level cage they need some kind of overhead cover as well so they don't feel too exposed and still have something to "sit under". What kind of cage is she in? What I did was move the shelf right up to the roof - so it was literally touching the roof of the cage at the top - no way up there and even if the hamster could get up there by climbing bars, not possible to get onto the shelf to fall.

That was he was still "under a shelf"! I also hung a large hammock from the top - too high to be able to get onto or fall off but like a nice overhead hanging so it felt cosier and a bit darker underneath so less exposed.

Another thing when it's all one level, is to add more enrichment at that level. So some toys that had been on shelves or attached to the roof I moved to ground level and added a large cork log at ground level - that gave a gentle slope to climb over for variety and the log has an interesting texture - plus makes a long dark tunnel to run through or sit under.

His large tube that was higher up before, I attached to the end of the cage inside the cage right at substrate level - so he could still run through it.

The wheel is an important issue because they can trip, or catch a leg or fall. I adjusted things so the bottom end of the wheel, where they climb in was literally at substrate level - a millimetre or two above the substrate - so it was very easy to just step in and no tripping or catching a leg getting out. So the wheel itself needs to be one that doesn't have a lip.

What wheel do you have? I thought I may need to downsize the cage but actually older hamsters that are still active, love the floorspace and ours used all of it in a 100cm cage - the key was to have overhead cover so he felt confident being out and about and using all of it. So personally I wouldn't downgrade to a smaller cage. But add more things to give more enrichment and interest at ground level in the existing cage.
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