So, I meant to update a week ago, but then we had a busy weekend and it slipped my mind. Of course, a few days after my worried post about Cinnamon coming out less often, he came out and had excursions outside of his cage for a few days in a row. In addition to staying out for awhile, he was sitting in my hands for much longer than a few months ago for pets, which I enjoyed even if he was only tolerating it.
I had planned to post about how nice this progress was, but the weekend slipped away from me, and then he went back to his somewhat hidey ways!
Not inactive, just more active after we went to bed.
In any case, he had come out a few days in a row, and I also wanted to give him space if he wanted it, so I didn't try to tempt him out if I didn't see him. However, Sunday night we did make some cage updates, so I set up a night camera because I wanted to see how he reacted to some things. He was quite active on camera (I'll attach some later) rooting around his coconut fiber dig box where we sprinkled some seed mix and generally rooting around his enclosure and the different places we scatter food.
I've experimented with letting him out into our office space outside of his playpen. I had been looking around our office space and thinking, we really don't have much on the floor, so with a little work I could transform most of the room into a hamster-safe space. Of course, when I take him out he acts very similar to when I put him in his larger exploratory space (next to his playpen I used zip-tied plastic shelves to block off part of the room)... he looks around with interest for about one minute... then finds a space next to a table leg and hunkers down...quite literally. I have to goad him back into his transport.
So this brings me to last night, in which I feel like he decided to exhibit the full range of his personality. He was poking his head out when he heard us in the room at night. So I offered him some broccoli and tried to tempt into walking into his transport, which he did (if he really doesn't want to come out, he won't go in, even if food is offered). I pet him while he was eating his broccoli in his transport and he was very calm, and after a few minutes he decided he wanted to climb out and explore, so I brought him to his playpen. He rooted around in some areas of the playpen briefly, and then found a corner in a cardboard hide corner and just hunkered down- like did a little eating and a little cleaning then just sort of sat in a curled position like he had no intention of moving. When I could see that he didn't want to go anywhere or do anything I offered him his transport, and I had to goad him back in! There are plenty of times when he is more active in the playpen, but I think these later times he can be a little more 'dopey' and not as interested in "playing." It just always makes me scratch my head a little when he has a chance for out-of-cage play and seems to prefer to find a hideout and stay put.
We did have a new snack mix and gave him a piece of freeze-dried tofu, which he seemed very interested in. So at least when I finally placed him back in his transport and brought him back to his cage, he got to take a special treat for his troubles with him. And he is pretty much a broccoli addict. If he has a mini-salad, it's the first thing he grabs and hoards each time, so he's getting daily broccoli right now as a fresh-food treat.
The video shared here is of him on one of his active days last week. We got new toys through a Hamster and Me subscription box, so we put them in the playpen for him to check out. Some of them later got added to his enclosure.
