Elderly hamster cage change question

[Vierville]

Hello.

We have a very very sweet but extremely timid and set-in -her- ways Campbell's Dwarf of 17months old.

We've had her since she was one month old and she has only ever known one cage. It is a multi- level cage with shelf-type levels and numerous tubes running around the exterior. I really don't like the shelves or the tubes to be honest, both from a safety perspective.

When we first got her, it was by far the biggest and nicest cage we could find (we looked at about seven different stores) and she has always loved it, she has two nest boxes, a big wheel, a sand bath and she definitely has her habitual stashing places and her habitual toilet area which never change location.

She is really a creature of habit, exhibiting very stressed and skittish behaviour for about 24hrs each time we clean her cage so in order to minimise stress to her we try to do very regular partial clean-ups (particularly of her toilet area) and only do a complete cleanout every six weeks.

Recently, Ferplast cages have become available in my country and I much prefer these to the cage she currently has based on quality of the materials as well as overall safe design but I am very concerned that if we change her to a totally different cage at this age and considering her personality, it may be a worse idea that letting her live out her days in the one she is happy in.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.