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View Full Version : Moving things....


haziebabie
11-17-2008, 03:01 AM
Well Mavis seems obsessed with rearranging her cage. Even from the first day we got her we had problems, she literally jammed about 1 foot of sawdust into her tubes so she couldn't get to certain levels of her Rotastak so we had to un-bung them with a skewer and it was packed very tightly. After the second time we moved her tubes so she couldn't do it any more. Then she keeps moving her bedding, into strange places, bought her an attic bedroom but she wasn't happy with that, then she had her pups so I assumed a lot of the rearranging was because/for that.

Anyway, the last 2 days she has spent about 2 hours through the day moving every scrap of sawdust from her big bowl into the wire fronted cage (which I have had to put cardboard on the front of to keep it all in (!) and for no apparent reason..? I thought she was making a new nest but she hasn't moved her babies.. She is almost manic about it too. Pups don't seem abandoned though, she is going back to feed them and after the 2 hours frantic daytime activity pretty much stays in the nest...

I haven't moved anything back as I don't want to disturb her but what do you think this might be about? Is this normal for a Mummy hamster with 6 day old pups?

souffle
11-17-2008, 06:37 AM
It is definitly normal! It is their insinct to burrow and pile up bedding and she is young and in a new home. Some hamsters build veritable volcanoes of nests and you fear they will suffocate the babies but they are always fine. The only thing I would watch is that she does not 'lose' them if she builds a barrier between one area and then cant find them. If she does then just use a clean spoon rubbed in the bedding the clear a path. They respond to temperature too so she might be felling colder or warmer. Don't touch anything yet as the babies are too young. She will work it all out for herself.