Too much moving?

[jesselle]

Hi all

Some of you may have read previously that I moved my dwarf Wonton from a tall, barred, (too small) 3 level cage to a Mini Duna five days ago. He seems to have settled perfectly and is enjoying the cage. Emi, my other dwarf is in a ZZ1.

I have the opportunity to get an old style HH pretty cheaply. I want to get it for Wonton but am worried about moving him around so much :(:confused:

I miss having a side door as he was very comfortable crawling out onto me from his old cage and he is used to bars for climbing. I also want to give him the space for toys and a nice sand bath.

Do you think it's too much and that he should stay where he is? Or considering he's taken to his new place well, will it be a case of some discomfort for a few days in exchange for plenty of space in the long run?

[kyrilliondaemon]

Has he reacted well to the changes so far?

Our Dusty is a hybrid and she's scheduled for a lot of changes now. Two days ago she left the Alexander she was sharing to move to her own ZZ2 temporarily, today we ordered her a new cage and when that arrives she'll go there.
Wonton will get about as much of a break between changes as Dusty and we know Dusty will be fine to change when her new cage arrives - she never minds cage changes though.

[jesselle]

I'd say he's reacted very well, he seems happier and more active. He isn't scared or unsettled, eating well, burrowing, running in his wheel and letting me pick him up etc. I left him alone to get comfortable before bothering him and he has all of his old toys and houses and of course bedding.

My instinct says he'll be OK, but I really don't want to upset him.

[Kissa]

Out of curiosity, why is Wonton getting the HH and not Emi? If I remember your older post correctly, Emi is the more hyperactive of the two, so I'd've assumed you'd put her in the HH and Wonton in the ZZ1 :)

As long as you fill his new cage with his old bedding/substrate, though, he should be fine. Worst comes to the worst, you can put him back in the mini duna you know he likes -- I know Lynternette had to do this recently with her ham Dusty (a Syrian, not kyrilliondaemon's hybrid), who got moved from his Imac Fantasy to an Alexander that he hated, and moved back again.

[jesselle]

Hi

I did think about this. There's a small difference in size between the cages.

My reasoning was that Emi was used to plastic and had been through too much recently to move again and Wonton was used to bars and he too deserved space. The HH won't have all the fancy tubes etc, I'm keeping it plain and adding my own platform etc so I didn't think the extra cms would make too much difference.

Hmmm there's another spanner in the works though. I'm picking the HH up tonight so will have a good think before I do anything.

Thanks for advice :)

[kyrilliondaemon]

Good luck deciding what to do. The floor space is quite a big difference between the two cages and you can always swap around if you need to :)

The ZZ1 is 2800 square cm, the hamster heaven 4000 square cm. Thats based entirely on floorspace though.

We've found most of our hams prefer barred cages, but one is uncomfortable without a tank style cage so he gets a ZZ2 while the others have barred cages.

[jesselle]

Are those measurements including the shelf? I plan to take it out as it looks unsafe with all the holes?

Gosh now I really don't know who to put where!

[kyrilliondaemon]

I ignore shelves when working out floor space. Thats entirely 70cm by 40cm and 80cm by 50cm.

Good luck with the plans and sorry for making it harder... We have a hamster heaven shelf and use it fine. Also just bought four ferplast shelves for use with one of our dwarf hams when they turn up.

[jesselle]

The Old style shelf? No feet caught etc?

[kyrilliondaemon]

The old style shelf, and we honestly think it'll be ok. Not for a ham who hangs and drops from the roof but for most it should be fine. Only ham we used it with was a syrian but I'd use it for dwarf hams too - nearly used it for Muffin (a robo) for a while but he likes his substrate so deep we didn't really have room.

[jesselle]

Thanks for the advice. I watched them last night and Emi was racing around her zz1 and onto her flying saucer like no mans business!!! She makes the cage look small. Wonton was nowhere to be seen. When he uses his spinner it's for short bursts and then he rests.

Considering putting Emi in the HH... But maybe buying some ferplast shelves for her. Just hope she doesn't hang off the bars or become frightened due to the exposed feeling of being in a barred cage which she's not used to.

[Kissa]

I put my ham in a barred cage last night. He seems more confused by the fact that it has levels than the fact that it has bars ;) In fact, he was climbing the bars last night :lol: So I say go for it :D Worst comes to the worst and Emi obviously hates the HH, you can put her back in the ZZ1 and put Wonton it the HH (or get another ham! ;))

[jesselle]

OK... decision is made!! I will update on progress next week. Now to buy some accessories!

[jesselle]

Buy Sin 4645 Wooden Guinea Pig House 26x18.5x13.5cm - Houses/Hideaways - Sin - £7.09 | Online Pharmacy, Internet Chemist (http://www.oneclickpharmacy.co.uk/4645-wooden-guinea-house-26x185x135cm-p-123639.html?currency=GBP)

has anyone used this house? i'd like to provide wonton with another level once he's in the zz1, this plus a bendy bridge? seem the perfect height etc as i haven't meshed the bars...

[kyrilliondaemon]

Er... Can I suggest waiting a little bit before buying the shelves? I'd either find someone here and check the ferplast ones don't have holes at the edges or wait until the ones we ordered yesterday arrive to find out from us.
From what we can tell the ferplast shelves are nearly exactly the same as the savic one you'd be buying them to replace.

[jesselle]

OK, good suggestion :) as you can see i'm extremely impatient!

[kyrilliondaemon]

lol so am I, ours should be here by the end of the week or other members already have them to ask those instead :)

[jesselle]

did a bit of googling - they have holes but much smaller ones that don't extend down the lip of the shelf the way the HH holes do.

impatience - just want the hams in settled in their spaces!

i'm also going to attempt to return the mini duna to pets at home for a refund. GOOD LUCK to me. even an exchange would be OK as i can just stock up on carefresh...

[kyrilliondaemon]

Makes sense, good luck with P@H and sorting everything out.

[Mona's Humans]

advice - don't try to return the duna just like that, contact the customer services dept, they then negotiate with the store for you - i managed to return my rotastak (which we used for about 4 days) this way :)

[jesselle]

Thanks for all of the great advice :)

*Update re P@H*

Spoke to the store, they said it's fine to get a refund and to bring it in when I can. Good news! :)

[jesselle]

Hams are in their new cages! Pics can be seen in Hybrid section, in their thread :)

P@H took the Mini Duna back after 11 days of use! I don't like them much, but their customer service in the Battersea branch has been good so far.

Thank you for the advice and especially for the help making the decision to put Emi in the HH! She's been racing around it and I'm coming to the conclusion that she's going to make any cage look too small! Myself and the playpen became part of her cage for a good hour last night... it was good fun and great for taming :) Wonton is settling into the ZZ1 after leaving the Mini Duna. He panicked a bit at first, searching for his nest. But he's settled into the burrowing area (11cm of carefresh) I made for him. He seems to like burrowing more than running on his wheel!

Thanks again guys!

[jesselle]

lol so am I, ours should be here by the end of the week or other members already have them to ask those instead :)

PS. how were the shelves? I cautiously let Emi into the HH with the original shelf. She's put her feet in the holes a few times but I think she's learning. She gets impatient sometimes and doesn't use the ladder :confused::rolleyes:[-X much to my dismay! Ferplast shelf hasn't arrived yet.

[kyrilliondaemon]

PS. how were the shelves? I cautiously let Emi into the HH with the original shelf. She's put her feet in the holes a few times but I think she's learning. She gets impatient sometimes and doesn't use the ladder :confused::rolleyes:[-X much to my dismay! Ferplast shelf hasn't arrived yet.

Sorry... Forgot. Ours aren't in use yet - the cage arrived yesterday but was broken beyond use so I've had to contact the company.
The shelves have small holes but they do look smaller than the hamster heaven ones :)

Dusty hasn't tried them yet due to the cage problems so chances are you'll be able to use yours first at this rate. *is not at all happy about the cage arriving broken*

[jesselle]

that's pretty terrible... who did you order from? i ordered from equinefeline and haven't received anything yet.

i'll be sure to update once it arrives :)

[kyrilliondaemon]

ECF are usually great, I bet it'll be with you soon :)
We ordered from them the same evening as from petplanet and emersons and it was the ECF order that arrived first (toys), then the Emersons one (shelves - we wanted grey not pink), then the petplanet one (cage).

Not happy with petplanet and will be even less happy if they don't respond to the email fast. They have a time limit about contacting them to report damage and I want to know they got the email within it.

Thanks for planning to update when your shelf arrives :)

[jesselle]

Shelf didn't really fit the old style HH! I mean it did... but there was a larger gap between the wire and the platform, which to me feels even more dangerous that the holes on the lip!

So, I'm selling it and sticking with the old shelf :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[kyrilliondaemon]

lol fair enough
We hope our replacement cage will be here today but I think the post people are too lazy :(

[jesselle]

i hate waiting for deliveries! good luck i really hope it comes soon :) you must be itching to get your ham into it x

[kyrilliondaemon]

Just turned up :D
Now to hope its ok - am checking but then have to go for work so can't set it up until tonight lol