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Originally Posted by Serendipity7000
That's excellent news that they're getting on better  It sounds like they are settling in well. The more substrate the better. I use hemp mat sometimes as well, as our Syrian is quite old and I was worried he would hurt himself if he fell (he can't climb now so it's not an issue any more). On top of his house, and you could put it on top of any hard floor toys as well maybe. It's not too expensive at £4.99 and it's a massive piece. You just cut pieces off it to the size you want.
Nests & Nesting Materials at zooplus: Hemp Floor for Small Animals
Basically it sounds like you just need to deal with the height so it's not too far to fall if they do climb - maybe show this thread to your Dad You can save a lot on cleaning and substrate by having it deeper and it's less stress for the hammies too. 6" is good (that's about the base of the Barney). But if you're going to put 6" you might as well put 8" Doing that you might only need to do a cage clean about every 2 to 3 months or even a bit more, by just spot cleaning (ie taking out the odd handful and replacing it with a clean handful). If they burrow down to the bottom to pee and the cage base gets wet, then you can still replace nearly all the substrate after removing it for a wipe down. Have you tried them with a litter tray? (You'd probably need a litter tray each). Although some hamsters use their sand bath as a litter tray - then you just replace the chinchilla sand (or scoop out the wet bit). Again two of everything is usually recommended for a pair, and that will fill up a fair bit of the space But if they have a current set up that works for them, best not to disturb things too much while they are settling in. |
I will look into buying those mats but at the moment I was thinking of just putting extra bedding on top of the houses. They do use the sand as a toilet but one of them likes to wee elsewhere sometimes and they make this horrible popcorn ish smell around the cage which I'm guessing is their sent marking?