Harvey's in the Barney

[Amys_Mum]

So this evening, Harvey moved into her much bigger home. I was surprised that, once filled with woodshavings and with house, potty, wheel and sandbath in place, there wasn't actually loads of room left! I'm not sure I like having the house on the left and shelf on the right, but that was the way round her old cage was and I didn't want too much upset.

So far, she's run over everything, squeezed into spaces I didn't think existed (behind the wheel and in between the bendy bridge and the house), burrowed right to the bottom of the substrate in the deepest corner, and decided she didn't like the cardboard tunnel being outside her house by nudging it firmly out of the way.

Amys_mum's Library | Photobucket

Hope the photos work!

[Pebbles82]

Ooh I love it! You've been so creative with the colours of the plastikote! I think the set up and layout looks good. I know what you mean though - in the ad shot of the Barney the shelf is on the left and the house on the right and it kind of looks balanced like that. But I think it looks ok the way you have it too. The main thing is if it works for the hamster and is easy for you to manage and clean. If she doesn't like the cardboard tube over the house door you could try a bendy bridge instead. It's less moveable - Charlie loves his bendy bridge over the doorway. But maybe right now she just needs to settle in.

[Amys_Mum]

The colours were Amy's choice - I gave her the Cuprinol book and told her she could have 3, and she chose the 3 brightest LOL, that's 7 year olds for you. So I added the cream to balance it out. It doesn't look so bright now it's in place, but as I was painting, I was thinking OMG.

I'm not going to change anything just yet, I'll give her a chance to settle and see what she likes / doesn't like. Her nest has previously been under the shelf in the Duna Fun, which is clear, so even having a proper house makes it a lot more private for her. It was quite amusing seeing her try to come out of her house, realise the tube was in the way, and watch her nudge it rather than come through it - it was almost like "what the heck is THIS doing here!"

The water bottle was hard to fit through the bars with the narrow spacing, so I might need to look at a different option for that - any recommendations?

[Pebbles82]

Yes I have the same problem with the 7mm bar spacing on our cage. I'm happy with these bottles - they let water out well but don't drip as much as others, and come with a little bottle holder on a clip that fits through the bars, so the bottle holder is on the inside.

The first one I got was red like in the picture, but the last one that came was a kind of silver/grey - same bottle and holder though.

Fpi 4660 Drinky75 Drinky B.

[Amys_Mum]

Oh, I'm such a muppet! I have one of those ferplast clips from the Duna, I'm just so used to it being on the outside of the cage, hadn't even thought about turning it round.

[Pebbles82]

Lol! Do you have the bottle as well then?