Moving nests + nest building.

[jogi]

Hi! I recently got a robo hamster and I have ordered new items for her cage that I'd like to replace her current assets with. However, she built a huge-ish nest in the cardboard carrier she came home in (that I left in for her first few days here as something familiar), but I wanted to either throw out this carrier or rip off a piece of the cardboard to leave with her. I know that I shouldnt throw out her nest, but is it okay to move it? I've never had a hamster or a pet that builds nests before so I'm not sure.

Also, even though she is alone in her cage (I assume this is okay as I read that hamsters are solitary and not very personable), will she build more than one nest at a time? And will she ever abandon or destroy one of her old nests?

[Ria P]

Nests are a tricky one. Hamsters can be very fussy about their nests. My laid back Syrian threw a major tantrum once when i exchanged a nest for something else but i've learned a lot since...

Nests should only be removed when they are a stinky and pee'ed on, same with hoards. In that case its best to leave plenty of nesting material nearby and replace the hoard with new, similar food so the hamster doesn't feel robbed.

I'd leave the cardboard box with the nest but it should be ok to move it, i hope. Hard to say because all hamsters are different. Some build one nest and some have more. Some have a nest in a house and others nest anywhere. My Syrian has a big nest in his house and my Robo uses his house like a porch to get to the underground tunnels he built. I have no idea where exactly he sleeps or where his nest is. He may well have more than one. My dwarf has two or three cave like nests and changes his sleeping places every couple of days or so.

Where your Robo is going to nest, how many nests she'll keep, use or abandon is something you'll find out as time goes on because hamsters very much do their own thing and often don't do what we would like/expect them to do.

They are very interesting little animals with their own personalities and yes, they are happy to live on their own.

[Ria P]

Forgot to say: It is usually okay to exchange an item with another unless they like and use it but they don't like it when you take something away, adding something is usually fine. They don't like too much cleaning either. Their habitats are very much theirs and human interference is frown upon by hamsters, lol.

[Pebbles82]

I would suggest adding a house that will tempt her to move into it so she abandons the cardboard box. I found our Robo ignored houses unless they were completely dark inside and had space. You could part submerge it in the substrate and put a bendy bridge tunnel over the entrance. The tunnel entrance tempts them inside and helps make it dark inside (light doesn’t go round corners). Maybe put a smelly treat in the house - eg cucumber. And a big pile of torn up strips of plain white toilet paper near the house (but not inside it). Within a day or so she may decide it’s a better place to nest - mimics an underground burrow - and move in. She will probably build a new nest in there. I would still leave the cardboard thing for a few more dats if she moves. Then take it out but remove the old nest from it and put it back where the cardboard thing was. Because yes they can have more than one nest. Our Robo had two - one in his dark house and one near his wheel under the substrate. The house was his main one but he seemed to like having an emergency nest to go to when I spot cleaned inside his house. Then when I later spot cleaned the one near the wheel he moved back to the house. It was quite handy as meant I could do one half of the cage at a time and leave the other half so he always had an undisturbed half/nest.