Second chance hamsters

Things don’t always go to plan!
It does sound as though he quite enjoyed his little adventure, he doesn’t look stressed at all & the looks so adorable in that photo.
 
The upsidedown wheel didn't go down well. He tried it out briefly last night but it looks like he ignored it for the rest of the night.

I put it in the right way now but in the same place. I know that they don't like changes at the best of times and Davy is still settling in but i had to swap over house and wheel to stop him from jamming it with substrate and knocking it over in the process.

That boy is giving me a headache trying to get his cage right. The left side is fine. He is nesting under the shelf, uses the corner shelf, cork tunnel and the sputnik but the side with the wheel is a problem. Mainly because the cage is too low for a Syrian wheel. Hmm, i'm waiting for my brain to send me a signal and suddenly come up with the obvious solution....
 
RainbowBrite said:
Looks like you figured it out. 🙂
Click to expand...
Yes but too late. If i take the pink shelf out now i'd unsettle Davy because he lives under it so have to work around it. I'm quite annoyed with myself.
The cage was set up for a Robo and then i got Davy. Instead of adjusting it i should have started from scratch with an empty cage.
 
That’s a shame, I don’t envy you trying to set that cage up for a Syrian, hope you can come up with a solution that works without unsettling him 🤞
I did the same once having set up a cage for a Russian when I got Cal (Chinese) & ended up having to take him out & start again.
 
Yep - I think it's probably impossible to fit a syrian sized wheel and a decent sized house as well as the shelf and ladder - I found that and replaced the shelf with a large flat roofed guinea pig house. So it's a choice between the shelf and a house to fit a wheel in. What you could do is, when he's out of the cage - remove the shelf, but leave the nest where it is and just pop a big flat roofed house over the top of it. I've done that before. As long as the nest is left alone he'll probably be fine with it.
 
He won't use a house though. Same as Otto, he ignores the house and nests under a shelf.
The 10in wheel is back on its stand now and sat on next to no substrate. The guinea pig sized house acts as a barrier to keep the wheel from getting jammed again. I've adjusted the house to a walk through house with an opening on each side so he can walk straight to his wheel. Of course being a hamster, he walked on top of the house and jumped off it at wheel side! Not sure he has sussed the walk through house as yet.

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It's only the height of a house onto substrate jump and i have thought of a cork step to reduce it. They chuck pieces of cork about though and he'd probably use it to jam the wheel.
Clive has two cork steps but uses them to barricade his house before he leaves his cage!
 
To take the shelf out and place the house over the nest would mean to relocate the sputnik as well. He spends time in the sputnik which i can tell by the amount of poops in it.
I have no idea where exactly he sleeps or pees but both must be happening under the shelf. No smell as yet so all good for now.
Thing is, if i'd replace the shelf with the house it would leave the middle clear for him to dig and jam the wheel again.

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Just noticed you have his name on the cage with stickers. 😍
 
He's still exploring. It's nice he likes the rat sputnik. He is probably still overwhelmed at his improved circumstances and can't quite believe all these nice things in his cage :-) I've found they all like the rat sputniks :)
 
Mine certainly liked spending time in a rat Sputnik which I lined with hemp matting.
Nice to have a chat with him looking out at mum!
 
I love that photo! Yes he does look quite grumpy but what's amazing about it is that because he is sitting in a hide that has ears, and his ears don't show - it looks like he is a tiny hamster with big green ears!
 
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