Cage change advice

**Princess Pixie** · 07-12-2017, 10:57 PM

As most of you know I'll be putting my lovely, fluffy Syrian, Flower, in a tank cage instead of the Barney she's currently in due to her bar chewing and chewing her out of the plastic base.
It's not the first time I'm upgrading a cage or swapping hams around, so I know how to go about it but, when I moved my WW from his 70-40 to his now 100-60 it was super easy because he loves to sleep in his wooden house which has a bottom, so I simply picked the whole house up, put it in a box with him in it while he was sleeping, sorted everything out then popped him in, house and all, he woke up and took to his new home instantly but Flower, she sleeps in a nest she's made, so obviously I can't lift it up.

So I've got a few questions:
1. Should I wait till she's awake, put her somewhere, sort out the tank (putting her old bedding in and things), then pop her in it or do I work around her while she's sleeping, wake her then pop her in?
2. Do I leave her for a few hours/days to get used to it?
3. She's going from a barred cage she likes chewing on to a glass tank, I know she'll be stressed and hate it, I imagine she'll be scrambling at the glass wanting me to lift her up like she does in the taming box. I'm super concerned about stress levels, is there anything I can do to make it easy on her?

cypher · 07-12-2017, 11:38 PM

I would put her into a carrier with plenty of substrate to snuggle down into while you get on with changing the cage, trying to work around her would be too stressful.
She probably will be unsettled by the change but give her time to get used to it, it can take anything up to a couple of weeks for a ham to adjust to a new cage, if she still wants to come out as usual that's fine but if not don't worry.
It's best not to change anything unless you absolutely have to once she goes in, even if she seems unhappy at first don't be tempted to interfere too much as that can just make things worse.
Try to get as much enrichment in the tank as you can so she has plenty to explore & lots to distract her!
Fingers crossed it won't take her long & she'll enjoy the new tank.

Pebbles82 · 07-12-2017, 11:53 PM

What Cypher said

I would move her nest over as well (not with her in it!). When I've moved hamsters, I do a transition to help them settle. eg let them have a play in the new one a day or two before moving, at least once. So you'd put new substrate and a toy or two (and maybe a wheel) in the new cage and let her explore it - maybe in the evening when she's awake. So if you have any new toys you could put those in, or if you have a new/different wheel, put that in, plus say one existing familiar toy from her old cage. I did this with our Syrian when I moved him. He liked it for about 10 minutes then freaked out and clamoured to come out so I put him back in his old cage. 10 minutes later he was at the door of his old cage wanting to try the new one again! So I put him back in it for a second explore and he spent ages in it and really explored everything. Then back in his old cage for the night. The next day I popped him in his pet carrier about 3 hours before moving him that evening (took me ages to set it up and get everything right!) and moved all his old substrate on top of the new substrate in the new cage. So the new substrate in the new cage will already smell a bit familiar after being played in, but still add all the old substrate on top of it - you can compress it down a bit if it's too deep, or leave some out.

Then move any toys/house/wheel you're going to use and try and put them in a similar layout as before - so if the wheel was back left and house front right then like that, if possible.

I think with the Kerry you'd want the wheel at one end though against one of the side panels (sideways on if seen from the front) as the substrate will need to be very shallow near the wheel and then have it deeper in the rest of the cage, so most of the floor area will be deeper. You can either slope it up away from the wheel or make a bendy stick fence out of a bendy bridge or two on their side and have split level substrate.

I think you'll need a platform in the tank - otherwise it'll feel too open, plus at adds a bit to useable floor area - eg somewhere else to go and something to sit under. You could make one with a piece of wood and stick legs on, or the Trixie Natural Living Shelter is good as it's tall (21cm) so you can have quite deep substrate and it will still sit above it. If you make one you could have a narrow one along the whole of the back length maybe, or a shorter one against one of the sides. A platform is also somewhere else to put toys when you have less floor area.

When all set up I would hide bits of food and treats in various places and put a new chew stick in as well. Distracts them on the first night

**Princess Pixie** · 07-13-2017, 04:05 AM

I'll be going with Cyphers advice though both are excellent tips! The reason being I don't have the room to have three big cages set up.

I'll have no room to move though I will be doing a lot of the tips Seren gave too.
Thank you.

AprilPearl · 07-13-2017, 09:44 AM

This is a bit late, but when I've changed cages I tend to do as Cypher suggests. I take the hamster out for play time while they are awake and active, put them in a secure place such as a playpen/taming box/carry case and then set up the new cage with all the substrate, bedding etc from the old cage. When they go home, they go home to the new cage. I know cage changes can be stressful, but I've personally not had any problems. I'm sure she will settle in just fine and you may even find that she prefers her tank - who knows! Wishing you good luck

**Princess Pixie** · 07-13-2017, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AprilPearl

This is a bit late, but when I've changed cages I tend to do as Cypher suggests. I take the hamster out for play time while they are awake and active, put them in a secure place such as a playpen/taming box/carry case and then set up the new cage with all the substrate, bedding etc from the old cage. When they go home, they go home to the new cage. I know cage changes can be stressful, but I've personally not had any problems. I'm sure she will settle in just fine and you may even find that she prefers her tank - who knows! Wishing you good luck

Thank you, April.

no you're not late, I'm actually buying the tank on Saturday morning when I get paid, I imagine it'll be with me Wednesday or Thursday next week.

The only thing I'm worried about admittedly is she doesn't seem to like sides, if that makes sense? She tries to scramble out of anything with sides and a tank has sides.

CMB · 07-13-2017, 12:26 PM

She should get used to living in a tank and not scrabble at the side. It may take time though. Try lots of distraction techniques. Like hiding food. Deep substrate, hides, chews etc.

AprilPearl · 07-13-2017, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princess Pixie

Thank you, April.

no you're not late, I'm actually buying the tank on Saturday morning when I get paid, I imagine it'll be with me Wednesday or Thursday next week.

The only thing I'm worried about admittedly is she doesn't seem to like sides, if that makes sense? She tries to scramble out of anything with sides and a tank has sides.

Ah great! Hope I can be of help, then

I get what you mean about sides. That's quite normal for many hamsters, I think. As CMB says, she should get used to the tank after a bit and stop scrabbling. Putting a lot of deep substrate in for her to dig in would also have the advantage of stopping her being able to jump at the sides so much. Having a lot of sheltered areas will help her feel secure too.