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Henry's home! Please advice ❤️

  • Thread starter Thread starter C Brown
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C

C Brown

Hi all!

We have had 3 hamster in the past. 1 Syrian and 2 Roborovskis.

We currently have a 10 week old male Syrian, called Henry. At the moment this is the set up. We can't change the size of the cage but can I have some suggestions please on how to make his home more interesting for him? Under the shelf there is a log with holes and lots and lots of substrate.
 

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Hello and welcome 😊 Is it the Grosvenor cage? :-) By the colour and the top removed. He looks to have lots of lovely things in there. I would suggest adding a large house. I would normally have that at the end opposite the shelf, but I can see you have the wheel there. It might be possible, if you remove the two small ledges and the ladder, to have the house at the back, next to the shelf. Then the flat roof would make a step up to the shelf and you could have something like a bendy stick bridge tunnel next to, or in front of, the house to make a ramp up to the house :)

I was wondering if he could get up the ladder anyway as one of the ledges seems to go over it (or maybe he just goes underneath that?). I think some people would say you could add some sprays - eg millet sprays - which is an option. Although personally I find Syrians aren't always that bothered about eating sprays, but they can add some natural cover in places. Something like this Rosewood Pick n fly selection maybe. I use the millet and flax out of those, but not one of the others which feels a bit sticky to me.

Rosewood Picknfly

Happy Henry Homes do a nice, medium sized, multiroom house that would probably fit well in your cage. They come in pieces and fit together like a jigsaw.

House

This type of ladder/bridge next to it might work well

Niteangel bridge

Or you can just get a bendy stick bridge

The natural wood bark ones tend to have gaps in that little feet can get trapped in - they are an option if you stuff any gaps with bits of bedding. But there is also this smooth wood type that doesn't have gaps.

Bendy stick bridge

At some point a cage upgrade would be good, to a 100cm one - it's not that much longer but it does give the hamster a lot more floor space.

The main thing at the moment though is to add a lot more bedding - at least in part of the cage - so he can dig and burrow. This also means you don't need to do cleanouts too much as the more bedding, the less often it needs cleaning out and you can just spot clean the pee area. Hamsters do get stressed by cleanouts but the main thing is not to clean everything at the same time so something always smells familiar. With a house like the one above, you can also fit a corner litter tray inside it at the back with sand in - hamsters will often use it as a toilet as they seem to like an ensuite toilet! Then you just need to remove the house roof and empty the litter tray every few days and the cage stays clean and dry.

I know you've had hamsters before, but quite a few things have changed in recent years in terms of what works for hamsters wellbeing etc :-) More bedding and larger cages is the main thing.

When I had that house, I left the ramp out and just had the larger compartment as one larger open compartment, with the corner litter tray at the back, opposite the door. These work well. It's pot luck what colour you get

Corner litter tray

Most hamsters also love mini whimzee chews. They need something to chew on to help keep their teeth trim (which you probably already know - sorry). I occasionally give the Vitastix chew sticks as well but not too often as they have honey in. Avoiding sweet things helps prevent tooth decay for them.

This place sells the whimzee chews and other treats and sprays. Their sprays are much better than the Rosewood picknfly ones, and you can choose which sprays, so I'd probably try getting some white sorghum, rather than the picknfly and see how he finds it :-)

Whimzees and more

Looking forward to meeting Henry :-) Is he tame and friendly yet?
 
Hello and welcome 😊 Is it the Grosvenor cage? :-) By the colour and the top removed. He looks to have lots of lovely things in there. I would suggest adding a large house. I would normally have that at the end opposite the shelf, but I can see you have the wheel there. It might be possible, if you remove the two small ledges and the ladder, to have the house at the back, next to the shelf. Then the flat roof would make a step up to the shelf and you could have something like a bendy stick bridge tunnel next to, or in front of, the house to make a ramp up to the house :)

I was wondering if he could get up the ladder anyway as one of the ledges seems to go over it (or maybe he just goes underneath that?). I think some people would say you could add some sprays - eg millet sprays - which is an option. Although personally I find Syrians aren't always that bothered about eating sprays, but they can add some natural cover in places. Something like this Rosewood Pick n fly selection maybe. I use the millet and flax out of those, but not one of the others which feels a bit sticky to me.

Rosewood Picknfly

Happy Henry Homes do a nice, medium sized, multiroom house that would probably fit well in your cage. They come in pieces and fit together like a jigsaw.

House

This type of ladder/bridge next to it might work well

Niteangel bridge

Or you can just get a bendy stick bridge

The natural wood bark ones tend to have gaps in that little feet can get trapped in - they are an option if you stuff any gaps with bits of bedding. But there is also this smooth wood type that doesn't have gaps.

Bendy stick bridge

At some point a cage upgrade would be good, to a 100cm one - it's not that much longer but it does give the hamster a lot more floor space.

The main thing at the moment though is to add a lot more bedding - at least in part of the cage - so he can dig and burrow. This also means you don't need to do cleanouts too much as the more bedding, the less often it needs cleaning out and you can just spot clean the pee area. Hamsters do get stressed by cleanouts but the main thing is not to clean everything at the same time so something always smells familiar. With a house like the one above, you can also fit a corner litter tray inside it at the back with sand in - hamsters will often use it as a toilet as they seem to like an ensuite toilet! Then you just need to remove the house roof and empty the litter tray every few days and the cage stays clean and dry.

I know you've had hamsters before, but quite a few things have changed in recent years in terms of what works for hamsters wellbeing etc :-) More bedding and larger cages is the main thing.

When I had that house, I left the ramp out and just had the larger compartment as one larger open compartment, with the corner litter tray at the back, opposite the door. These work well. It's pot luck what colour you get

Corner litter tray

Most hamsters also love mini whimzee chews. They need something to chew on to help keep their teeth trim (which you probably already know - sorry). I occasionally give the Vitastix chew sticks as well but not too often as they have honey in. Avoiding sweet things helps prevent tooth decay for them.

This place sells the whimzee chews and other treats and sprays. Their sprays are much better than the Rosewood picknfly ones, and you can choose which sprays, so I'd probably try getting some white sorghum, rather than the picknfly and see how he finds it :-)

Whimzees and more

Looking forward to meeting Henry :-) Is he tame and friendly yet?
Thank you for the lovely and thorough advice. And the links! ⭐️ He is still timid but we are having progress. He comes and takes the food I give him now.

I think he might be a ghost hamster. I don't see him a lot. My other Syrian was out and about at around 6 pm and was out all night.

I can't wait to buy him more things!
 

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He's gorgeous :-) He's only 10 weeks old so he's maybe still a little shy :) Their personalities do vary. I'm not keen on the term ghost hamster personally - I have one that only appears occasionally - I think it's just his personality. He only comes to the door to come out when he feels like it! He's quite slow generally (except when he decides to try and escape which has happened a couple of times) - he's a dark horse!

Henry maybe just maybe needs a little more time to adjust.
 
Henry is gorgeous, can't wait to hear more about him
 
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