Socks: Mouseworks Dynamic Cardboard Redesign and Basic Tunneling

The tunnels need to be ventilated of course. The concertina style ones are great as he can dash confidently through them. Square ones might work well, or simply sticky free joins but without bits protruding that might hurt him.
 
I think he navigates the tunnels using his whiskers. If there is any irregularity he stops, but if the tunnel is straight and uninterrupted has a good sprint along it. He notices me putting the boxes into place and races along the "tunnel" I have just fixed.
 
Socks Mum said:
I think he navigates the tunnels using his whiskers. If there is any irregularity he stops, but if the tunnel is straight and uninterrupted has a good sprint along it. He notices me putting the boxes into place and races along the "tunnel" I have just fixed.
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Going round bends sometimes overturns the whole tunnel. The advantage of flimsy tunnels is they give way and cushion turns. I wonder if hamsters would navigate grass avenues in the wild on their way to feeding places.
 
I remember this series which I enjoyed very much: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03rmckl (Hidden Kingdoms) which showed the tiny shrew and a mouse running through tunnels to avoid predators. I think Socks has reverted back to some wild habits, but it is intriguing to see him zip about, and he seems more settled afterwards. He has a ritual of collecting loo paper strips and food and putting them away after his run and first thing in the morning. His bar biting is better since I stopped feeding him through the bars.
 
Socks dashing along tunnels in his playpen. He has a long roll of brown paper in the middle and a mixture of plastic tube and cardboard boxes on either side of that. I use his nickname "mousie" as a contact call as I think it reassures him.
 
Thank you! 😊 He likes the half-light, which makes the foootage a bit murky 😄. I missed him this morning, not even the sound of early morning munching coming from his nest. I worried that all the toilet paper might have smothered him in some way, so I lifted the box and was relieved to see the paper moving. I wonder if he knows that it is Sunday. Perhaps I am imagining that amount of insight. Rodents are pretty clever creatures though. Quite remarkable!
 
Socks Mum said:
Thank you! 😊 He likes the half-light, which makes the foootage a bit murky 😄. I missed him this morning, not even the sound of early morning munching coming from his nest. I worried that all the toilet paper might have smothered him in some way, so I lifted the box and was relieved to see the paper moving. I wonder if he knows that it is Sunday. Perhaps I am imagining that amount of insight. Rodents are pretty clever creatures though. Quite remarkable!
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Aw, you do not need to worry about that. Hamsters love to burrow. The good thing about paper bedding is it will have air pockets. My previous hamster used to burrow to the bottom of his cage and he had 13 inches of bedding. :)
 
He was up at 4:30 this morning, meerkatting. I gave him a groundnut in a cracked shell and he took it into his main nest and slept for a bit. He was out for longer at 6:30, filled his cheeks and stored his "shopping" in his cellar. He took bits of food from me a strips of loo paper for his bed, had a good drink and went to bed! I don't think he did any bar biting, which is great.
 
Socks Mum said:
He was up at 4:30 this morning, meerkatting. I gave him a groundnut in a cracked shell and he took it into his main nest and slept for a bit. He was out for longer at 6:30, filled his cheeks and stored his "shopping" in his cellar. He took bits of food from me a strips of loo paper for his bed, had a good drink and went to bed! I don't think he did any bar biting, which is great.
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That is wonderful news! :)
 
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