Waiting to pick up my cage..

[CMB]

Congratulations on your new hamster. My nephew had a lovely long haired Syrian. I used helped tame it as he was worried I case it jumped and hurt itself.

He had to brush his fur regularly. He loved being brushed, but it took a while for him to get used to it.

[Pebbles82]

Oh lovely - congratulations! Give him 2 or 3 days to settle in and peace and quiet without changing anything in his cage, but you can talk to him through the bars Also, you probably know this, it's best not to clean anything for the first two weeks. If it gets a bit whiffy, you could spot clean a bit (ie take out the odd handful of smelly substrate and put a new handful in, and mix it in, but otherwise best not to. I think the Hamster Heaven comes with a potty tray too, so if you put that in his wee corner (when he's chosen one) with some Chinchilla sand or substrate in, he should start using it. Best not to take any of his nest away - if it gets pee'd on you might need to take some of it out and put new torn up white toilet paper out so he can rebuild it.

They get very stressed about cage cleans generally at any time because it removes their scent after they've scent marked things to find their way around the cage.

I got some good tips on cage cleaning from this video from Erin's Hamsters

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

Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you know already

[BrittanyCaple]

I did know that serendipity but thank you anyway It's always good to get a bit of help and advice!

One thing I have noticed, because I'm using the carefresh multi coloured substrate, I am finding it difficult to figure out which bits he has wee'd on. I've put in the hamster potty and he loves going in it but not actually done his business in it yet. My other hamsters always did their business in a specific corner of a cage, however this hamster doesn't seem to have a specific corner. Unless it is in his bed at the top of the cage. But as of yet it doesn't smell of wee or anything so I guess I'll just wait and see.

I have however ordered a extra end cap for the tube attachments because I'm finding that because he knows he can hide in the tube and green house on the top of the cage, He very rarely comes out and when he does he is very nervous and will squeak the moment I try to even talk to him. So I'm thinking I might remove the tubes until he is a bit more tame and friendly.