Normal or Not?

selene16 · 03-11-2011, 02:50 PM

Artie has taken to using his house to have a wash in, but he also seems to run in there and have this mad moment flipping around inside his house, the first time I saw him doing it I actually thought he was having a fit. As it was quite noisy and random body parts kept coming out of the door.

Has anyone seem anything like this before? Is it normal?

samincittagazze · 03-11-2011, 02:55 PM

It kinda sounds like he is rolling like he would in a sand bath. Is there any sand or anything in there for him to roll in?

selene16 · 03-11-2011, 03:11 PM

Thank you so much for replying so quickly.

No theres not at the moment, I saw some the other day when I was flying through the petshop trying to get the wheel sorted though, so I'll pop over and get some first thing tomorrow to see if that helps

It's the sand not dust they need isn't it? (Just to make sure I pick up the right one)

Gillzy · 03-11-2011, 03:27 PM

Yes, sand. Dust is bad for respiratory systems.

Is he just digging under his house. Sen does this. And it sounds crazy because there's substrate flying and hitting the sides of the tub.

It doesn't sound like he's hurting himself? Maybe you could catch him mid "fit" and lift the house off? See what he's doing? :/

Sorry I'm not much help...

selene16 · 03-11-2011, 03:43 PM

He's actually inside the house doing it, so he just bashes from side to side of it with the odd body part suddenly appearing out the door lol, I don't think he's hurting himself doing it, but it's definatly a strange thing to watch.

I've noticed he normally cleans then does the mad flit then cleans again so it would make sense he's trying to 'bathe' himself.

Hopefully getting the sand will help and then he can roll around in that

delbert · 03-11-2011, 03:56 PM

lol

my old hammie used to do this all the time, In the plastic house i put plenty of bedding, and she used to re-arrange everything, store food in there, so it used to make a rattling sound when she was in there.

When she used to go to bed, sometimes she would sleep with her head hanging out, sometimes shes used to re-arrange the bedding and "shut the door" so we couldn't see.
lol

Defo get some sand tho, coz mine used to love "body popping and rolling about in it" Chompys not too sure about it yet lol

alexarcano · 03-11-2011, 04:32 PM

Dunno how tight you are for funds but a good option is the play sand from Argos it's a 15 Kg bag for £2.99. You need to dry it out (air or oven) but its still great value compared to getting the chinchilla stuff at like £4 for 3Kg..... Umm.. that is if you are near an Argos. And are in the UK. Use a car if you can too, 15 Kg gets heavy after a while.

Gillzy · 03-11-2011, 05:29 PM

Bare in mind that he seems to like the house-like enclosure to bathe, so an open sand-bath may not be his type... just in case you find he's not using it.

selene16 · 03-12-2011, 06:14 AM

I am in the UK. I've grabbed a small box of chinchilla sand and got him a doggy food bowl for it to go in, and he seems to be loving it. He's still been going a bit mad in his house but he's also been digging and rolling around in the sand. (Though he's now gone to bed for a bit I'm sure sometimes he doesn't realise he should be nocturnal lol)

I'll try and get some photos of him having a play later! Thank you all so much.

I might go for the kids play sand in the future, will be a lot cheaper in the long run I'm sure

Iluvhamsters · 03-12-2011, 08:09 AM

As he is still young and full of energy, it'll take a few weeks before he starts sleeping through the day and coming out in the evenings

It would be great to see pics of him playing in the sand