New cage

[hamsterlover16]

Soon I will be moving my Syrian hamster Poppet into a bigger cage. I'm really excited as I'm buying her new toys and things like that. Is there a way to move a hamster to a new cage without them getting stressed. It's a lot bigger then the one she is now. Will be grateful for advice, thank you

[racinghamster]

The best advice I can give is this. Look at the layout in her current cage. Positioning of the sleeping house, wheel, water bottle, sand bath (if she has one) etc,...

When you want to switch all this, try your best to place everything in the same positions if it`s possible into the larger cage. This will keep the layout much the same so it will stay familiar to her. Also remove all, or most of, the cage substrate and the bedding as it is. You can add some fresh shavings in as well, but try not to go too mad on this, at least for a few days.

What cage is she in now and what`s the new cage? If it`s just a single level cage but bigger, then the switch should be easy. She can help by playing in the cage while you do all this! But if you feel this may cause issues, you can always let her play in a safe area until the cage is readied. x

[Pebbles82]

I remember someone saying it can be good to put the old cage inside the new cage at first as well (just the base I assume). I'll probably do this with Charlie so he just spreads out a bit first and then move the substrate into the new cage when he's marked it a bit or got used to it.

[racinghamster]

Good point Serendipity. The smaller cage base only (if the new cage base is bigger) can sit inside the new cage. This way, the hamster just explored the extra space of the new cage and using a Trixie log bridge or something similar could be used as an easy way in and out. x

[hamsterlover16]

Thank you for help, I help she settles in well! And it's a bin cage but it looks really good at the moment