Charlie's thread - Page 92

racinghamster · 02-03-2016, 10:27 AM

Battleship grey then!!!

What age is Charlie now? x

Pebbles82 · 02-03-2016, 02:21 PM

He is over 18 months old now. I was going to change his cage when he was a year old and now he is 19 months old! So it's a kind of double thing - more space and something to help keep him active - and also something that could be a retirement cage when he's older. So I'm setting it up carefully to avoid falls risks

It's mainly for the floor space and the extra shelf. He seemed quite zippy and excited when he had a play in it.

I'd have liked the Maxi Duna Multy but I don't think it's right for him as he likes to have things over his head (shelves and sputniks etc).

virtualkeith · 02-03-2016, 08:25 PM

It's looking SO good Serendipity! I'll bet you're having fun playing with ideas of how to set it up. I feel so honored that you used an idea from my set up. �� Have fun!! I'll bet Charlie will really enjoy it!!

Pebbles82 · 02-05-2016, 01:48 PM

Ok - here's a video of Charlie's first exploration of the cage a couple of days before he moved in. It's the most interesting I've seen him for a long time - he's thinking! He went in twice. The first part has a 'legs up' moment. The second part is much shorter - only about 2.5 mins, and has a nice Sputnik moment. It was when the cage was only part set up so there are some access issues lol.

Part one (first session) - a bit long but I like the bit where he sits under the hammock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1UFecqRzOQ

Part 2 (second session) - 2 or 3 minutes long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9yeSrlWCHI

flowerfairy · 02-05-2016, 02:13 PM

He is loving looking all round his new empire. The bars look soooooo much nicer than my black ones. I am amazed by the amount of difference it seems to make to the look of the cage. I guess I could always plasti-kote Gopals cage ... not very good fume wise though.

RubyDG · 02-05-2016, 02:58 PM

I burst out laughing when I saw Charlie going head first off his shelf onto the fitch!! He's clearly enjoying the new cage

Pebbles82 · 02-05-2016, 03:15 PM

Lol I know - it's so un-Charlie-like. He had a good look round before he decided which way to jump. The cage seemed so much nicer and bigger when it hardly had anything in it! I'm beginning to think there's too much in it now. He seemed happy with everything when he 'moved in'. The only thing that seemed to slightly frazzle him was his vine branch being on the shelf. I'm wondering if he preferred more open space on the shelf. I put there so it was in the same corner as before and it wouldn't fit under the shelf. He actually doesn't need it to climb up now he has the cork log and the shelf. I noticed his hay house was on its side again this morning! The trouble with deep substrate is light toys don't stand up well.

Now it's all done I am SO pleased it finally got done. The last 3 days have been a bit hellish lol. It seemed like a good idea to introduce Charlie gradually but it meant I had to keep dismantling the cage top and taking everything upstairs each night to clear the living room! By then I was too tired to set it up properly and my arms ache lol. Anyway now it's done it's a nice feeling and I'm glad he has so much more floorspace. Having the shelves means I can put things on that were on the floor too so that gives more floorspace.

I like him poking his head out of the sputnik in the second video. You had to be there - it's like he was looking at me and saying 'hey where's the tube gone?'

cypher · 02-05-2016, 11:27 PM

Love the vids! He's having such a good time exploring everything, I was half expecting him to jump onto the outside or the wheel from the shelf & go for a run, has he tried that yet?!
It looks great to me, doesn't look like it has too much in it but you can always make little rearrangements as you go along, I'm sure he'll make it clear if there's something he wants changing a bit.

Pebbles82 · 02-06-2016, 02:57 AM

Good point Cypher. I got the impression he felt the vine log blocked his access route to the Sputnik from the shelf. There is actually some space between the two but it means he has to climb over a small end bit of the vine log which he seemed to see as a bit of a barrier! Had a little stampy thing in front of it - but then he sniffed the apple cracker dari draped over it and climbed on and nibbled it. I think I'll leave it a week or so before changing anything else, but might have a think about the vine log (maybe under the shelf rather than on it). I also need some sort of clip for the top lid - it has a bit of a gap under when closed - you can easily fit a finger through, so not very mouseproof. We haven't had any mouse issues for over a year, but just in case. I've been putting a couple of cable ties on each night and snipping them off again, so something easier would be better. Tried a peg and a bulldog clip but they just pull the other bars into a bigger gap.

Anyway Charlie had his porridge in bed again yesterday (I can take the house roof off via the top door fairly easily) and seemed quite settled. His new wheel spins much better than the Wobust one and he's been using it. All seems settled.

cypher · 02-06-2016, 03:38 AM

lol! @ Charlie & his little stampy thing, it always makes me laugh when they do that, I'm sure he'll soon figure things out his own way, he sounds happy enough with things overall so far anyway.
I've always used bull dog clips to close off any gaps between doors & the other bars if there are any & they work pretty well, how big are your clips? I do have some really big ones which work better than the smaller ones.
Having to use cable ties every day is a bit of a pain, hope you can find a better solution than that.