Foster hamsters

[LunaTheHamster1]

Aww, you really are the best Ria. I love hearing all about your fosters.

[Ria P]

Thank you. There were two living in separate habitrails and the other hamster, a Robo went to Ivy's adoptive parents for fostering and rehoming. Bit of a collaboration of likeminded people.

Got another querie:
Clarissa's habitat is on the floor in a quiet room with three other hamsters, dwarf Edwina above on the table and Syrian Rory and dwarf Ozzy on the long table across. Edwina, Rory and Syrian Rodney from downstairs take their turns to free roam in that room.
Rory and Rodney are monkeys who love to climb and will climb on top of Clarissa's cage which wasn't an issue while it was empty. I lift them off the roof just for them to run around the cage and climb up again, became a bit of a game.
Clarissa is from a household with children, cats and other hamsters and her habitrail was on the lounge floor.

Now of course i wonder if the boys climbing antics would upset or scare her.

It would be handy to have her on the floor for taming purposes because she'd be able to come out of her cage by herself (planning on a ramp or tube leading down) but at the same time i wonder if it would be wise to move her cage up.......??....somewhere.

Or try and see what happens when the boys freeroam?

Any experience with a situation like that anybody?

Thank you in advance.

[AmityvilleHams]

Definitely get the cage off the floor. It isn't safe for hamsters to interact even through cage bars - injury can still happen for example and that is definitely not something you want!

If you had the space on the floor to divide the room up safely and securely to prevent access from other hamsters, you could keep the cage on the floor. However if that just isn't a viable option you definitely need to move the cage somewhere safer.

[sushi_78]

No, I think she would be scared by other hamsters on her cage and if a foot falls through the bars it may be bitten.

I had the same problem because before I got Bramble her cage was being used as a gerbil climbing frame. Once Bramble arrived, that had to stop so the cage went on a dresser out of reach of free roaming gerbils. I would also keep the cage raised a bit just to keep the draughts out as well.

[Engel]

It's a difficult one Ria.

Nikos cage is on the floor and I let rats and ghost free roam around it. Difference is, he's in the zoozone. An option is to have a temporary divider or something for when a hamster is free roaming. This could be as simple as a cardboard box or something like this:
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07MJJ...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[LunaTheHamster1]

how about unfolding a cardboard box and sectioning that part of the area off. I divide the end of my bed off like that to make part of my bedroom a safe area for Twinkle to roam around in the winter.

[Ria P]

Thank you all for your much appreciated feedback.

We have now put Clarissa's habitat on a table next to Edwina's and the empty Grosvenor on the floor for the boys to climb on.
There is a boredom breaker mat between the two cages and Edwina's table is higher than Clarissa's so the girlies can't get into contact with each other.

[Ria P]

The proud first time house owner.

[Ria P]

I've put some degus shelves into Clarissa's habitat and rearranged a couple of things to give her more surfaces to run around on.

Most new hamsters would disappear but not Clarissa. While all the commotion was going on in her cage she sat on a corner shelf eating and watching!

Once finished she inspected everything and seemed pleased with the result.
The boot lying on its side in the right front corner doubles as a hideout and her lookout. She often stands on top of it watching what's going on.

[flowerfairy]

That looks amazing.

She sounds really confident.