Hello,
We brought our new Syrian hamster friend home yesterday. She's 6 weeks old and she's called Cacao. She's currently living in the Hamster Heaven cage, but with access to the long over-head tube restricted.
I'm a first-time hamster owner and I made some mistakes with the substrate for her cage (see picture):
1. I used wood shavings as the main substrate, with some Carefresh as nesting material
2. The substrate is only about 10cm deep (halfway up the base of the cage), which I now realise isn't nearly enough
I'd like to fix this, so that she has a nicer habitat, but I also don't want to stress her out when she's just getting used to her new home. I've ordered some better substrate (the Fitch paper bedding) and I'm putting in some shredded tissue so she can make a softer nest. I'm getting a larger wheel and I'll make a better home for her. I was going to add these in a couple of weeks once she's more at home.
My question is: when is the best time to change things around?
1. Should I leave everything as it is for a few days / weeks so that she's not upset by more disruption?
2. Or should I add more substrate (Carefresh) immediately? Or when the Fitch bedding arrives?
3. Will she be ok having a mix of woodshavings and Fitch substrate for a while? I know it's best to gradually replace the substrate so that the cage still smells like home for her -- is this outweighed by the disadvantages of woodshavings (from Pets at Home UK)?
Any advice would be very gratefully received
FWIW it's me that's stressing. She seems totally chilled out at the moment -- she's been exploring the cage, running on the wheel, moving food around, burrowing in the substrate and starting to make a nest. I think the long-term challenge will be keeping her amused!