Help with housing newbie?

[EmiJH]

Hi,

I recently lost my gorgeous Syrian, Bub, who was eventually housed in a Barney cage, which is huge, and she loved it.

I've now got a new baby boy, and he's in the barney. He's still very young and small though, and seems extremely wary, and I'm worried that such a huge space is actually causing him to feel a bit unsafe? I'm also worried that he may hurt himself if he climbs the bars and falls. I have a spare small cage I could pop him in but as he's been in the large one for two days, I don't want to move him if he's getting used to it.

It'll be easier to socialise him in the small cage as well as it has better access for me, but again, do not want to stress him.

Any advice? Should I keep him where he is or switch him over?

Thanks :)

[Pebbles82]

I would keep him where he is but add some extra 'cover' so he feels safer. They are very wary at first and it can take a couple of weeks for them to be really settled into a cage. After a couple of weeks you could find he's zipping about it happily. The main thing is make sure he has plenty of substrate and loads of torn up white toilet paper (put a pile in the cage somewhere) that he can take to build a nest with, plus that he can access his water bottle easily. As he has only been in the cage a couple of days, maybe don't make too many changes just yet, but adding a potty tray, extra substrate, or a shoebox tunnel (see below) should be fine, but best to mix the substrate in a bit so it still smells familiar.

It doesn't actually work out more expensive using more substrate, because you can just spot clean and the lower part tends to stay dry and clean (especially if you use a potty litter tray), which means you only need to do a full clean about every 2 or 3 months. So saves on substrate and less stress for your hammy with cleans (I've added Erin's Hamsters cage cleaning tips video at the end of this post - check it out, it really helped our nervous hammy!)

I was also a bit concerned about height and falls with our cage, as our hamster isn't young any more, but it's fine as long as you put plenty of substrate in. I filled the base to the brim with substrate and piled it up in the middle. The substrate doesn't fall out through the bars with the small bar spacing :-) That effectively reduces the height of the cage and gives a nice soft landing if they climb to the top and fall.

The other thing is to make sure there is nothing hard and spikey he could land on if he fell, so anything ceramic might be better under or on the shelf and anything with a pointy roof could do with something over the top of it - eg a rat sized sputnik.

If it helps, this is how my Barney cage is set up to be safe from falls - although I have a different house in it and an extra shelf at the back, but this area would be fine in your cage with the deep substrate. I did have a second sputnik hanging over the bendy bridge in case he fell on that, but removed it as everything is so high up at that end that it's not far to fall on to it at all.

I actually raised my house up, by standing it on top of his old house - but if if was lower down it wouldn't matter as long as there was something over it.

I put hemp mat on the shelves to make it a soft landing, but that isn't really necessary as the shelves aren't that low down. A hemp mat on top of a house can be nice.

I shouldn't worry too much, as if he is that wary he's going to be cautious.

With the standard Barney contents (house, shelf and ladder) you should be fine with deep substrate and maybe a rat sputnik or roof tube over the top of anything that's a bit hard to land on. I had a cardboard boredom breaker tube tied to the roof in Charlie's old cage. Two of those would reach right across from the Barney house roof to a Sputnik next to the shelf and that would give him a roof run as well :-)

I'll add the pic of my old 80cm cage to show you what I mean. The Barney is bigger so would need two of the tubes to reach to a house roof.

This is when it was partially set up. The substrate has gone down a bit now - partly flattened and party he has taken loads into his nest :-)

I didn't use that grass hammock in the end, but you can see with the substrate like that it isn't too far to fall and a nice soft landing. I don't have it quite that high now, but even with that much it didn't fall out through the bars :-)

http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/ag389/charliethehamster/f31c4f55-a8ff-429c-b134-7bbb41b61179_zpswlzheg4f.jpg

This is after the finished set up. I mainly had the house so high so it was level with the back shelf. If a house is that high up though it needs supporting underneath really.

http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/ag389/charliethehamster/8fe8ea56-732e-44d3-8c94-5a0e1f93a783_zpszyfizryx.jpg

This is his old 80cm cage with the tube running from the sputnik, over the top of the bendy bridge, and giving access to the house roof

http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/ag389/charliethehamster/82e99bc2-cc19-47ab-96ec-2f65c7cb7fe4_zpsfdh99vdm.jpg

Having lots of hidey places in the cage can help them feel secure as well. I got a big cork log tunnel and that small hyacinth tunnel to go in his new cage - the little coconut house at the back is popular too.

A cork tunnel across the centre of the cage would mean he wouldn't have far to fall as well as they are quite tall, and it's roof cover for him to run through.

Even now our Syrian likes to be 'under' things. He'll sit under the shelf or under the sputnik. Or even a cardboard box tunnel in the middle of the cage would make it feel less exposed. Just cut the two ends off an upturned shoe box to make it into a tunnel and put it in the centre of the cage and he has a shelter between his house and the shelf so he can cross the cage and feel secure. The roof of the shoe box would also reduce the fall height.

As for getting him out easily - you could maybe put a tube over his house entrance and let him walk into it, and lift him out that way. We used to do that with Charlie to get him out - or put his ball in the cage and let him hop into it sometimes. He preferred the tube - especially if it had food at the far end. It helps to socialise them out of the cage anyway at first (which you probably already know!) - eg in the dry bathtub or a playpen. You could also do the tissue trick to help him get used to your scent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww

[cypher]

Different people use different methods & quite a lot of people do start their hams off in smaller taming cages & then give them an upgrade once they've got a bit more confident, I generally put mine straight into a larger cage but I can see the benefits of the other method both for ham & owner so if you think your little one might be happier & safer in a smaller cage to begin with I would give it a try. As long as you move everything from the large cage, substrate nest etc so it looks feels & smells familiar it shouldn't stress him out & may help him to settle better.
If you do decide to keep him in the larger cage then as Serendipity says do make sure there's not too much open space & make sure he can't fall on to anything hard from a height if he climbs.

[Pebbles82]

Yes it's a tricky one. I was thinking, because he seems nervy, a change now might stress him more, than giving him time to settle in. Ours had a cage upgrade after being in a too small one and he was terribly nervy and shaky for the first 10 days - so bad we nearly moved him back into the smaller one. But gradually he got used to it and on day 10 he was happy as larry, having fun and exploring.

So the change might stress him more than giving him time in the Barney - it's difficult to know. My instinct would be leave him where he is. Scatter some food in the cage as well maybe, in addition to the food in his food bowl and it may distract him and he'll have fun foraging.

[velma]

I have used the smaller space cage with my robo when I first got him but I haven't with my other two but to be fair, I don't have humongous cages anyway. I'd say if he isn't settling in well in a couple of weeks to maybe consider trying a smaller cage but as its only been a couple of days he's still adjusting to a new home anyway, regardless of size so he's bound to be a bit skittish having come, presumably, from a small tank to a big cage. But as the others have said, he would benefit from plenty of cover and places to hide while he settles. And try popping some toilet tissue up our sleeve for a while and putting that in his cage so he gets used to your scent too.

[pinkneon]

I would keep him where he is but add some extra 'cover' so he feels safer. They are very wary at first and it can take a couple of weeks for them to be really settled into a cage. After a couple of weeks you could find he's zipping about it happily. The main thing is make sure he has plenty of substrate and loads of torn up white toilet paper (put a pile in the cage somewhere) that he can take to build a nest with, plus that he can access his water bottle easily. As he has only been in the cage a couple of days, maybe don't make too many changes just yet, but adding a potty tray, extra substrate, or a shoebox tunnel (see below) should be fine, but best to mix the substrate in a bit so it still smells familiar.

It doesn't actually work out more expensive using more substrate, because you can just spot clean and the lower part tends to stay dry and clean (especially if you use a potty litter tray), which means you only need to do a full clean about every 2 or 3 months. So saves on substrate and less stress for your hammy with cleans (I've added Erin's Hamsters cage cleaning tips video at the end of this post - check it out, it really helped our nervous hammy!)

I was also a bit concerned about height and falls with our cage, as our hamster isn't young any more, but it's fine as long as you put plenty of substrate in. I filled the base to the brim with substrate and piled it up in the middle. The substrate doesn't fall out through the bars with the small bar spacing :-) That effectively reduces the height of the cage and gives a nice soft landing if they climb to the top and fall.

The other thing is to make sure there is nothing hard and spikey he could land on if he fell, so anything ceramic might be better under or on the shelf and anything with a pointy roof could do with something over the top of it - eg a rat sized sputnik.

If it helps, this is how my Barney cage is set up to be safe from falls - although I have a different house in it and an extra shelf at the back, but this area would be fine in your cage with the deep substrate. I did have a second sputnik hanging over the bendy bridge in case he fell on that, but removed it as everything is so high up at that end that it's not far to fall on to it at all.

I actually raised my house up, by standing it on top of his old house - but if if was lower down it wouldn't matter as long as there was something over it.

I put hemp mat on the shelves to make it a soft landing, but that isn't really necessary as the shelves aren't that low down. A hemp mat on top of a house can be nice.

I shouldn't worry too much, as if he is that wary he's going to be cautious.

With the standard Barney contents (house, shelf and ladder) you should be fine with deep substrate and maybe a rat sputnik or roof tube over the top of anything that's a bit hard to land on. I had a cardboard boredom breaker tube tied to the roof in Charlie's old cage. Two of those would reach right across from the Barney house roof to a Sputnik next to the shelf and that would give him a roof run as well :-)

I'll add the pic of my old 80cm cage to show you what I mean. The Barney is bigger so would need two of the tubes to reach to a house roof.

This is when it was partially set up. The substrate has gone down a bit now - partly flattened and party he has taken loads into his nest :-)

I didn't use that grass hammock in the end, but you can see with the substrate like that it isn't too far to fall and a nice soft landing. I don't have it quite that high now, but even with that much it didn't fall out through the bars :-)

http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/ag389/charliethehamster/f31c4f55-a8ff-429c-b134-7bbb41b61179_zpswlzheg4f.jpg

This is after the finished set up. I mainly had the house so high so it was level with the back shelf. If a house is that high up though it needs supporting underneath really.

http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/ag389/charliethehamster/8fe8ea56-732e-44d3-8c94-5a0e1f93a783_zpszyfizryx.jpg

This is his old 80cm cage with the tube running from the sputnik, over the top of the bendy bridge, and giving access to the house roof

http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/ag389/charliethehamster/82e99bc2-cc19-47ab-96ec-2f65c7cb7fe4_zpsfdh99vdm.jpg

Having lots of hidey places in the cage can help them feel secure as well. I got a big cork log tunnel and that small hyacinth tunnel to go in his new cage - the little coconut house at the back is popular too.

A cork tunnel across the centre of the cage would mean he wouldn't have far to fall as well as they are quite tall, and it's roof cover for him to run through.

Even now our Syrian likes to be 'under' things. He'll sit under the shelf or under the sputnik. Or even a cardboard box tunnel in the middle of the cage would make it feel less exposed. Just cut the two ends off an upturned shoe box to make it into a tunnel and put it in the centre of the cage and he has a shelter between his house and the shelf so he can cross the cage and feel secure. The roof of the shoe box would also reduce the fall height.

As for getting him out easily - you could maybe put a tube over his house entrance and let him walk into it, and lift him out that way. We used to do that with Charlie to get him out - or put his ball in the cage and let him hop into it sometimes. He preferred the tube - especially if it had food at the far end. It helps to socialise them out of the cage anyway at first (which you probably already know!) - eg in the dry bathtub or a playpen. You could also do the tissue trick to help him get used to your scent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww

Serendipity, Sweep wants to come and play because he wants to dig in all the substrate! Actually, I want to come and play! :wink:

[EmiJH]

Thank you so much everyone!

The problem sort of fixed itself, he's settling in to the barney well and he took a couple of treats from me yesterday and although is still jumpy, he's happy to run on his wheel with my hand next to him and bits like that :) He's explored some more of his cage as well.

At the moment, he has plenty of boxes to hide in and a sputnik over the shelf, a small extra shelf and another little house.

Serendipity7000, I adore your cage set up, it looks lovely so I think I'll add more substrate (he has enough to dig in, but love the idea of building up more for safety). I have a couple of hammocks that are in the wash to put in once they're dry, and I'll do a bit of a shop to grab some extra tubes :)

Again, thank you everyone! :)