Invisible roborovski ...

flowerfairy · 12-16-2015, 07:26 AM

Since my lovely little whizzers had to be separated one of them (Fairy) has become incredibly shy.

She was always the one who happily played around on her wheel even if I put my hand into the cage. Now she just vanishes into her substrate mountain as soon as she knows I am in the room.

Flower on the other hand has become less skittish and will happily play on her wheel and forage for food with my hand in the cage and will turn her little ears towards the sound of my voice (*feints with cuteness*).

Fairy doesnt get up until past midnight so I rarely get to see her.

Any tips on ways to help Fairy to be more interactive would be wonderful.

ps I got them on the 29th of November and they moved cages about a week later.

They started off in the maxi duna multi. Flower is now in a small barred cage, grosvenor rat/hamster cage with a wooden shelf and Fairy is in the alaska (also barred and a bit bigger).

racinghamster · 12-16-2015, 08:38 AM

Fairy (if she was the bully originally) may find she doesn`t have to defend things now so has retreated! Much like most bullies when they have nothing to focus their hate on! She may still be adjusting in her own way as well to being single and that`s understandable. Flower sounds brighter and possibly due to being less stressed and feels she can emerge more without being followed or attacked.

They should both show their personalities now but it`s all about patience and time. In many ways you may well have too separate personalities, but without the stress of them falling out!! x

cypher · 12-16-2015, 09:02 AM

Any cage change can sometimes take up to a couple of weeks for hams to adjust & this is a double change with the new cage & living alone so it may just be that she's taking a little while to adjust, if she was the more dominant one I would expect her to gain in confidence once she's got used to things so maybe just give her a bit more time before trying to interact.
If she doesn't begin to come out more when you're around then you'll probably need to try using a play bin to get her more used to you.

flowerfairy · 12-16-2015, 09:09 AM

Thank you so much for your insightful replies.

Yes, Fairy was the more dominant of the two and so it makes sense that Flower is feeling relieved and that Fairy is just adjusting to being alone as well as to moving I had the feeling that Fairy was lonely ... (aww).

I will be patient! I have a play box all ready and will be getting Flower more used to my hand over the next few days with a view to letting her explore the box.

Dear little Fairy. Cant wait to see more of her x

racinghamster · 12-16-2015, 10:47 AM

They just know how to make us worry! x

Scargirl · 12-16-2015, 10:50 AM

Lol.

I know. Maybe they know that we worry about them a lot!

slatted · 12-16-2015, 11:21 AM

Could it also be because the cage she is now in has bars whilst previously she was in a tank style? And/or maybe even because it was bigger?

Pebbles82 · 12-16-2015, 11:36 AM

I also think it is adjustment time after cage change - it's quite recent isn't it I think. Plus personalities. As the others say, it can take a couple of weeks for them to get habits in the cage.

flowerfairy · 12-16-2015, 12:45 PM

Yes. I realise that the adjustment could take some time. I also think that Fairy would probably prefer a tank style cage. I made sure that she had most of the stuff from their original cage as Flower was pretty cheerful.

I will give them time to settle esp. little Fairy. They certainly do worry us! I wish that I had bought a tank style cage now. Dont think more change would help now though. Poor lambkin.

racinghamster · 12-17-2015, 04:50 AM

Actually, the floor space and their scent is more important than the cage itself, so if you did find a tank-style cage, it would be just a matter of switching everything into it, old bedding/substrate, keep everything in the same position as in the existing cage and it shouldn`t feel too different to the hamster really. All you would be doing is switching the cage design, but the floor space and layout would stay the same. The water bottle would either hang on the outside, or you could make the empty bottle stand one to stand inside the cage in a corner. So if you see a Zoozone 1 going cheap locally, snap it up!

x