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Pebbles82 · 09-27-2021, 10:33 AM

So she’s in a hamster heaven with a smaller add on cage? Is the shelf she’s sleeping in in the small cage?

Tubes can be an issue in that hamsters will nest in them and then they get smelly and their nest messed up.

I suspect she found the small house not big enough for a bigger nest (they build bigger nests around this time of year when the evenings get chillier).

Also if you do a clean out they can abandon a house or nest (nest to do partial rather than full clean outs).

Personally I don’t think add on cages work well for hamsters and external tubes lead to strange behaviour. They do much better with one larger area with their nest, wheel and house in. The Hamster Heaven is big enough on its own.

Also the flying saucer in the smaller cage looks too small for a Syrian (needs to be 12”) but the other wheel looks fine.

My suggestion would be remove the second cage and tubing and add a larger house to the HH. Even if it means removing the green shelf on the right. A larger, flat roofed house actually doubles up as a shelf anyway. A shoebox size house is ideal - so you could just make one from a shoe box by cutting the base out and a hole for a door and keeping the lid as a lift off roof. I’m sure she’d nice straight in and build a big cosy nest.

Shoe box is a cheap option. A more expensive option is a flat roof two room house from Rodipet which fits really well in that cage at one end.

I had a similar thing once with a small house like the little carrot house you’ve got. Hamster wouldn’t use it as wanted a bigger nest.

09-27-2021, 10:33 AM
Pebbles82 Hamster Antics Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 23,533	Re: Is this normal? So she’s in a hamster heaven with a smaller add on cage? Is the shelf she’s sleeping in in the small cage? Tubes can be an issue in that hamsters will nest in them and then they get smelly and their nest messed up. I suspect she found the small house not big enough for a bigger nest (they build bigger nests around this time of year when the evenings get chillier). Also if you do a clean out they can abandon a house or nest (nest to do partial rather than full clean outs). Personally I don’t think add on cages work well for hamsters and external tubes lead to strange behaviour. They do much better with one larger area with their nest, wheel and house in. The Hamster Heaven is big enough on its own. Also the flying saucer in the smaller cage looks too small for a Syrian (needs to be 12”) but the other wheel looks fine. My suggestion would be remove the second cage and tubing and add a larger house to the HH. Even if it means removing the green shelf on the right. A larger, flat roofed house actually doubles up as a shelf anyway. A shoebox size house is ideal - so you could just make one from a shoe box by cutting the base out and a hole for a door and keeping the lid as a lift off roof. I’m sure she’d nice straight in and build a big cosy nest. Shoe box is a cheap option. A more expensive option is a flat roof two room house from Rodipet which fits really well in that cage at one end. I had a similar thing once with a small house like the little carrot house you’ve got. Hamster wouldn’t use it as wanted a bigger nest.