Upgrading enclosure

Lovelyness

Lovelyness

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So, having had my Syrian hamster Blossom for 6 weeks now, and reading around, the penny has eventually dropped that I need to sort her cage out. I last had hamsters over 15 years ago when welfare standards were quite different! She currently has mainly wood shavings with some paper bedding. Right from the beginning she chose to make a burrow for sleeping so she has a deep pile of bedding in one corner, but I realise now that she needs a deep layer through her whole cage. I have ordered some Kaytee, but am wondering how to go about redoing her cage as I feel that I should use some of her old bedding as it has her scent, but that would mean using some of the wood shavings in her new cage set up, at least initially. Thoughts please? I have bought the Savic giant rolly wheel , and ordered some platforms. Her enclosure is 80 x 50 cm (as recommended by the shop where I got her…not PAH) so I realise not completely ideal, but am unable to change that right now. She seems to be quite a happy little hamster so I’m not overly concerned about behavioural issues, but want to give her the best set up that I can.
 
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Lovelyness said:
So, having had my hamster Blossom for 6 weeks now, and reading around, the penny has eventually dropped that I need to sort her cage out. I last had hamsters over 15 years ago when welfare standards were quite different! She currently has mainly wood shavings with some paper bedding. Right from the beginning she chose to make a burrow for sleeping so she has a deep pile of bedding in one corner, but I realise now that she needs a deep layer through her whole cage. I have ordered some Kaytee, but am wondering how to go about redoing her cage as I feel that I should use some of her old bedding, but that would mean using some of the wood shavings in her new cage set up, at least initially. Thoughts please? I have bought the Savic giant rolly wheel , and ordered some platforms. Her enclosure is 80 x 50 cm (as recommended by the shop where I got her…not PAH) so I realise not completely ideal, but am unable to change that right now. She seems to be quite a happy little hamster so I’m not overly concerned about behavioural issues, but want to give her the best set up that I can.
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Hi Lovelyness I only have an 80 x 50 cage due to space issues and Pete my dwarfie is perfectly happy as for bedding I would completely get rid of the wood shavings kaytee is what I use and as for depth of it you will find the advice is to go as deep as you can with it I'm sure the more experienced hamster keepers on here will give you lots of advice/info on that if she is a happy little hamster you must be doing something right
 
Hello & welcome to the forum.

Which cage is it you have, is it the hamster heaven? I’m thinking mostly about the height of the cage, most 80x50 cages are a similar height anyway so you won’t have a lot of room for deep bedding as a fairly large part of the cage will be taken up with the wheel.
So you could use some of her old bedding, I wouldn’t worry for now about having some shavings mixed in but try to keep it mostly paper bedding with just enough of the old to keep her scent, if her hoard is in that part of the cage too then leave that as intact as you can.
She could probably do with a large multi chamber house to sleep in & burrow under but I’m not sure you’ll really have a lot of room for that with the large wheel, what kind of house or hides does she have now?
She’s still very young so may be ok in the current cage for a while but female Syrians particularly do tend to need a lot of space, deep substrate & lots of enrichment so maybe have a think about upgrading her cage when you can.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum!

Yes, setting up a 80cm x 50cm cage for a Syrian is a challenge, especially if it is the low Hamster Heaven cage. The Alaska has more height which helps a bit. I currently have a Syrian in an Alaska but am looking to upgrade to give him the opportunity to burrow. I used a Hamster Heaven for an elderly dottery Syrian and here is the set up. Which cage do you have?

20220910_164438.jpg
 
We have a Ferplast Criceti 15…I should be able to get around 6” depth in most of the cage except under the wheel which I’ll make as deep as possible. She has a couple of hides, but doesn’t use them very much…she sleeps in the corner of her cage under a large pile of bedding where she also keeps her stash and poops. I’m guessing that she will most likely keep that as her sleeping area. She likes her tunnels and especially likes to gnaw on a bit of egg box…only egg box will do lol. She’s not actually unhappy currently but am thinking she will like the new set up better.
 
Hello and welcome. It's lovely to hear she's a happy hamster and no behaviour issues. Looking forward to hearing more about her! She will probably be fine for now but as Elusive said, it would be good to upgrade when you can. She has made her own deep bedding in one corner by the sound of it :) It's always difficult to achieve deeper bedding in barred cages, due to the limitations of cage base size, although there are ways round that, if a cage is tall enough, as you can put cardboard or grass or hemp mats round the inside of the bars (or perspex but that is more expensive).

When switching from shavings to paper based, it is tricky. Assume she's only about 12 weeks old? Although if you've had her for six weeks she should be well settled into her cage by now. When I first switched from wood shavings to paper based, I did it gradually, I replaced half the bedding with paper based and mixed it all in together so it still smelled familiar. Then gradually, when spot cleaning, or adding more if it went flat, I just carried on adding paper bedding. Eventually it was mostly paper and very little shavings. It did take quite a while for the last of the shavings to disappear as I didn't want to do a full cage clean and replace all of it. I think that would be perfectly fine, providing the current shavings are kiln dried pine and dust extracted. If it just says "softwood" it could be a mix of all sorts and not just pine.

On the other hand, some people just replace it all but don't clean anything else in the cage at the same time. This is a bit unsettling for the hamster, if removing all their familiar scent though. You could do something in between :-) Replace half for now and mix it in, then keep spot cleaning and adding more paper that way, then after a few months, when you do a substrate change, add all new paper but keep back some of the existing paper bedding (picking the shavings out as much as possible) and spread that on top so it still smells familiar. That top layer will eventually get spot cleaned out and replaced anyway.

The Criceti 15 is a bit on the small side. I think with the shelf and new wheel there won't be a lot more space for adding much, and if you fill the base with substrate it would still need to be low at the wheel area so the wheel fits in the 39cm height.

Something like the Criceti 100 or the Savic Plaza would be a much better option. They have a bit of extra height and are just 20cm longer but it gives a lot more floor space. With the extra height you can fill the base with bedding - or go up to 8" deep with something round the inside of the bars, and still have space for a 12" wheel above that. I've used the Savic Plaza for Syrians for a few years and it works well (and has a nice big front opening door which makes access easy and easy interaction with the hamster) And you can attach a wheel to the bars higher up so it sits above the substrate.

I would have a look around for a second hand one, as it's been out a few years now and there are quite a number of them available used for between £30 and £50. Places like ebay and Gumtree etc.

Some people make diy cages if you like that idea and the idea of a tank style cage, but a used Savic Plaza is probably the cheapest option.
 
If you're not familiar with the Savic Plaza cage, this is the set up I used to have for our current Syrian hamster - he's since been upgraded to a 120cm cage and deeper bedding :-)

Plaza 100 cropped.jpg
 
I know what you mean though, standards have changed and it used to be perfectly acceptable to keep a Syrian hamster in an 80 x 50 cage and for some they would be ok but for most it's not quite enough. If a hamster bar chews then that's an indication it's not big enough either. I think the main thing is the recognition now, that hamsters need a lot of space at night and that more space can give them more enrichment and them be healthy and happy and have normal behaviours like digging and tunneling and lots of different textures.

Our first Syrian was in an 80 x 50 cage but I upgraded him to a 100cm Barney cage and used that afterwards until I got the Savic Plaza. I had one Syrian that was put back in the 80 x 50 cage after an infestation in his Plaza cage, and I ended up leaving him there rather than upheaving him again, but he was particularly shy and lazy! And also not that young by then.

In the meantime, it would be good to give her lots of out of cage time :)
 
Thanks Maz :) Blossom is around 16 weeks now. I think I’ll go with mixing the wood shavings (they are pine ones) with the paper so that it’s less stressful for her. I’ll see how she gets on with the new set up and review as we go along. And thank you for the constructive advice…I wouldn’t dare post in some groups for fear of the criticism!
 
Do the best you can with what you've got and give your hamster plenty of out of cage time if she wants it. We are here to share and advise if you'd like us to because many of us have been there ourselves and bought a cage then realized that it would have been better to have bought a bigger one. The Criceti 15 will give you time to get to know Blossom and her needs and then take it from there.
Please feel free to show photos of Blossom and her home. I'd love to see her.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum, lots of great advice above. Look forward to hearing how Blossom settles in. I’m sure she’ll love the deeper Kaytee bedding 🙂 I started out with shavings until I found the forum and swapped to Kaytee, along with strips off toilet roll.
 
It'll be good to hear how she gets on and see a photo :-) Not sure if you know, but two pet charities - the Blue Cross and PDSA now recommend a minimum cage size of at least 100cm x 50cm for all species of hamster, and the forum recommendation is the same, but this post gives advice on if or when to upgrade a cage.

www.thehamsterforum.com

Should you upgrade your cage - if and when?

This post is mainly regarding the two welfare guides published by the Blue Cross and PDSA in the Uk. While these are a very welcome improvement to standards of hamster care, educating newcomers into starting out right, as with any good thing that comes along, there can be situations where...
www.thehamsterforum.com www.thehamsterforum.com
 
So…rather annoyingly, the new platforms and Kaytee bedding have not arrrived yet! However, Blossom was due for a clean today, so I have mixed some carefresh in with her wood shavings and introduced her new wheel and some new gnaw toys. Tbh, it’s probably enough changes in one go anyway! She has already had a spin in her new wheel which was lovely to see…her old wheel was definitely too small and she never used it! Hopefully everything else will arrive soon so I can give her some deeper bedding. Until then, she has enough new things to explore :)
 
Lovely to hear that Blossom has taken to her new wheel & been for a spin already.
It is probably best to make changes slowly & give her more time to adjust so plenty of time for the platforms & changing substrate.
 
I collected the order of bedding yesterday, so today Blossom has had a clean, and new deep bedding added to her cage along with her new platforms from HHH. I’ve gone for a mix of Kaytee along with carefresh and wood shavings previously in her cage for now. I’m liking the Kaytee…it’s very soft and cosy. I’ve kept the layout similar to how she is used to it. Right from day 1, she chose to make a nest in the corner under the platform, which I have kept for her. She likes a deep pile of bedding with a layer of the safe paper bedding from PAH on the top. The bedding in the rest of her enclosure is fairly level although slightly deeper under the taller platform and slightly shallower under the wheel. She’s had a good explore, and immediately foraged all her goodies. She has had a dig under the tall platform, under the wheel and in her wee corner so far and been making happy little chirping noises 🥰 She is back in bed now having a snooze 😴 So far, so good tho ☺️ Happy hamster and happy hamster mummy ☺️ 🐹
 

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