New hamster and fluff bedding

gilhc002 · 03-04-2017, 04:09 AM

Hi guys,

I'm new here so this is my first post! Hope it's in the right place and everything!!

So I'm picking up my new dwarf hamster, my first hamster in many years, and I've been doing all my research! I've come into a bit on a conundrum though.

The lady who I'm adopting the hamster from has him on fluff bedding, which I would obviously like to change asap since it's so dangerous. However, I also don't want to make moving even more stressful than it already is by immediately ruining the nest. So my question is - is it better to immediately change out the bedding and risk the stress, or should I leave the fluff for a couple of days till the hamster is a little more settled, then change it out?

Thanks for any help you can give!!

souffle · 03-04-2017, 05:13 AM

No it's more important you remove the fluffy bedding right away. Better a little stress than him ending up with a life threatening blockage.

flowerfairy · 03-04-2017, 09:54 AM

I agree with Soufle.

Best of luck with your new hamster. Great that you are giving him a new fluffy bedding free home.

Pebbles82 · 03-04-2017, 02:08 PM

As the others say, remove the fluff bedding. Is he coming in his old cage or do you have a new cage for him? In some ways it would be easier to move him into a new cage with new substrate and lots of strips of torn up plain white toilet paper, let him make his own nest and settle into the cage. If he isn't moving into a new cage and is coming in his existing one, I can see why you're concerned about stressing him, but the fluff needs to go.

What you could do maybe (not sure what others think of this) is when you get home, let him have a little play outside his cage - maybe in the dry bathtub with some toys or rig up a secure playpen type thing. Then pop him in a pet carrier if you have one. If not then some kind of large box or bin with bedding a house and a tube or something in - somewhere he can't escape from. Then give the cage a slight clean out. Not a major clean. You can leave all the substrate, wheel and toys, but maybe take the house out and the fluffy bedding, put in a new house (a cardboard tissue box or shoebox made into a house would do) and put a big pile of torn up white toilet paper in the cage somewhere (not inside the house).

That way when he goes back in the cage, most of it is familiar, he will make himself a new nest in the house. It might be less stressful to have a new house than to rebuild his nest in his old house. You could also scatter some food on the substrate to distract him and put the odd new treat or treat stick in there as well.

gilhc002 · 03-05-2017, 08:09 AM

Thanks for your help guys. Im leaving him in his current cage for the furst couple of weeks while he gets settled and while we build a bigger one - hes got an 80x50cm now so he'll be ok fof a couple weeks. Will take him out for a play and replace his beds and provide tissue for bedding. Scattering some food around sounds like a good plan too. Thanks!

velma · 03-06-2017, 01:52 AM

80x50cm is plenty bug enough. He should be fine there with the right enrichment. Depending on his age, he may prefer not to be upgraded. Some hams so get overwhelmed by too much spacey my Syrians have only ever had a kerry as their biggest home, which is 75cm by 40-something. And my robo and my Chinese were/have both been downgraded to smaller cages as they didn't like the bigger space so you have plenty of time to observe his personality and see what he's like. As already said, I'd definitely remove the fluffy bedding. You can always mix some of his existing substrate in with some ripped up cheap white toilet paper so he has a familiar smell in his nest but his cage will smell like him anyway so I think he'll be fine

Pebbles82 · 03-06-2017, 01:59 AM

Leaving in his current cage for a couple of weeks to settle sounds good and I expect it will take a while to build one anyway

Sounds like an interesting project! Do you have details? You could also give him an extra treat to compensate for his nest disappearing - pumpkin seeds go down well.

When you're ready to upgrade him it can help them adjust if you let them have a play in the new cage a day or so before moving over. With substrate in it and a few toys. Then keep all the existing substrate from the old cage and sprinkle it on top of the new substrate in the new cage so it smells familiar. Also keeping things in a similar layout helps them adjust.

As Fluffagrams says though, some dwarf hamsters are fine with an 80 x 50 cage but if your hammy seems active and confident they could enjoy the new one if you put plenty of tunnels and hidey places in and lots of substrate.