When to rearrange cage with a new hamster?

[tinewashere]

Hello everyone! I finally got my new syrian hammie Peanut home last saturday (so this is his 8th day here) and I'm beginning to wonder when it's okay to make more drastic changes to his cage? I have the Savic Hamster Sky Metro with the green platform with holes in it, and he's been having troubles getting up on it to reach his food (the pink ladder is too slippery). I'd like to replace it with another shelf that's more practical where I can actually place things and one that's a little higher up (the Trixie natural living shelter platform). He also doesn't care for the house that's attached to the green platform so it seems like a waste of space. How long should I wait to make it less stressful for him? And should I do it while I clean out his cage at the same time or will that be too much at once for a new hamster?

Just some context on his emotional state - he's been doing really good the past few days in terms of taming, he's been out and about every night, running his wheel and all over his cage. He comes up to me when I stand close by sometimes and I can handfeed through the bars with no problems. He doesn't understand being petted, he kinda jerks away and looks at my hand like "what are you doing?" but he isn't aggressive or bites at all when I have my hand in his cage - he's even had his paws on my hand while handfeeding a few times now. So I'd say that while he still gets startled and I can't pick him up or anything yet, he's already warmed up a lot compared to when we first got him and he basically sat scared in the corner the whole time.

[Coco61]

IMG_0020.JPGI have a savic hamster heaven and have long since got rid of the green and pink platforms and slippery ladders. You should not be cleaning him out for at least a month. He needs to settle in and scent mark his new home. To remove all that would be the most stressful thing of all. Hamsters live by their scent a good deal. So only spot clean where he has wee'd when necessary. Even when you do clean his cage, do not remove all his substrate only what is really needed. My new baby has been home with me for 8 weeks and I have not cleaned his cage. Only what is necessary.
So you can change things gradually inside his cage now. I have a 2 room Rodipet house so the roof area is like a shelf. Then using wooden ladders and bendy bridges from zooplus ( no gaps in the steps) you can create access to specially created upper areas. A rat size Sputnik hanging from the roof is a favourite and also a rat size tunnel/tube to move around safely higher up. My rat tube, angled down, allows my boy to get from his Sputnik to the roof of his house. You can be really creative and put together a stimulating interior to a cage. A cork tunnel is good too to go through as well as climb over. His is hidden behind the rat tunnel.
Some ideas but the thread 'let's see your cages' may give you more ideas.
Just taken a new photo to show what I have tried to describe.

[Pebbles82]

Good advice from Coco and an example of a different layout in the Hamster Heaven

They need two weeks without disturbance to settle in really. Rather than make changes just yet, just either move the food bowl to the floor/substrate level,or scatter feed instead on the substrate (they enjoy foraging for it). Although they have difficulty with the ladder at first they get more confident and Peanut will probably zip up it fairly soon.

Where is he nesting? Taming - take it slowly - offer him the odd treat on your hand (the HH is great for that with it's big front door) but keep your hand outside the cage mostly so just at the edge of the door. Although if he tries to run put the door up quick!

Assuming he's nesting at ground floor and you scatter feed or move the food bowl I wouldn't adjust anything just yet.

Do you have a litter tray? They tend to use them and then you just empty that every five days and won't need to clean for some time. Chinchilla bathing sand works well in the litter tray. You put it in the corner they've chosen to pee in.

I also had the annoying shelf, ladder, little house and inset food bowl for a while. Our hamster was large and the house kept popping off - plus he used the food bowl as a toilet and the pee ran all down the shelf lol.

I was so pleased to get rid of that shelf.

Using a flat roofed house there instead, like Coco has, is good - gives you a shelf as well. There are a number of house options and you could look at getting that organised ready for when you do make some changes.

Another option is a shoebox house which is a good size for nesting and a platform. Cut the bottom out and use the lid as a lift-off roof (to check inside) and cut a hole for a door and you can then fit the litter tray inside as well. If you cut the door to one side and have the litter tray back corner at the door side - Peanut will most likely use it - they usually nest furthest away from the door in the darkest bit.

[Pebbles82]

If he's trying to use the house on the shelf and it's not working you could add something new without rearranging the whole cage, or just add lots of paper nesting material (torn up strips of plain white toilet paper - not any fluffing bedding) and Peanut may then just nest under the shelf for now.

[tinewashere]

Thank you for your comments and suggestions! And the photo really helps, it's always nice to see how other people have their cages set up - yours looks really great Coco61! I will definitely wait a few weeks with changing anything then - I kind of figured but I'm an impatient person so being motivated to wait definitely helps, haha. He sleeps in the very corner of the cage underneath the foodbowl, I kind of made that the digging area so the substrate is really high and he likes to hide in it. He's lined his little hole with toilet paper too so he's made himself quite at home there. He also has a corner toilet in the opposite end of the cage with sand that he loves to do his business in so I can definitely wait a few weeks with cleaning anything.
I also have already sputnik, it came with the cage, which is another reason i'd like to change things around a bit so he could actually use it, though I'll definitely wait a few weeks now. Using a house as a platform is a great idea I hadn't really thought of - I have this thing bookmarked but I think I'll try out with a cardboard box before I buy anything to see if he'll like it. Can bendy bridges really work as leading up into a platform? How do make sure the hamster doesn't push them off or fall off of them?

Again thanks for all your comments I had actually bought a Trixie platform today just to see how it would fit in the cage but I think I'll return it, figure out what would work best and wait until February to actually change anything and spotclean in the meantime.

Here's a photo of his current layout - it doesn't have much stuff yet, I didn't really know what to get him as he's my first hamster but he seems to be okay with it so far:



The little black speck under the bowl under the right upperhand corner is him in his nest If you have any other suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

[Coco61]

Serendipity is right with her advice. I had forgotten that I also used a cardboard shoebox as a house for a while until I thought putting the new house in place would not upset him. I cut the bottom off and cut in a door with a bendy bridge to that entrance. He still has that bendy bridge entrance but again hidden by the rat tunnel.

You ask about the bendy bridges. You can see a spare ladder on top of my cage and two at the front of the cage. Those are hooked on the bars with the hooks already in place. The other ends are on the cork tunnel and on the far side of the cage it goes to the top of a bendy bridge which he loves to climb onto and come up the ladder to the Sputnik or go down that way.

[SunnyOy]

Hello tinewashere, congratulations on having your new baby! he seems to be such a curious and mild hammie! Very lucky of you having this little tender creature!

I personally think it is really up to your hamster's personality. Some hamsters are naturally chilling and can be easily distracted by delicious treats, while some are really cautious and defensive.

You may have a test on him through the bars of cage. After your hammie waking up and playing around in the cage, approach the cage and place your finger through the bars next to him. If he uses his little nose to punch your finger away or uses his little paws to push you away, then congratulations, he is tamed and he is really a caring hamster! If he tries to nibble or bite, oops, please take your time to tame him or interact with him. If he just sniffs you and walks away instead of biting the bars to catch your attention, it means he is still very cautious towards you, and please give him more time to get used to you.

If luckily your finger gets nose punched or paw pushes, you could GRADUALLY make some adjustments to his cage arrangements.

Even for the most tamed hamster, they will notice something new in the cage and appear defensive and cautious. But no worry, it is their nature. As long as you leave them by themselves to explore, they will be fine.

Good luck!

[CMB]

I have bendy bridges in Willow’s tank to give access to her platform. I have the wooden cubes with holes in under the bridge to help hold them up.

You can also just have the bridge in an arch and put it next to the platform, as a step.

With my hamsters. I have a ramp/bridge at each end of the platform as they used go up the first ramp along the platform then jump of the other end of the platform.

[Pebbles82]

I used to have a cage that is basically a Hamster Heaven but with smaller bar spacing and no tubes etc (Savic Mickey 2XL). I also had the large house/flat roof/platform in it. Looking at your current set up, maybe in 2 or 3 weeks you could remove the shelf and just pop a large flat roofed house over his current corner nest The bendy bridge over the door works well - it makes the house nice and dark inside and also makes a ramp up to the roof.

With a labyrinth house, like the Leif house you linked, you wouldn't need a bendy bridge - it would already be dark inside, and they can get to the roof through the top door. I wouldn't recommend that house for a Syrian though - the entrance doors are only about 5cm diameter, which is on the small side for a Syrian, but mainly the compartments dont' quite work for them.

On the photos below of my old set ups, (two different flat roofed houses), the larger house is the same size as the Leif labyrinth house (although it is taller) and it takes up quite a bit of floor space in the cage. Although you could add another shelf over it - to have more space to put toys on or somewhere else for the hamster to go.

In the Hamster heaven, a house the size of Coco's tends to work well as it still leaves enough floorspace.

This was the original flat roofed house I had - it's a guinea pig house - it was good but the roof didn't lift off so it was a pain to lift it out and check inside

Attachment 44186

This was after adding a rat tube tied to the roof - it led from the top of the house roof to the rat sputnik to make an extra run

Attachment 44187

This was with the larger house (about the same size as the Leif house). It's the Ferplast Sin Rabbit house (far too small for a rabbit thought). But a bit large in that cage.

Attachment 44188


Rodipet do some very good houses with flat, lift-off roofs. They aren't ridiculously expensive, but the postage is about £8 on top of the price and the euro conversion isn't as good these days. I have the Da Vinci large labyrinth house from there for our Syrian at the moment,but it's in a bigger cage - it's a huge house with rooms and wouldn't fit in a Hamster heaven. The two room houses fit very well though (like Coco's) and are about the same size as the guinea pig house in my first photo.

Coco's is the Dalani (I think!)

https://www.rodipet.de/shop/haeuser/rodipet-granit/

[Pebbles82]

The rat sputnik works very well in the Hamster Heaven as it hangs low enough for the hamster to climb into from substrate level - if the substrate is deep enough. On the last photo you can see I also had the smaller sputnik in there, hanging over the house roof, so our hammy could access it. It'sa bit too small for a syrian though - a bit squished. The rat sputnik is a better size and if you put some bedding in and it's easy to get into they seem to like it (depending on the hamster!) Ours also liked sitting under it. I used the little sputnik to put his piece of veg in.

When you make changes I wouldn't do a complete revamp and change everything all at once - tempting though it is! Swap the shelf for a house and maybe a small corner shelf over it (or over the gap where the house ends) and leave the rest of the cage as it is. And then do any spot cleaning a different week again. To allow for some adjustment.