Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000
Sounds good. For moving I’d suggest giving him a transition. When the bin cage is finished, put substrate in it and a few toys - maybe a couple of new things (kitchen roll tubes eg or any new items you intend to put in there. Maybe a cardboard box hide, scatter some food and treats. And one toy from his old cage that smells familiar. Try and make it interesting and pop him in the day before you’re going to move him so he can have a play in it. You may need to do this twice if he freaks out the first time. If he does panic and want to come out again then try again later or next day. He should then explore and get interested. If you have a spare wheel have that in it as well.
Then back to his old cage overnight. The new one will then have some of his scent and be a bit familiar already. So on moving day put him somewhere safe - eg pet carrier or his old cage. I find it helps if you put him in another room in the pet carrier - so they can’t hear/smell you messing with their cage.
Then move everything over from the Barney. Keep all the old substrate from the Barney and spread it on top of the new substrate in the bin. Basically don’t clean anything when you move stuff over - it’ll be fine for a couple of weeks. And try and put everything in the same layout - so house in same position as before - wheel same location as before and toys etc in similar layout. Move the nest and hoard over - and back where they were (in the house or under it eg. You could prune the bottom part of the hoard if it’s huge and the bottom part is going a bit manky - but try and keep most of it.
Adding new items can be good and interest them as long as the old items are in the same place.
I also take the old cage out of the room before moving them into the new one because they can smell it otherwise and can get a bit stressed and want to go back in it. Out of sight out of mind. Then put him in the new cage. It’s then like when you first got him. Leave him alone for a couple of days and don’t clean anything for two weeks. He should be settled by then. If he shows any sign of wanting to come out after the first 2 days then fine to let him have out of cage time but resist the urge to tweak anything. Let him have that two weeks settling time.
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Does there need to be enough bedding for him to burrow in for the transition? I ran out of bedding and even tho I shredded a roll of toilet paper to make bedding, there's not very much still :/