Henry and Gordon - Page 13

Ria P · 03-28-2020, 07:16 AM

Last night Henry must have decided that the hoard in his house was too big even for hamster standards.

Maybe he started to feel crowded in his nest or had not enough room left to stretch his paws in his guinea pig sized house.

He had chucked part of his hoard out of his front door for me to collect and dispose of i guess. Nice to know that i'm his refuse collector now.

He tidies his coconut outhouse quite frequently so i had to collect and dispose of the chucked out poops and seed shells as well.

Handy to have a hamster who prunes his own hoard. Saves me a job.

Vierville · 03-28-2020, 09:19 AM

Henry sounds like a very orderly hamster! I've never had any of my lot clean out their own nest before. I wonder if this behaviour is common?

Charlie Dunn · 03-28-2020, 10:59 AM

I love that story! That is so cute. you are very lucky that he is so tidy and thoughtful to leave his rubbish out for collection!!! X

Ria P · 04-16-2020, 04:02 PM

Henry our Syrian hamster does not chew, burrow or play with toys.

I made him all sorts of cardboard toys and puzzle toys in the past but he simply can't be bothered with any of it.

The only time he chewed was when he took a decorative garland down, he had climbed up his cage on both ends of the garland and bitten through it.

A couple of nights ago i made him a toilet roll toy, put slits in, then stuck sunflower and pumkin seeds in them. A short while later i retrieved the toilet roll minus the seeds and with chewed ends! Henry chewing cardboard was unheard of. So tonight i put more seeds in the slits and later retrieved the cardboard roll minus the seeds and the slits because Henry had chewed right through them.

I think that he was trying to tell me to stop messing with his food!

Vierville · 04-16-2020, 08:28 PM

That sounds like a good idea! I've been trying to think of a toy that Baldrick might enjoy as his new section is quite bare. Nanuk will definitely enjoy that too.

Ria P · 05-06-2020, 04:12 AM

A quick tip i wanted to pass on.

I have two identical houses (Ferplast guinea pig house) for Henry so when i have to clean his cage i put Henry plus house plus some of the nest and hoard in a transport box. I keep the clean part of his nest back separately.

I clean his cage and put everything back exactly where it was before or he'd throw a tantrum and put the second house with the old nest plus fresh and a little of the old hoard plus fresh hamster mix back in so everything is ready for him.

He usually goes back in his house while waiting in the transport box and the house in the cage smells of him because i alternate them.

I find that as long as Henry has one of his houses to go into he's alright waiting and doesn't get too stressed.
He's not exactly happy to be out of his cage when it wasn't his idea to come out but he tolerates it......as long as i hurry up and don't keep him waiting for too long.

Here he is in the transport box.

Charlie Dunn · 05-07-2020, 01:45 AM

Aww his little face - so sweet!!! X

Ria P · 06-04-2020, 07:28 AM

Wee Gordon our Robo must be 17/18 months old now but i'm not sure of his exact age because he was adopted

Today i decided to give him a health check, spot clean his tank and change the sand in his sandpit.

I managed to locate him and scoop him out in my hands then hold him while i checked him over. Everything seemed fine to me and he was quite well behaved.

Then i put him in the transport box instead of back in his tank and he was not happy at all. He gave me an angry squeak so i had to put him back in his tank which was bare of furniture with only the substrate in it. He run to the place where his sandpit and wheel normally sits and there was more angry squeaking when he couldn't find it. I had to put everything back in a hurry and here he is looking out of his cottage before he closed up his door with substrate.

I've never heard him squeak before. Do hamsters get grumpier as they get older?

At least age won't affect Henry because he's always been a bit of a grump.

Vierville · 06-04-2020, 10:08 AM

Ahhh Ria P, Gordon's little face in that photo is just adorable!

I'm not sure if they do get grumpier with age but I know that Baldrick definitely lets me know with a squeak if he is displeased with being taken out of his cage or put into his carrier!

I guess some are just more expressive than others?

Thin Lizzy · 06-06-2020, 10:43 AM

Aww at Henry taking his cleaning duties seriously and helping you. Noah does that with his substrate and bedding, leaves a pile outside of his house for me to take away and then I leave a huge pile of fresh carefresh for him to rearrange. Noah will put anything he doesn't want to eat in his toilet corner.
Gordon is gorgeous.