Hamsters at night thread

Pebbles82 · 01-07-2020, 10:29 AM

Just want to share my Christmas present with you

It's a small indoor security camera that does infrared night time video - which I used to film Pickle and Moo last night. It was eight hours of filming which I scanned through to pick out the parts of activity and only have two clips so far - below. Always wanted to do this!

But basically Moo came out first around 10.30pm (about half an hour after lights out - we went to bed early-ish). Had a little look around. Both were out around midnight. Pickle was in and out of his wheel most of the night. Moo was out and about between 2am and 2.30am but then just a little bit later. Pickle was out and about between 3am and 3.30am and quite active (in between being on and off his wheel). Quiet between 3.30am and 5am. Then Pickle was out between 5am and 6am and shot off to bed when he heard us coming downstairs just after 6am!

I noticed Moo didn't use his wheel all night, so checked it and found it was wedged against the shelf. Poor silly Moo. He's so gentle. Any other hamster would have been climbing the walls and getting attention if the wheel was stuck. No wonder he was sitting staring out of the bars so much - waiting for someone to come and fix it. Although that might have been because I let him out in the middle of the night the night before when I couldn't sleep. Anyway sorted now - it shifts along when he runs hard and got pushed up against the shelf.

So first video is taken 2am ish - of Moo - bottom cage - look bottom right. You can see Pickle's wheel spinning in the cage above as well.

Second video is about 3am - of Pickle (top cage) - speeded up a bit as it was about half an hour of recording!

As it's a "Hamsters at night" thread, feel free to add your own night videos! I'll have a few more clips when I've looked through the recording properly. Next time I think I'll do one cage/hamster at a time, to get a better view.

Easier to see if you watch them full screen which means clicking on the link rather than the embedded video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Cmh69vyAo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t_ePNvSSRc

souffle · 01-07-2020, 10:46 AM

wow that's really interesting to watch!

Pebbles82 · 01-07-2020, 11:02 AM

Thank you

Hard to see unless it's full screen. Their eyes show where they are though! It was completely in the dark. Pickle was much more active but that's understandable as he's younger.

LunaTheHamster1 · 01-07-2020, 11:11 AM

Great thread Serendipity.
I keep meaning to make a video out of my night time clips- it's on the list!
It's great to see what they get up to at night isn't it.

Pebbles82 · 01-07-2020, 11:31 AM

Yes - nice to see them so active in the cage as well. Neither come out much in the evening unless coaxed out!

Ria P · 01-07-2020, 11:42 AM

Which camera do you have Serendipity? Is it easy to use?

Coco61 · 01-07-2020, 12:08 PM

Enjoyed that Serendipity. Rewarding to see that all the trouble you go to to make a cage full of interesting places is well appreciated. Pickle was all over the place.
Aww at Moo sitting there and looking out. Still, that led you to a problem that needed to be sorted out for him.

Pebbles82 · 01-07-2020, 12:48 PM

Thank you Coco. I know you have something similar. People have talked about these types of cameras for a long time but I never quite knew what was what. It's this one. The reviews helped choose it as a lot of people use it for pet monitoring. It is easy to use but the instructions weren't great and tiny print. Basically it's like setting up an Echo Dot. The camera itself you just plug into a wall socket. But you then need to download the app which gives you a square picture thing that you hold in front of the camera and then they connect. You then connect the app to the wifi. Or maybe the other way round. So the phone and camera work together via wifi and the app.

Once that's done you can see what the camera sees from anywhere you are, on your phone. You can have sound on or off. You can also turn the camera round from your phone - it make it swivel round to a different position. We had fun with it.

It needs a micro sd card to record. So all the while it is turned on it records and you can play back what happened earlier. I think when the card is full it just records over the early part and goes round in a loop.

The recording was very good quality but degraded a bit by being downloaded as an mp4 and then uploaded to youtube.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the white version - I got the black one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Littlelf-Wi...7GYJDJK4GQKCV4

Ria P · 01-07-2020, 02:09 PM

Thanks for the detailed info. I've just watched the videos on full screen. Pickle really uses every bit of his cage so his set up is spot on! Had to laugh when you said that he took off to his bed soon as he heard you coming down. Seems to be a Syrian trait, lol.
Good quality of the recording too. I expected it to be fuzzy but its nice and clear.

Pebbles82 · 01-07-2020, 03:48 PM

Here's another short one of Moo at 2.30am. He looks like he wants to come out, sitting at the cage door - and earlier seems to be listening to Pickle running in his wheel above! Then gave up and attacked his Mr Woodfield tree snack for ages. He does this thing of hanging out of the sputnik to see if he can get out of the top of the cage door I think. He likes the sputnik.

I've just put the link so you can watch it full screen as easier to see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEwyTiBne1M