cage improvements

[pebblethehamster]

hey!!

i was wondering how i could improve my cage to help her get bored less easily. she loves to sit up high and she loves to climb. outside of her cage she’s always climbing pillows and little mountains i’ve made out of blankets and she really likes it. i don’t know how to get that into her cage because of the size and what to actually do in it. i’m hopefully getting the detolf so the size should be fixed soon, but what should i put in there for her to climb on?

she has also recently learned how to burrow. i’ve always just thought that she didn’t like it because she never did it. over the past couple of days though she has really started to dig and burrow a lot more. however there isn’t a lot of space to. she has one of those extendable tubes and a sand pit which she loves, but take up so much room. i don’t want to take them out because they’re her favourite things she has in her cage. the wheel also can’t have a lot of substrate under it because it’ll touch the top otherwise.

there’s not a big area with a lot of substrate, so is there a better way of arranging things without taking things out? is there anything i can do in the meantime before i get the detolf?

her cage is 80x50cm

[mangoandmimi]

Generally you wouldn’t just have an open area of deep bedding anyway. It’s easiest to make support shelves that sit at the bedding height or just below. I bought roughly A5 sized wood sheets and glued dowelling sticks on them. Then you can have deep bedding with items on top that won’t collapse on the hamster if they burrow underneath. Similarly shoe boxes will work, although not as good for burrowing under. Probably cut out sections of it, but it’ll make for a nice hideaway.

[cypher]

You won't have a lot of space with a Syrian size wheel, house etc in an 80x50cm cage but you could try putting some bendy bridges over things, like the sand bath if it's a tray you could put a large one over that for climbing, you could probably put one over her tube too, hard to say without seeing a photo, if you had space you could put a sputnik in maybe.

I do the same as mangoandmimi with shelves on legs for burrowing under, as well as freeing up space for burrowing it means you can safely put heavier items in the cage too.

[pebblethehamster]

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i hope the picture helps!

[cypher]

It looks like you have a fair bit of height to use so you could try putting a sputnik in maybe in the corner that's bottom left in the photo, you would probably need to use a bendy bridge or two for access, you could use one of the larger bendy bridges over the sand bath as well that would be fine for her to climb on & make a bit of a hideout underneath too.
I'm not sure there's much else you could do without getting in the way of other things really as far as I can see from that angle.
Where does she sleep?

[pebblethehamster]

she sleeps in the yellow tunnel i’ve buried

[Pebbles82]

I think a rat sputnik would be a good addition too. If it's the same height as the Hamster Heaven (about 38cm tall) then the rat sputnik hangs quite low and they can climb into it from Substrate level. I also had a rat tube tied to the roof leading from the sputnik to a house roof or shelf Makes another whole roof run. This was my 80 x 50 cage - as you can see a bit full so I upgraded A hanging sputnik also gives some overhead cover and something to sit under so they don't feel too exposed from above - likewise the roof tube.

Attachment 47068

[Pebbles82]

Sometimes they burrow to feel protected and in the dark and climbing is usually just to see if they can escape! So with something to climb in/sit under she may feel more secure - adds a bit of variety too. I've found they tend to ignore the sputniks unless it is either right next to a shelf where they can get in easily - or goes somewhere (eg with the tunnel). Putting some bedding in it makes it nice and cosy and ours used to love snuggling up in it in the evenings/late at night. I would put a treat in now and then to get them in the habit of using it.

[pebblethehamster]

the sputniks look good! i’ll have to try it out. i have a rat tunnel too that i can try hang up like that, thanks for the ideas!!

[alpacassei]

I second the Sputniks! The Ruffy is the same dimensions as the HH so it will hang quite low so they can safely jump in and out onto the substrate. I like to use both the rat and hamster sputniks near to eachother so they can climb across them.