Quick Hello!

[Velle]

Hello!

I'm Velle, based in Wales. Me and my partner recently adopted two roborovski dwarf hamsters girls. Flora is a typical agouti and Mallow is a what I think is a Snowbear (?), she's white with black eyes and a black dot on her head and next to her nose.

I can't really get pics since they're either very speedy or very shy and I don't want to bother them when they're settling in.

I'm probably going to be ghosting around the forum a lot seeing what I can do to improve their lives

[SKB_Hamsters]

Hello and Welcome to Hamster Central.
Congrats on adopting Flora and Mallow.

The forum contains lots of great information but if you have any specific questions or queries we will be more than happy to help you out.

[cypher]

Hi & welcome to HC
Congrats on your two little robos, Flora & Mallow sound very sweet, look forward to hearing more about them as they settle in.

[dreamtree1234]

Hi and welcome to HC. Congrats on giving Flora and Mallow their loving, forever home with you and your partner. They sound absolutely wonderful and I look forward to getting to know them when they settle in more.

[Velle]

Hello all! Thanks for the welcome I have a few quick questions, I hope you don't mind!

First off, we found out that the cage we originally got was too small for them so we're ordered a Eco cage, and fingers crossed it'll be here tomorrow. Do you reckon it would upset them by moving them again into a new cage?

The cage we're getting is called 'Living World Green Eco Habitat' from zooplus.

We're looking into bedding at the moment and we have a large bag of carefresh confetti, and we still have a bale of wood shavings from pets at home. It doesn't say what wood it is, should I chuck it incase it's not too great?

Is there any sort of funs we can pop in the cage? Like drift wood, maybe long stands of dried hay?

We also found out they really like to dig, should we give them a digging area and what sort of material should we put in it?

Thanks all

[cypher]

If you take care to keep as much of their scent as possible when you move them they should be ok, you never really know with a pair though so you will need to keep a close eye on them after the move.
Don't clean (apart from spot cleaning pee) before the move & use all the substrate from the old cage, you can just scatter it on top of the new, then don't clean again for at least a few weeks so everything keeps their scent, don't clean toys or wheels during that time either.
P@H wood shavings are quite safe, any wood shavings can be dusty but they will be fine to use if you want to.
The best & most economical substrate is fitch if you want to use a lot it's well worth buying a bale, 10kg lasts quite a long time.
https://www.fitchrecycling.co.uk/fit...r/bedding.html
If you buy wood or hay or anything like that, cork etc it's best to freeze it for about a week before use just in case of any bugs!
With hay you also need to pick out any sharp bits that can damage pouches.
Cork tunnels or tubes are a great addition for them if you're looking to add more to the new cage.
With a cage like the Living World Green Eco Habitat you don't really need a digging area as you can just put really deep substrate across the whole cage.
A nice big sand bath would be good too.
The gaps in the lid of that tank are large so make sure they can't climb up to the top or mesh the lid to prevent any escapes.

[Velle]

Thank you Cypher for getting back to me!

Our original plan was to put their main cage in, take the top off and put a ladder down into their newer cage and over a series of weeks just move their old toys/accessories. Since their cage is so small now, it shouldn't be too hard to scatter all the current bedding though. The new cage is arriving in a hour or two, which is super exciting!

I'll place an order for the fitch bedding shortly, the more bedding the merrier As with the shavings, I think I'll just put it as a lower layer for now so it's used up. I think my partner is on the hunk for a glass dish at the moment to increase the size of their sand bath, so hopefully we find something soon.

I've been worried about the gaps too on the top of the cage since we have two indoor cats who have been very interested in the new girls, and I know it's going to be a temptation for them. I'm not sure yet if I'll need to mesh it on the top and also the bottom so the cats can't push down and the hammies can't push up.

[cypher]

I know some people do favour that method for moving to a new cage but I would be a bit concerned with a pair as it may create areas that one could get territorial over & lead to bullying or fighting. It might be better to just swap straight over.

Originally Posted by Velle

I'll place an order for the fitch bedding shortly, the more bedding the merrier

lol! definitely, they'll love that

[Velle]

So we moved the girls into the new enclosure today! I couldn't figure out how to attach images, so here's an imgur link with the new set-up and pics of the hammies along with a video.

https://imgur.com/a/HUUJLBq

It's a bit messy at the moment but we wanted them to have all their scent so we made sure to scatter the old bedding everywhere and not replace the current toys.

What do I need to look out for in regards to bullying/fighting? I've only had a syrian before and he was pretty tame and laid back. These little girls are absolute rockets in comparison to my old boy.

[cypher]

That looks nice, I'm sure they'll enjoy it

There's a thread here on posting photos.
How To Embed Photos

Signs of bullying are generally more squeaking going on, one ham chasing another a lot, especially if they go for the back end where they tend to bite if they're going to, sometimes you will see what might look like mating behaviour but is actually a dominance issue, if one ham seems to be growing & thriving & the other not then it's often a sign of bullying & the dominant one preventing the other from getting enough food.
I think you'll be able to tell quite easily if there's a problem so don't worry too much.