So Pickle is getting older - he'll be two on Monday . And I thought he seemed to have slowed down a bit recently. But I was wrong. He is still pretty active in his cage at night and this morning I was up early and he was sitting at the cage door so let him out. Full of energy. The playpen wasn't enough - he gave me looks and sulked. I gave him strawberry porridge. He ate that and then sat and sulked again. So I took him out onto the sofa for a bit and he proceeded to try very hard to jump off a few times. So he's had a long free roaming session this morning I had to get the room hamsterproof again (he moved rooms recently when we swapped Stepson's computer desk into one room and Pickle back into the living room. Took him a week or so to adjust back to his old room and now he's off exploring again. The playpen is now being used as it was before - to block off a couple of no go hamster areas.
He waddles a bit but reckon he could be fast if he wanted to. His fur still hasn't all grown back where he was shaved! Tufts of it, that's all. I'm giving daily linseeds to encourage it.
I then felt guilty - having set up the Plaza for a robo. And wanted to give Pickle a Plaza back as well. But he's had so many upheavals and cage changes for various reasons. And he's getting on a bit. Still thinking about it. He's fine in the Savic cage and has his little routine (uses his sputnik as a grooming parlour), but not so much to do at night.
It would make more sense to have Pickle in the Plaza and the Robo in the Mickey 2XL but understand why you don't want to move Pickle again.
I suppose at nearly two years old you'd expect him to need a bungalow set up soon. Looks like he's got different ideas though.
Yes although I do now think a 100cm cage will be good for a Robo. With our last one I always kept wanting him to have a bit more space.
I think I’ll probably leave Pickle where he is as he’s quite settled and he didn’t like the height in the bigger cages (if you remember I reduced that a bit last time) but might improve his cage set up a bit next time I do a clean - add another low shelf. Not much more I can add due to the cage size restrictions!
I’d have liked him to have a labyrinth house again and more enrichment and that would mean moving him back to a bigger cage. Which he may just get stressed about - so I’ll just try and improve the enrichment in current cage. He’s a big hamster but also quite shy. His activity is in bursts.
Pickle is very much into free roaming again now he’s back in the living room and his cage back where it was when he first arrived (moved his cage back in the living room about a month ago when rearranging other things).
Except Pickle’s definition of free roaming is - sit on the book case - run round in circles and have a wash! He is so funny - done this twice now. Have a small kallax unit with box files on. So the bottom shelf is at floor level. And a few box files on the floor in front of it. He squeezes himself onto the empty bit of shelf and then proceeds to alternately “knock” on the box files, do a sort of little circular dance, then sit and groom for ages, then another little circular dance. After about half an hour of this he then “roams “ a bit. And has now started doing a Newt trick. As soon as I stop watching him for a minute he disappears and no noises. Sure enough he has gone under the door and is sat in the kitchen. Cheeky. Door has quite a big gap under it. I used to block it off as Newt used to make a beeline for it.
Wondering what the little circular dance is about. Is he happy and celebrating as this was his favourite place in the past? Or is he trying to shake off a cobweb? (Didn’t see any cobwebs). And why does he bash the box files on the floor?
On a more serious note I am wondering if he has a tumour. His testicles seem more protruded than usual and have been like that for a while - as if something pushing them out. Maybe why he waddles a bit. But he seems healthy and active and not in pain and I am just going to let him live out his life. They don’t look swollen or infected or anything - just seem to be sticking out backwards all the time - not just when he’s warm or just woken up. Something might be going on but I doubt there’s anything can be done.
Thank you Ria! Yes it’s today. Happy birthday to all the Ketzinicos litter including Pickle
He will have a treat later. Instead of a cake I made some low sugar shortbread including a small round one for Pickle which will have a bit of strawberry on top (so looks like a small cake). I usually do sugar free but what the heck as a one off at his age. He will be getting a new toy as well but haven’t unpacked it yet.
So Pickle enjoyed his birthday but not quite as planned. I got him out a bit earlier than usual (around 7.30pm) and he was very active! Here is his birthday cake/shortbread cake and a small treat parcel. Which were put on the sofa with him.
He ignored his usual kallax unit, and went onto the bottom shelf of another bookcase instead where he proceeded to decimate instructions on how to plant potatoes in rotation.
Had a lot of roaming and activity, climbed the sofa a few times (clearly wanting to keep jumping off and free roaming). When rummaging about on the floor he stuck his nose into the grubbiest corners he could find under the stairs near an old filing cabinet.
Then went back in his cage and popped his head out to have a last look before disappearing into his house. Still with muck and fluff on his nose and whiskers.
Re: Pickle's Thread
. And I thought he seemed to have slowed down a bit recently. But I was wrong. He is still pretty active in his cage at night and this morning I was up early and he was sitting at the cage door so let him out. Full of energy. The playpen wasn't enough - he gave me looks and sulked. I gave him strawberry porridge. He ate that and then sat and sulked again. So I took him out onto the sofa for a bit and he proceeded to try very hard to jump off a few times. So he's had a long free roaming session this morning 
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