All about Beatrix - Page 3

SKB_Hamsters · 05-08-2017, 04:26 PM

Congratulations of Beatrix, she is gorgeous. It so lovely that you adopted her and could offer her a wonderful home! Sounds like she settling in well and is enjoying her treats.
Looking forward to more updates!

AprilPearl · 05-08-2017, 07:50 PM

Beatrix is a smart little lady! I am glad she has worked out you are the bringer of good things. It is so cute when they lick flaxseeds off of your fingers. I love watching them run in their wheel too - it’s like hamster tv lol.

emojimom · 05-08-2017, 08:51 PM

We have an escape artist! A taller bin ASAP is in order for sure. I don't think it's any trouble with the lid on, but tonight when I was hanging out in the hamster room and had her lid off, she climbed up on her tube, and managed to pull herself up. She would have gotten out if I hadn't grabbed her. She then leapt away from me and into her sand bath. It was quite the sight! (She fell maybe four inches, and it was a soft landing, no worries). It was absolutely adorable to see her pulling herself up, but of course I don't want her thinking that's an option. She only seemed to recognize this as a possibility when the lid was off, because once the lid was on, she stopped looking up and crafting a way out. Such a clever little one.

Here are some photos I grabbed. Some aren't very clear, as they're snapped through the side of her bin, but I was trying to get a shot of the coloring on her underside. I wanted to spend more time in there with her tonight, but alas, I have an early day tomorrow. I do love being able to hear her wheel going in the other room. I have purchased a web cam to watch the goings-on in the cages whilst I'm not in the room, and I like the idea of being able to check up on them when I'm not around.

One thing that does concern me (though maybe it shouldn't? I don't know, I'm new at this) is that Beatrix is still sleeping in the corner behind her bed, hidden. She slept this way at the store, too, and I thought her cage was empty when I first saw her. Is this a stress behavior? I know she's just settling in, but she has so many hidey holes and better places to sleep, I just wondered if it's anything to be concerned about.

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emojimom · 05-08-2017, 09:09 PM

Oh, shoot, sorry one of those pictures is on its side! I'm not sure how to fix it.

AprilPearl · 05-08-2017, 09:27 PM

Haha I enjoyed hearing about her escape attempt! They are surprisingly resourceful little critters. I’m not sure what you mean about her sleeping behind her bed, but most hamsters sleep in a corner buried in substrate and bedding, or, if they have one, in a hideout. It isn’t stress behaviour, just natural. You might want to buy her a hideout so that she has the choice. Mushu spends about 90% of the time sleeping in his nest in the corner and the rest sleeping in his hideout, but many hamsters sleep most of the time in theirs.

Genius idea with the webcam! I’ve often wondered about getting one for my hams.

I do love the contrast of her black fur and white tummy. She looks like a penguin!

emojimom · 05-08-2017, 09:45 PM

I guess I mean that she's sleeping behind her house. She has this log cabin thing (plus several other places she could sleep. She sleeps wedged behind the cabin in the corner, just on top of the bedding.

AprilPearl · 05-08-2017, 10:10 PM

Hmm maybe she just likes sleeping that way? I wouldn’t worry, it just sounds like a variation of normal hamster sleeping behaviours.

BorisPasha · 05-09-2017, 02:41 AM

Nice to see some more of Beatrix, she's a pretty girl. I love the idea of having a web cam so I can see what they get up to when I'm not in the room

I wouldn't worry either about her sleeping in the corner behind her bed. She might move to a hideout once she's more settled or she might just like sleeping in a corner

emojimom · 05-09-2017, 09:50 PM

Beatrix loves flax seed! I guess the container I have it in must make a specific sound because as soon as she heard me open it and shake some into my hand, she came to the side of the cage and investigated. She has been a bit more skittish today (I think her escape attempt has spooked her, but it has not deterred her!), but when she ate the flax seeds from my hand, she rested her little paws on my fingers. It was so precious. I had to catch her from escaping again tonight, because she's piled a bunch of bedding up so she can climb on top of her house to reach the edge of the bin. As long as the lid is on, she's not interested in attempting it, but as soon as it comes off, she's bent on leaving.

I found on a local B/S/T board someone selling a new in box Living World Green Eco large cage, which is huge (LxWxH: 46.6" x 30.9" x 21") and they are asking a very reasonable price for it. I guess they got it for some guinea pigs and then the guinea pigs died before they even had a chance to use it. The woman sounded pretty devastated when I called about it. But I can't get it until at least next week, because they're going out of town. Still, I am very excited about this. I'll need to do some work on the cage first (plastikote the bottom to make it easier to clean--what kind do I get? I thought I read somewhere not to get the spray kind? I've never used it before) and make a mesh lid, but that will be easy. I need to clear out the space for it in the room I'm keeping the hamsters, but this is my last week of the semester (I teach), so I will soon have a lot of free time. Or comparatively so.

So that is the Beatrix update. She is running away on her wheel right now, such an active girl, she is. And she just stopped! It's like she knows I'm typing about her!

AmityvilleHams · 05-09-2017, 10:02 PM

Plastikote cannot be used in the US,it would be the automotive kind here which is not safe for any animal.There is soy paint which could potentially help a bit but it wouldn't be as protective as UK plastikote,but other than that there isn't much to do without having to get melamine cut to size for the bottom and then use aquarium sealant on the edges to completely waterproof the bottom.At this point unless you could get it for under $40 you'd have to invest quite a bit into making it suitable thus increasing the cost to no less than $90.At that point you could make an even more suitable DIY cage with melamine and acrylic for the same cost which could be made taller for even more appropriate substrate depth,along with a better overall size(a square meter or larger being ideal for Syrians).Substrate depth in that cage would be surprisingly limited,probably around 8 inches(that's only if it doesn't get pushed down and compacted into 4 inches or less!)which is not much for a Syrian