Housing advice

[Fudge2405]

I bought the sky metro from PAH when we bought Fudge. He us lovely wee guy. We have had him for three weeks. I have removed the wheel as he never uses it so that I could put a digging box in as he loves to dig. I am now not sure I have done the right thing. I have clearly been doing things wrong as I have been cleaning out the entire cage once a week. After the clean yesterday he has taken to living in his tubes again. He had made a lovely nest but I cleaned it out Any advice would be great.

[Pebbles82]

It's a great cage! Apart from the external tubes. This is a common problem and best advice is remove the tubes and block them off then get the cage set up in a way that allows them to have normal behaviours . He will definitely need a wheel - they go stir crazy without one and need the exercise. But the one it came with is too small to run with a straight back - a good basic option is the 28cm Trixie wheel which costs about £9 (linked below).

I don't think it would take much to make your set up so your ham feels happy and cosy in there. The main things to think about are

1) Nesting and hoarding
2) House
3 Wheel
4 Access

So you could do to add a lot more substrate - at least 4"deep - this helps them feel safe at floor level and able to move substrate around where they want it and bury their hoards in it.

They ideally need a house on top of the substrate that is open underneath and dark inside. That way they can bury their hoards under their nest and burrow down a bit to keep warm.

With those basics they feel safe and secure. It's an instinct to block up their house entrance to stop light coming in so if they nest in tunnels they will keep blocking the tubes up!

Access helps them feel at home as well - as in being able to reach things and have them have a purpose or be usable without them feeling insecure. I think the long bendy bridge above the shelf is ok but he may feel a bit like he'll fall from it - on the other hand it gives something to sit under (so overhead cover) - maybe lower it a bit.

I would remove the little pod house on the shelf or he may decide to nest in it - they like them because they're round but they're not big enough to hold a nest and hoard and so, like the tubes, would end up needing cleaning out a lot.

Id put the wheel at the other end of the cage to the shelf and remove the hanging ladder - chains are a bit dangerous (they can end up hanging by a broken leg). Theyre not natural climbers and are more ground dwellers. They don't see well so fall off things easily and can hurt themselves - which is ok in that cage as long as there is plenty of soft substrate to land on!

So you could move the wood house a bit to make room for the wheel and maybe add a couple more floor toys - eg a kitchen roll inner slit down the side (so it expands or they can get stuck). You could use a length of the external plastic tube as a floor toy - if it's big enough - some hamsters can get stuck in those if they have full pouches.

Just off to look at your pictures again

[Pebbles82]

Ok just looked again - it's a digging box not a house

I would

1) move the digging box to the front right corner and put a 28cm trixie wheel back right corner
2) Remove the external tubes and block off the holes with the caps it came with.
3) Remove the hanging ladder and the little runged ladder on front right (they aren't good with rungs anyway).
4) Put the little round pink house on top of the substrate somewhere (maybe under the shelf) as a floor toy.
5) You now need a house for nesting - and a litter tray ideally. They will use a litter tray and then you hardly ever need to change the substrate other than spot cleaning - it can go a couple of months or more without a substrate change that way - better for him and your purse. You could just use a cardboard tissue box - have the open side underneath open to the substrate and cut a hole in for the door. It would probably need to go partly under the shelf as the digging box and wheel are quite big - so you might need to raise the plastic shelf a bit.

Alternative - buy a large flat roofed house and remove the shelf - the flat roofed house makes a shelf.

The Ferplast Sin Guinea pig house is a good size for a hamster (far too small for a guinea pig). It's quite tall so you need to push it well down into the substrate so the door is a bit smaller. you could then put the bendy bridge over the door of the house to make a tunnel entrance (they like that) and it also doubles up as a ramp onto the house roof that way. That house fits together like a jigsaw so no nails or glue and it means the roof lifts off - so you can check inside if you need to without having to remove the house so it leaves the nest in tact.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Exer...s=trixie+wheel

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamster-cor...=hamster+potty

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supreme-Pet...a+bathing+sand

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-Gu...inea+pig+house

The Chinchilla sand is to put in the potty Then you just need to empty the potty every five days ago and the rest of the cage should stay clean - they are quite clean tidy little things if they can have normal surroundings. They will only use the potty though if you put it where they have chosen to pee - which is often a corner of the cage (and the pee place may change when you've removed the tubes -no doubt he is peeing in the tubes at the moment!) Which could be tricky if all four corners of the cage aren't available (with digging box, house and wheel).

So maybe the digging box would fit next to the house on the left (lose the shelf) with the wheel back right and the potty front right - if he has any sense he'll use the front right corner in front of the house

Your cage maybe came with a litter tray anyway? The wood houses can get pee-stained so most people paint the inside with plastikote enamel paint which is pet safe. I was a bit lazy a couple of times and just plonked the house in so I lined it with a cut up tissue box. That worked quite well as if there were any accidents the cardboard protected the wood mostly plus our hammy liked chewing off bits of the cardboard for his nest. Then if any does soak through to the wood I just scrubbed that piece under a hot tap for a bit - seemed to do the job.

But usually they don't pee in their nest if the house is big enough and there's a litter tray.

[Pebbles82]

Just wondering if you could turn the digging box into a house by knocking one of the pieces of perspex out and tipping it on it's side (so it's open underneath) but maybe he likes it as it is.

The main thing they need is somewhere to retreat to where it's dark - so a house big enough to build a nest in eg.

It might sound like a lot of substrate to fill the cage but it will last a long time and you'd only need to spot clean any pee'd on bits. Poops don't really matter unless they massively start taking over. They're not dirty or smelly - they're like little seeds and sometimes they eat them (which is normal) andwill often hoard them with some food. They have two stomachs andcan redigest nutrients etc from poops. So they feel a bit robbed if you take them out too often. I rarely find any now our hammy is older - he either buries them or poops in his potty.

Their nest and hoard are their most important things in life and they get anxious if theyre messed with. A nest can be left a very long time if dry and they'll naturally remove and add bits as needed. Their hoard can also be left a very long time if it's just dried food (they tend to eat any fresh food straight away). But if you do need to remove any (eg if it gets pee'd on) then always replace it with new food in exactly the same place. Eventually when you need to do a substrate change you can prune it! And add a bit of new food again.

Access is - making sure it's easy to get to things basically. So food bowl and water should be easily accessible without having to do an assault course to get to them. Usually on a shelf or house roof. Or you can scatter feed. I do a bit of both - put half the spoon of food in the bowl and scatter the other half - they like foraging for it.

For nesting best thing is torn up strips of plain white toilet paper. Put a big heap somewhere on the floor of the cage and he'll pouch the odd piece to build his nest with. You should see the pile go down gradually then you can add a bit more.

They don't like you putting it in the house - they like to forage for it and take it to the house

So you're nearly there. Took me ages to get my first cage just right for our hamster. It was basically the same cage as you have now (same make and dimensions but smaller bar spacing). I'll add a photo to give an idea of what I ended up with. I started out with one of those hanging ladders as well but removed it.

The only downside to my final cage set up was there was no shelf to sit under as the house roof made a shelf - so I had a hanging rat sputnik and he liked to sit under that and also climb in it if you put a bit of bedding in. The smaller sputnik hanging over the house came with the cage - yours might have come with one. I used to put his veg in there so he had to work for it!

Giving them a tiny piece of veg each day makes their life a lot more fun. Every 2 or 3 days at first till their digestion gets used to it then every day. Broccoli, carrot or cucumber are all fine.

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[Pebbles82]

It does stress them when you change things in their cage so better to do it all in one go now, and get it ham friendly for him - and then maybe leave him alone for a few days to settle in again. It might set taming back a little bit but just take it slowly and wihtin a couple of weeks he'll be happy as larry and confidently enjoying his cage.

[Fudge2405]

Thank you very much for all the advice. I'll sit down tomorrow and make a plan. The most upsetting thing was that he had made his best in the tubes so I removed them and he made a fantastic nest that he would cover over when he was in it. I added the tubes back and he used them as a toy but slept in his best. I then clean his cage thinking I'm doing the right thing and he has moved back to the tubes. He has been so scittish since Friday night but seemed happy to see me tonight accepting food from me and following me round the cage again. I have removed the suspension bridge as I don't want an injury.

[Fudge2405]

I'm thinking rather than buying a new house I could pop out one piece of the perspex and sit it on its side with a lot roll over the top of the other side to ensure it was dark. It would fit under the level so I could keep that for him.

[Fudge2405]

Objective achieved! Tunnels removed, he wasn't happy at all. I removed the perspex of the digging box and sat it on its side. It is looking much better. He started by gathering his hoard and placing it in a corner. It took him ages to go in his house but eventually he did. I'm expecting him to move the board later. He has taken to a corner for his toilet which works out well as it is easy to access to remove substrate. I have also added a lot more substrate. I have reinstalled the wheel until the new one comes which he now seems to be enjoying.

[Pebbles82]

Excellent! I'm sure he'll settle soon

[Fudge2405]

Here is hoping. I certainly feel better as I don't like him nesting in the tubes. I'll post pics once he had tidied up a bit lol