Socks: Mouseworks Dynamic Cardboard Redesign and Basic Tunneling

It's heavy, do needs support from below that avoids it falling through a tunnel roof onto a hamster.
 
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It's definitely a big favourite with Socks! I dismantled it and put flax oil on the axle parts and it runs nicely. Putting loo paper under the bars where they sit on the plastic base should help stop the rattling which can happen when the bars move about. Even when I tightened the wing nut and the wheel turned slowly, Socks was undeterred. However he likes speed and the more easily it turns the better. It's safer with deep bedding if it's attached to the bars in case he tunnels under the base.
 
Loo paper cushion in place...
 

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Yep they don’t care how noisy it is ha ha. Raffy’s first temporary wheel (Carolina work wheel) used to bang against the cage when he thundered in it. We could hear it every upstairs in bed. When his silent wheel arrived we quite missed the sound as you could always tell when he was in his wheel!
 
The wheel is on the bars now and makes a soft thumping sound when the axle moves about. Tightening the wing nut reduces this, but also makes the wheel slower and it needs more effort to turn. Socks had a good run on it last night, and seems to especially like it when I am close by. He went into his seagrass hut (with the extra exit in the roof) and had a little sit and a mumble to himself. He makes tiny sounds, a bit like a tiny baby human. I tried mumbling back, but he wasn't especially keen to answer, but I think he likes it when I talk to him and tell him he is a nice hamster. He was on his wheel at 4:30 this morning, but went to bed when I did and was quiet all night until morning. He went into his playpen and ran through the tunnels, but also spent time sitting still (napping(?) in a tunnel, and later sat on his lava ledge for a while. He ate some cheese enthusiastically but didn't take nuts from me, just took them and dropped them. Perhaps the extra exercise is changing his habits.
 
It probably will - he’s burning off his energy on the wheel so more relaxed in the playpen maybe. They sometimes do fall asleep out of the cage. I’d love to know what he’s mumbling about!
 
Yes, I wonder! I tried him with a small prawn last night, but although he nibbled at it for quite a while, in the end he dropped it in the bedding. I was a bit relieved, retrieving pouched prawns from his nest might be a tricky business 😷
 
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Socks Mum said:
The wheel is on the bars now and makes a soft thumping sound when the axle moves about. Tightening the wing nut reduces this, but also makes the wheel slower and it needs more effort to turn. Socks had a good run on it last night, and seems to especially like it when I am close by. He went into his seagrass hut (with the extra exit in the roof) and had a little sit and a mumble to himself. He makes tiny sounds, a bit like a tiny baby human. I tried mumbling back, but he wasn't especially keen to answer, but I think he likes it when I talk to him and tell him he is a nice hamster. He was on his wheel at 4:30 this morning, but went to bed when I did and was quiet all night until morning. He went into his playpen and ran through the tunnels, but also spent time sitting still (napping(?) in a tunnel, and later sat on his lava ledge for a while. He ate some cheese enthusiastically but didn't take nuts from me, just took them and dropped them. Perhaps the extra exercise is changing his habits.
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When the wherl is on its stand, it doesn't make these noises, just a rubbing sound 🎼
 
Socks Mum said:
The wheel is on the bars now and makes a soft thumping sound when the axle moves about. Tightening the wing nut reduces this, but also makes the wheel slower and it needs more effort to turn. Socks had a good run on it last night, and seems to especially like it when I am close by. He went into his seagrass hut (with the extra exit in the roof) and had a little sit and a mumble to himself. He makes tiny sounds, a bit like a tiny baby human. I tried mumbling back, but he wasn't especially keen to answer, but I think he likes it when I talk to him and tell him he is a nice hamster. He was on his wheel at 4:30 this morning, but went to bed when I did and was quiet all night until morning. He went into his playpen and ran through the tunnels, but also spent time sitting still (napping(?) in a tunnel, and later sat on his lava ledge for a while. He ate some cheese enthusiastically but didn't take nuts from me, just took them and dropped them. Perhaps the extra exercise is changing his habits.
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Blossom likes it when I tell her that she is a good girl ☺️🌸
 
Socks has gone from never pooing in his playpen to leaving lots of little black micro sausages in a tube. They are all nice and dry, like biscuits. I noticed a few lying near the tunnel entrance and gave the tunnel a shake, quite a few more appeared. I want to look into his cereal box tonight when he is in his pen to see if his stash is getting too full. He might not have gotten the hang of removing the old poops from his nest 🧹🪣 and is trying to tell me something 😏
 
Sounds like he’s settling in well! I once found an empty file box holder full of food and poops on the floor! OH left it on the floor near the filing cabinet and Raffy used to like going inside it so I left it there. Only to find later it was fully of poops and food and had been wee’d in! Had to bin it but I replaced it with an empty cereal packet so he wasn’t upset. (Yes all the best people have an empty cereal packet on the floor in the corner of their living room!).

He ignored it!
 
Well, that's the sort of thing that would happen to me, at any rate 😊 But of course there would be nice people there who like hamsters who would understand! 🐹
 
Socks ran on the wheel for quite a while yesterday evening. Occasionally he would find a spot and just lie on it, perhaps cooling down, for about ten minutes. Then he got up and went about the cage for a bit and then did more treadmill. I have had the lights down to a single table lamp, so videoing him on his wheel hasn't worked so far. I put the seagras mat under his nest as he had dug it close to the plastic base, which can get a bit cool. It should help with insulation. He tried to drag bits of bedding into his nest, and kick it backwards into the doorway, but that became tedious and he went back to his wheel instead.
 
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