Falling from bars

[sophiedoe]

My hamster keeps climbing the bars of her Barney cage. She climbs quite high. I've tried to move everything she could fall on, but she has fallen onto the ramp which leads from the base to the shelf a few times. What should I do? I'm worried she's going to hurt herself, especially if she hits her head.

Also, when I'm watching her, she kind of 'buzzes' as she's moving around - it's a bit hard to describe, it's like when a phone is on silent and it vibrates, but in pulses not continuously. It is to the point that if she is on the shelf, you can hear the vibrations! Just wondering if this is normal/nervousness, she has only been in this new cage since Tuesday and we have had her 2 weeks total.

Sorry to post again, just worried about the little ham. Many thanks!

(Also, is there a reason my posts don't appear in "new posts" any more? That's where I used to go to quickly check for replies :/ )

[Drago]

Is there a way you could block the bars she's climbing using cardboard and zip ties? I'd cover the base area so that she cannot reach as you don't want to risk her falling and potentially breaking a rib or another bone. If you don't want to do that, you could try adding some hammocks to help prevent her from falling further than 3-4 inches.

As for the vibrating thing, most rodents feel/look like this when they move around. Part of this is due to how quickly they'll move their whiskers all around, rodents have been known to move them in 7 different directions in less than a second! However, it's also possible that she is nervous. I wouldn't worry about it, she should settle down after a few weeks or so.

Each time somebody posts something new, the post below it is pushed down. Eventually, it's pushed down so far it can no longer be seen on the home display. If you want to check for replies to your thread, you can go to your account, press the second tab, then select "see all threads started by.." and search through your posts until you've found it. Or you could go to the top right corner of the site where it says "(insert number) unread posts since your last visit" and click on the bold portion and it will take you to all the threads that have recently been updated/answered since the time you've been away from the site. Then of course, you could simply search the forums for it, which isn't too hard since everything is organized into sections, but which method you use is up to you. Best wishes

[cypher]

If you could post a photo of your set up we could try to suggest ways to make it safer, most hams will do a bit of bar climbing given the chance but by having things at the right levels, having shelves or ledges, other things like sputniks etc that fill the space more & make it hard to climb to any real height particularly over any hard areas like the top of the house & be sure to have deep substrate then you can make the cage safe.
As she's only been in the cage less than a week she will probably still be exploring & scent marking so more likely to climb.

[sophiedoe]

Thanks for the replies! I will post a picture and have a look at implementing your advice.

In regards to the posting, I know that older posts will get pushed down, I just meant when I post something new, even after it is a couple of minutes old it hasn't been appearing in "new posts" at all. It isn't a problem of them disappearing over time, but not appearing in the first place.

[cypher]

Not sure about your posts not showing up, I know the first few posts by new members are approved by mods before appearing so it could be that maybe?

I would try to fill the base with substrate, right up to the top of the plastic, if you don't have space under the wheel you can section that area off with a bendy bridge or something so the rest of the substrate can be higher.
That would raise things up a bit so there's less height to fall from, the distance above the shelf doesn't look that high but you could put some hemp mat on there to soften her falls if she does climb there.
You could also try using a long wide bendy bridge or something as a ramp up to the sputnik or fix up a hanging tube so some of the bars are blocked off a bit & it would make accessing the sputnik a bit easier or you could just put a small shelf there under the sputnik or in front of it Ranchhouse cages on ebay do some good shelves that bolt on in different sizes.
I'm sure others will have more ideas.

Hmmm! Just been looking for the link to Ranch house cages & they seem to have disappeared!

[Pebbles82]

Hi there. I have the Barney cage too As this is her second cage in two weeks she'll be taking some time to settle in and find her way about and is probably a little bit skitty at the moment. The Barney is quite tall and it can be a bit of a drop if they climb to the roof. I suggest a few things to help with avoiding falls and also to make the access a bit easier round the cage, so she can develop a bit of a route. It might be she is a bit confused with the cage at the moment and trying to find a favourite spot. She might be buzzing while on the shelf because she's not sure what to do up there or something!

Anyway, as Cypher says, adding more substrate helps a lot. It raises everything up, reducing the height a bit, and it also cushions any falls. I would move the sputnik over the ramp so it's partly over the shelf (there should be enough of a gap under it). That way she can hop into the sputnik from the shelf easily and it partly blocks the ramp from above. I didn't actually use the ramp in mine - I put a shorter bendy ladder thing up the side of the cage under the sputnik - so as it's shorter and doesn't protrude as much, can't be fallen on. At the moment I have a large cork log part wedged under the shelf and that acts as a way up to the shelf (it can be climbed up and isn't hard to land on, plus higher up).

You don't need to buy lots of things though, you can improvise The main thing I think is to add a lot more substrate - you can partly bury the end of the ramp that way so it's effectively shorter too. It doesn't have to work out more expensive in substrate, because the deeper it is, the less you have to replace when doing a cage clean.

With a large cage like the Barney, when it is full to the brim of the base with substrate, most of it stays clean and dry for much longer (especially if she uses a potty litter tray), so you can just spot clean mostly and only need to change the substrate maybe after 8 weeks. Even then you can re-use the dry half and mix it in with new (that helps keep the hamster's scent in the cage so it's less stressful for them).

So for now maybe just throw a load more substrate in and suggest moving the sputnik over the ramp and partly over the shelf. Then she doesn't need to climb the bars to get into it.

Adding a few things onto the shelf might spark her interest a bit too. You could maybe have the food bowl on it and some kind of little hidey place - a tissue box with a side cut out would do. And maybe a chew up there as well

[Pebbles82]

Just looked at your photo again - Some of the toys that are under the shelf at the moment could maybe go on the shelf as you'll have more substrate under there. The deeper substrate will also reduce the angle of the ramp so it's not so steep (the lower end will sit higher.)

[Pebbles82]

My Barney cage has had various different layouts over the last year and a bit As our last hammy got older I lowered everything, but here are a few photos of it's various different layouts, in case anything helps with any ideas. When our last hammy was older I did worry he might climb fall from the roof. As long as there is lots of soft substrate to land on that's ok, but I tied a tube across the roof, spanning the top door (I could still reach inside either side of the tube through the top door) which meant he couldn't fall on the hard ceramic thing. Hanging the sputnik over something hard also does that.





When I lowered everything, this was the little ramp thing up to the shelf.



It's a bendy bridge that screws to the bars. I like it because it doesn't fall over! It costs about £7 though.



This is the big cork tunnel thing I use now. It can be climbed up to get on the shelf, because it's quite tall and rough textured to climb on, and is also a tube/tunnel to go under the shelf.



I originally tied the tube to the roof to lead out of the far side of the sputnik to stop our hammy jumping out and landing on the bendy bridge But he liked running through the roof tube into the sputnik and then out onto the shelf.

I used sisal string to tie it up, and sometimes use cable ties instead.

[Pebbles82]

As she is settling in, you don't want to stress her too much by changing everything too much. But they do ok with a slight change if they like it So adding more substrate for now and moving the sputnik (or adding another one) and putting a couple of toys on the shelf should be fine. As long as the house and wheel get left alone. You could make up for it by hiding treats and bits of food around to distract her.

She may be buzzing because she is not quite settled and looking for more hidey places (the shelf might feel a bit exposed and they can dig down in substrate).

[sophiedoe]

Thanks for all the advice, it is really useful! I went and bought some more bendy tubes today before reading this, so I am going to swap the ramp for one of those and cable tie it to the bars, so this can't be fallen on. Does this sound alright?

I have been planning on adding more substrate, I was trying to work out what the best one to use would be. From looking on here, Fitch seems to be a good bet, so I am going to order a load of that. Once I have that I will put much more in so that it fills the base.

How long should I wait to switch from woodshavings to Fitch? I am aware she is still adjusting, and I don't want to give her too much change at once, but I'd also quite like to completely get rid of the woodshavings in exchange for Fitch. I can leave her bedding though.

I also got chinchilla sand today to put in a toilet, would the sand in a small rectangle plastic food container in her pee corner work for this?