My sweet little scamp

[Socks' Mum]

I like the shoebox idea, at the moment I don't know what is going on in the nest. I suspect there is a lot of food stashed away in a couple of larders. I want to reduce the wood shavings and gradually replace them as apparently they contain toxins. I need to be tactful about moving his stash though.

 

[Socks' Mum]

I have the HH took the penthouse and tubes off straight away no stress issues with the size but Pete is a dwarf and spends a lot of time out of his cage a word to the wise a Syrian will find any possible means of escape if at all possible they should develop a cage called Fort Knox for Syrians a quote from 3 of my friends

I think he knows I don't want him to chew the bars so he does it when I'm out. There is dried spit on them and scraping marks. He does like chewing cardboard though and I have put more in to distract him away from the bars and make the bedding deeper.

 

[Maz]

Replacing the wood shavings gradually is fine. You can do it when "spot cleaning". ie just taking the odd handful out and putting new handfuls in. Yes better to leave their hoard alone unless pee'd on. I tend to "prune" out the bottom half after a while, when changing half the substrate. You could just pop the cardboard house over this current nest

If he is bar chewing, he probably does need an upgrade but best to let him settle in for at least three weeks first. Maybe weave some strips of cardboard round the bars in the area he's chewing.

 

[Maz]

I forgot to mention about cutting a hole for a door in a cardboard house too!

 

[elusive]

If he’s chewing the bars then a whimzee dog chew, the little toothbrush ones might help to distract him a bit, most hamsters love those.
You can make lots of things out of cardboard which can help keep them busy too.
Have a look here

Cardboard creations

This is a thread to show how many things you can make for your hamster or enclosure, out of cardboard :-) Cardboard is your friend.

www.thehamsterforum.com

 

[Socks' Mum]

If he’s chewing the bars then a whimzee dog chew, the little toothbrush ones might help to distract him a bit, most hamsters love those.
You can make lots of things out of cardboard which can help keep them busy too.
Have a look here

Cardboard creations

This is a thread to show how many things you can make for your hamster or enclosure, out of cardboard :-) Cardboard is your friend.

www.thehamsterforum.com

Thank you, I will get some whimpers. They look rather cute and fun. I will scout for boxes to make him a little house with a removable roof and also some more alternatives to bar biting. He loves his carrot cottage. If I give him a piece of hamster biscuit he takes it inside the cottage to eat.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Thank you, I will get some whimpers. They look rather cute and fun. I will scout for boxes to make him a little house with a removable roof and also some more alternatives to bar biting. He loves his carrot cottage. If I give him a piece of hamster biscuit he takes it inside the cottage to eat.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Whimzees I mean!

 

[Maz]

Is he nesting in the carrot cottage then? That is technically a cardboard house anyway. Is it the small size or the medium? The small one I find is nice, but not really big enough to build a nest in. The medium one is a good size to build a big nest in and nice and dark at one end - but also rather large! With a large door.

 

[Maz]

Whimzees I mean!

I wish they would make some chews called Whimpers ha ha. Such a great name!

 

[Socks' Mum]

Is he nesting in the carrot cottage then? That is technically a cardboard house anyway. Is it the small size or the medium? The small one I find is nice, but not really big enough to build a nest in. The medium one is a good size to build a big nest in and nice and dark at one end - but also rather large! With a large door.

I think it's the small one, about 15cm in length. I have been very good and haven't disturbed it to see what's inside. I think his main nest is under one of the platforms and then he pops things into this one and under the other platform as extra places. He took everything out of his bowl in his cheek pouches the other day and put it under the platform all in one go. Since then he has taken food and paper bedding in small amounts. He let me tear up pieces of loo roll and hand them to him the other day, but last night he wasn't so interested in doing that

 

[Maz]

It does sound like his nest is under the shelf That is fine. If there isn't a house large enough they often do that.

 

[Zara]

Hi there and welcome to the forum, I think I missed your original post. Socks looks super cute and his enclosure has lots of enrichment. Our hamster used to nest in a shoebox, I popped it in as an interim measure and then it never came out. He moved in to it and loved it. I've posted a photo for you as he also lived in a hamster heaven.

 

[Socks' Mum]

That's a lovely set up, thank you. Having the shoe box under light weight ramps makes it nice and cosy and private. What a brilliant idea, thank you!

 

[Socks' Mum]

The Songmics playpen has arrived! I'll set it up and load it with accessories. Socks sleeps soundly all day until about 7pm, comes out for egg yolk and squash and a tiny piece of cheese, visits his hamster toilet (he is very fastidious about where he wees) and goes back to bed until 10 when the pace picks up. The sound of his feet on the roof of his cardboard house is so cute! A compilation of hamster sounds would be so nice.

 

[RainbowBrite]

How exciting! I hope you have fun setting it up and arranging everything for Socks. It is really cute when they make little noises running or waking.

 

[Maz]

I love the sound of a compilation of hamster soinds . Quite a project and would be very interesting - especially if a few people contributed different ones.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Socks has tried out his play pen and likes it. He climbed into, onto and over the things in it and waddle-pattered about. He did try to chew it and I had to keep an eye on him, but there was a lot to see and do. At one point, he went into a plastic hide, took a piece of a Yippee Biscuit out of his pouch and sat down to eat it like he had brought a sandwich. Then he got tired of eating and dropped it, stepping on it by accident and shaking his foot vigorously to get rid of it. He likes them, and I have the odd nibble on the yellow ones myself they are quite tasty!

 

[Frida]

Lovely update on Socks

 

[RainbowBrite]

Aww, that is lovely! You must have felt so happy to see how much he enjoyed his playpen. It is funny he stepped in his treat and then shook his foot to get rid of it.