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Burrow entrance size concerns

Annette22

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Hi all. For whatever reason this seems to be Mindy’s burrow entrance back corner. My concern is she has to squeeze herself into it and if her pouches are full I’m worried she will hurt herself. I’ve moved cardboard and sandbath out a bit to see if that helps but think maybe should move platform over? Maybe I’m just being an overly worried hamster Mum🤷‍♀️

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I can’t actually see a burrow entrance but I shouldn’t worry 😊. They just sort themselves out. I wondered what size tank she has though - maybe it’s a bit on the small side? Is she a Syrian?
 
They are funny little creatures 😄 I agree though, it is a bit tight and it is a long drop down to the bedding. It can be tricky dealing with gaps. I bought a platform once and decided not to use it as I couldn't avoid a gap between the bars and the edge because of the length of the screws. It was just big enough for a hamster to get his or her head stuck in the gap 🙁
 
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Do you mean Mandy squeezes through the hold in the side of the cardboard over the nice blue sand bath? Hmm, I think it could be a bit hazardous. They do love their side entrances. I think in the wild they like to have more than one entrance/exit in case a snake or other predator gets into the burrow 😯
 
I can’t actually see a burrow entrance but I shouldn’t worry 😊. They just sort themselves out. I wondered what size tank she has though - maybe it’s a bit on the small side? Is she a Syrian?
She covers it after she goes in but this is her coming and going bit even though she has a multichamber hide right in front with suitable sized entrances. Her enclosure is a bucastate 3.0.
 
Do you mean Mandy squeezes through the hold in the side of the cardboard over the nice blue sand bath? Hmm, I think it could be a bit hazardous. They do love their side entrances. I think in the wild they like to have more than one entrance/exit in case a snake or other predator gets into the burrow 😯
She doesn’t go over the cardboard but under the bendable bridge bit then to side of bath. Then kind of shimmies down. 🤦‍♀️
 
She doesn’t go over the cardboard but under the bendable bridge bit then to side of bath. Then kind of shimmies down. 🤦‍♀️
That should be ok. They are powerful diggers and can widen tunnels in paper bedding to suit themselves if necessary 🏡
 
She covers it after she goes in but this is her coming and going bit even though she has a multichamber hide right in front with suitable sized entrances. Her enclosure is a bucastate 3.0.
Ah I can see that now :-) It's the end of her Bucatstate - I thought it was a small tank! She has clearly picked the most remote corner - probably a security thing. Would it be possible to swap the sand bath out for a slightly smaller one so she has more room at the side of it? Or yes you could maybe move the sand bath somewhere else. What does the rest of her set up look like? Would that be difficult to achieve fitting it in somewhere else?

There's also this thread if you want to add your enclosure set up there :-)

 
Hi @Annette22 Following on from your posts on the cage cleaning article and how to clean the pee for Mindy without stressing her :-) I suggested posting on here because I was going to write a long post! And also comments on the articles go for moderator approval (which you probably noticed!).

Is she at the point where you could have her out of the cage yet? If it's stressing her having a spot clean of the pee (presumably you have to dig down t find it) then one way is to do while she's out of the cage. So she doesn't see what you're doing. Eg in a playpen area. So I sometimes offer them a tube with a treat in (they tend to walk in to get the treat), keeping hands over both ends of the tube and carry them to the playpen area. If it's a bit of distance then rather than carry the tube all that way, you can have a large box on the floor next to the enclosure, put the tube down in that (so she can come out of it) and carry the box to the playpen area. Then you just gently put the box on it's side inside the playpen so she can walk out.

Spend a bit of time talking to her in the playpen (maybe try offering some food on the palm of your hand as well) and have a few things to do in the playpen. Providing it's secure, or there's someone there to keep an eye, then after 10 minutes or so you can leave her, go to the enclosure, spot clean the pee, try not to have too much collapse in that area. Maybe add a couple of special treats to the cage (to distract her from the change), wash your hands (obviously!), then go back to her in the playpen, spend another 10 mins or so talking to her. Offer her the tube again (they usually walk back into it and this gets them in the habit of walking in a tube and seeing it as a taxi), and then transport her back to the enclosure again. Still keep one hand over your end of the tube and let her walk out of the other end back into the enclosure. Let her out near one of the treats! She will immediately go for that and then maybe sniff out the other one (add a few if you like). Maybe a bit of fruit, some scattered pumpkin seeds, half a walnut eg.

She will at some point notice something has been disturbed and she may look a bit miffed or slightly stressed and start putting things back how she wants, but she will be less stressed than if she was there while you were doing it - possibly!

Hamsters vary - some are better in the cage when you do it, so they can keep an eye on what's going on (they tend to follow your hand anxiously!). Others, if they get stressed by that, are better having it done while out of the enclosure :-)

You were asking if you should leave it for two weeks. To be honest, if she has deep bedding and you can't smell anything, then leaving it a couple of weeks can be ok because she is likely to not sleep where she is peeing. And some hamsters will chuck out the smelly bedding themselves and you find a pile to take away. If she's still settling in, then she is going to react more to spot cleaning than if she has adjusted more to her new environment :-)

They do give us some worries!

Or - you could try the treats in the cage while you try and spot clean (if you can find the pee!).

Does she pee in a sand bath at all? Another thing you could try is adding a potty/litter tray with sand in - either near where her burrow is, or, inside a multiroom house if she has one. And put a bit of wee'd on bedding on top of the sand so it smells like a toilet! She may or may not use it.

I tend to find that if they use a multiroom house (eg sleep in it or burrow under it) then they will use the litter tray inside it. But if they have a burrow somewhere else, they tend to pee underground - which is harder to spot clean!

It'll get a bit easier each time, as she'll get used to it :)

If she's sleeping in an inconvenient place then you could try

a) Tempting her to move into the multiroom house (not always easy) - eg leave a trail of treats up to the entrance and a smelly treat right inside and a bit of food - eg cucumber or a tiny bit of cheddar cheese.

b) Moving the multiroom house over the top of her burrow - so she comes up inside it - and putting the toilet in one of the rooms.
 
Thank you. I appreciate the long and thoughtful post. 🙏 I will leave her for a week or so and see how we go. If she is ready to come out I will take this opportunity to spot clean. I have a hopsital cage I had for my last girl post surgery it’s not as big but more secure to than a playpen. On average she is coming to see us once a week rest of the time she is like nope. I have terrible anxiety just now as I lost my cat dog and then my last wee hamster within a few months of each other and so my mental health and anxiety is terrible just now which I am laser focusing on Mindy and worrying im not doing the best for her. 😥
 
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That is understandable :-) And a new hamster worries us at the best of times. I think the thing to think is - if you do nothing for two weeks, what will happen? Nothing :-) The Hamster will be fine :)

I'm so sorry about your dog and cat - that is so hard.
 
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