Hi there, new soon to be hamster mummy

[Drago]

Originally Posted by cypher

I think it's fine to add a bit more substrate while he's asleep if you can do it without waking him, as he's new having more put in while he's awake could be a bit stressful for him but if you wake him up & startle him that would stress him too so it depends if you can do it without disturbing him or not.
If you do it when he's awake I would just add a little at a time.

I tend to do it when they’re awake, and add it all to one side (when I’ve had to do it). The hams usually spread it naturally so I don’t worry much. When I’ve done this, they’ve never gotten spooked, just curious. They will usually explore the new substrate quite enthusiastically afterwards

[donnahull]

Smartie - love the name, and the cage setup.

[Sasha04]

For a playpen you can either purchase or build a playpen. I would suggest making one as it is much cheaper and can be big or small. You can buy a dog/puppy playpen online or at a petstore. These tend to be expense and they are usually very hard to clean. These two YouTube channels did an amazing job on making them and I would suggested checking them out!
DIY Playpen:
https://youtu.be/owtibCd-ygA
https://youtu.be/6d2eUTe2vC8

[Purple_hammy]

I so excited for you but a few things you might want to know are that many things in pet shops (including things that say “hamster safe”) are very dangerous. For example, always get a solid surface wheel and sense your getting a dwarf hamster you should get a 8inch wheel because if there back curves then it’s bad. Next bedding/substrate. The best beddings out there in my opinion are kaytee clean and cozy, carefresh, or aspen wood shavings. Bedding that is not good are, any kind of cotton/fluffy bedding, pine/ cedar wood bedding, or any kind of scented bedding. A few things you might want to know are: if your hamster chews the bars on it’s cage, starts monkey baring, or becomes very territorial, then get them a bigger cage because your current cage is too small. I just wanted to tell you the main things to look out for bye!