moving rooms

[kad]

We got 2 Syrian hamsters last night, roll and daisy. We are keeping them in me kids bedroom. I was thinking that on the evening when they are awake to bring them into the main living area. Will moving rooms stress them or will they like being in with us. The family that had them before kept them in the living room so they are used to people being about. I can't keep them in here all the time as I have cats.

Thanks

[AmityvilleHams]

As long as you take precautions and move them with something like a cup or mug or some kind of box it is fine,but wait until they've settled in to do any kind of handling otherwise it may cause unwanted stress which may lead to things like biting or stress induced illness.

Most people get told 3 days is enough time for hamsters to settle in,but a lot of people here including myself believe that a week is better.That's mostly because extra time to settle in is given and they can get more relaxed,but you definitely can take advantage of the time they're settling in by getting them used to your scent and noise!Take time and offer them toilet paper you'd offer as nesting material that has been inside your clothing all day(as long as you've not worn any perfume or body spray or something like that)and also try talking to them in a very soft calm tone.

[Zombie Hamster]

I am getting the impression that you mean moving their cages with them in it.
I think this is fine just keep an eye on if the temperatures are similar in the rooms. Away from drafts and direct sunlight. Also, recheck the water bottles after moving the cages as they can get jostled during moving and empty out unexpectedly.
I move my Ham's cage often between a bedroom and the livingroom. I like to have him nearby, but also have dogs. One of which sometimes barks at night if he is in his wheel.
I have notice no ill effects from moving him.

[kad]

Thank you.

I will admit we have handled them already. We needed to replace there substrate as it was quite a bit stinky. We left there nests alone though. They are very friendly. If they hear is in the room they come over to the bars. We put our hand close for them to have a little sniff of us. Going to put tissue up my kids sleaves when they get home from school. I want them to know all of us but will too many scents confuse them? I will also tell the kids no more cuddles for a bit. Think we are all just a bit excited to have them. My youngest is 9 and cried her eyes out when she saw them. They didn't know we were getting them.

With moving them into the living room, I was thinking just picking up the whole cage and bringing it in. I'm a super worry wart and don't want them to get lonely in the bedroom.

Thanks

[AmityvilleHams]

A few different scents should be fine.It is definitely an exciting time when you have a new animal in the home,so don't feel bad about normal feelings

Something to keep in mind is hamsters are one of the animals that don't exactly crave socialization as much as others do,so don't feel bad if you aren't socializing with them every single day for long periods of time.It might be better to just have them in a play pen in the living room instead of moving their cage,since that would be less stressful to them than completely moving their living space constantly.

[kad]

Yeah I saw on a fb page someone using a kids ball pit as a play pen. Might get a couple of these and make some toys for them. Could we hav them both out at the same time but in separate pens? Obviously wouldn't let them anywhere near each other as I do not want babies! Sorry seems like a daft question but I have a bearded dragon and some can't see another dragon or they get stressed. Don't know if hamsters are the same. Wow I have so many questions! Lol

I hope no one in my household expects me to get any house work done. I have lots of hamster research and toy making to do lol

[Pebbles82]

Hi! I think moving their cage backwards and forwards to different rooms would cause stress. They are better with their cage left in one place. A simple change of environment (ie moving the cages) could cause stress behaviours like bar chewing and aggression.

So I'm guessing you don't want to leave the cages in the kids bedrooms in case the hamsters keep the kids awake? But the cat is around in the living room. TBH as well, I don't know how old the children are, but they might be tempted to let the hamsters out and you have escapes or injuries. So I would say it's best they aren't left in the children's rooms unless they children are over 10 and you think they can manage a hamster without supervision. I wouldn't leave our hamster cage in our 8 year old's bedroom!

If the living room is out of bounds because of the cat, how about your bedroom? Whichever room you decide is best, if you need to move the cages then maybe just do it the once and not again. You can get them out of the cages for taming/playtime in a playpen and that can be in any room really, but the cage is best left in the same place all the time

I know the feeling about not doing housework lol! Our hamster actually belongs to our 8 year old but he's also my baby! And I definitely spend less time on housework ha ha.

Excellent that you have done loads of research - it helps! I had a bit of a steep learning curve.

I don't know if you've seen it, but Erin's Hamsters has a very good video on cage cleaning tips - it really helped me and our hamster who was extremely nervy about anything changing or moving in his cage. It also saves on substrate and makes less work, and makes life less stressful for the hamster

Have also added a little video I did on how we tamed our Syrian and got him used to handling in a safe place. It doesn't show much but gives a few tips - most of which were learned on here

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

Our little boy had great fun doing the bathtub taming with me and sometimes he would get in the bath first

A Hamster ball is a good way of transporting them safely from one room to another. ie let them hop in the ball, pop the lid on and gently carry it to the room or bathtub. If they won't climb in the ball you can use a cardboard tube like a kitchen roll tube - with one end in the cage and the other end in the ball (they usually walk into a tube and if not put a treat in it at the ball end

I wouldn't worry about them being lonely - sometimes they're better in a room without the TV on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyEme2xcq4

[kad]

Thank you for all the info. I will have a look at those videos in a bit.

I don't mind leaving them in the girls room at night just wanted them in the front room with us on the evening. I will look into getting some play pens though and leave the cages where they are. My girls are 9 and 14 and I trust that they wont mess with them in the night.

Our girl, Daisy, has been bar chewing since we got her. Don't know if its the stress of being rehomed or something else. I thought the cages they came in were a good size but now thinking they might be a bit small. Rolo has a large pick and mix hamster home. I'm not sure what daisys is but it is a tad smaller. Thinking of making some platforms and tubes to give them more space.

We got them for free but think I'm going to end up spending quite a bit on them!

[Pebbles82]

Lol! Yes I've spent a bit on our hammy You can make things as well though and cardboard boxes, cardboard egg boxes, shoe boxes and toilet roll inners can be useful!

Sorry I didn't realise your girls' ages! Yes I think it sounds fine that you leave their cages in the girls room, but get them out for playtime in the lounge in a playpen area. Although you'd need to get them out one at a time, or in different rooms!

I don't know the cage you mentioned, but most commercial cages are very small. Zooplus has a good range of cages - the Alaska is an excellent basic cage and only costs about £33 - it also fits a Syrian sized wheel (they need an 11" to 12" diameter wheel so they can run with a straight back). The Barney and Alexander cages are also great cages for a Syrian but they are both 100cm cages - which is good, but you might not have space for two! And also it would cost quite a bit more.

I have the Barney cage for our Syrian. I wouldn't go any smaller than the Alaska for a Syrian personally. It meets the old RSPCA recommended minimum of 80cm by 50cm floorspace.

Zooplus take about 5 to 7 days for delivery though, but delivery is free for cages. There are quite a few 80 x 50 cages on Amazon but they tend to cost a lot more.

Zooplus also sell the Hamster Heaven which is 80 x 50 and a good cage, although a lot of the colourful fun bits often end up being removed either to fit a wheel in or because the hamster is blocking off the tubes.

The Barney cage is actually good value as it comes with a good sized house for a Syrian to nest in and it also comes with an 8" wheel which would do for a Syrian at first. Most cages only come with a 6" wheel which is a bit small even for a dwarf hamster. So you don't really need to buy anything extra for the cage at first. The extra length and platform are very good I find.

This is the Barney cage

Barney Pet Cage | Great deals at zooplus!

This is the Alaska cage - it's not as big - 84cm wide by 48cm deep. It also has a nice big front opening door which means access is good. The white house on the shelf isn't good though - the holes are too small for a Syrian - but it can be removed and the shelf is ok without it as it's solid underneath.

Alaska Hamster Cage | Free P&P on orders £29+ at zooplus!

This is the Alexander cage - it costs a bit more but comes with a nice big long house set into the base, and a couple of other houses and a kind of racetrack of shelves - almost another level. One of the houses has a tiny round window that either needs blocking off or the house removing (one member's syrian got his head stuck in it).

Great deals on small pet cages at zooplus: Alexander Small Pet Cage

If you had the space in their rooms, I'd go for the Barney cage - it's easy to set up, and it has narrow 7mm bar spacing - so it could be suitable for a dwarf hamster in the future. The narrow bars make bar chewing much more difficult, but a bigger cage often stops bar chewing anyway (there are a number of reasons for bar chewing but cage stress is one of them).

If you don't want to risk bar chewing, then the Zoozone 2 is a good perspex tank style - if you don't mind meshing the top (the bar spacing is 2cm wide - too wide for a hamster).

Personally I think something like the Barney cage gives a lot more size for the same floorspace with the shelf and bars to hang things on. I've got things tied to the roof in mine to make another level and access from one shelf to another, which makes it fun for them.

A 100cm cage would sit on top of a chest of drawers for example - it doesn't matter if there's a bit of overhang either side.

On the other hand, two Alaska's works out a lot cheaper and you'd need to buy a bigger wheel for the Barney at some point anyway.

This is our Syrian's Barney cage set up - and if you look on the Let's see your cages thread for this last year, you'll see a few ideas for cages and set ups Our Barney has different coloured bars (I got it from a different seller in a hurry) but it's exactly the same cage).

[kad]

Wow that looks amazing. Don't think i can afford 2 barneys at the mo though. Quite like the alaska too (and it's cheeper)

Also thinking about diy cage from ikea furniture. will need to do more research about this i think.

just measured and rolos is 50x40x30 cm and daisys is 55x32x34 cm.