Paŭ's thread

[Banned Member 1]

Yeah, doing the move is not ideal for her, but I'm going to do everything I can to make it as smooth a transition as possible. She did pretty well after her MCH clean-out yesterday, she seemed fine after being in the carrier for a few minutes and then was busily fixing her burrows in the evening. The MCH is where she spends the majority of her time so being able to transplant that undisturbed will really help her. I haven't spot cleaned her substrate for over a month so I'd need to be messing with her stuff soon anyway.

The mats idea is a really good one, she does struggle with walking on the soft substrate sometimes.

Paŭ's bin is a little small, it's only 500 square inches (external measurements) which is 'ok' but not ideal. I'm sure he'll make full use of the space of the maxi duna

 

[Maz]

I'll see if I can find a photo of our Robo's hemp mat set up. It worked incredibly well. I think it would help her mobility.

 

[Maz]

Here they are. If you look carefully you can see cut outs around the wheel and sand bath and a sloping area down to the house entrance. I started with one big piece with cut outs but then had few sort of patchwork pieces in places. I added the fuzzbutts hammock so it was darker over the house entrance which made him feel more secure. It was hanging very low so it was level with the house roof and he used to just walk into it and loved sitting in there snacking. He was not a chewer so it was fine.

The first one shows the slope down to the labyrinth house entrance and the cut out for the sand bath so the entrance is level. Where the hemp mat slopes up onto the roof, there is a bendy bridge under the hemp mat - so it makes a soft level ramp.



This one shows the hammock over the house entrance and sand bath to make it darker and hanging level with the house roof





There are cut outs just under the saucer and wheel so they can sit low enough that the entrance is level with the hemp mat. I also had a cut out for the food bowl so it was level to walk into.









The front end of the hammock opening was in front of the door and he would just walk out of that, straight into a snooze cube.

I left a couple of gaps where substrate was showing - around the wheel (which was on a stand) and in a back corner. In case he wanted to burrow down under the substrate near the wheel where he used to. But he didn't bother - he was happier with a level surface.

It was still important to have about 5" of substrate under the hemp mat, as before - partly to give the height for the floor level, but also so it was a softer surface and could undulate in places, allowing for shallow ramps etc.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Here they are. If you look carefully you can see cut outs around the wheel and sand bath and a sloping area down to the house entrance. I started with one big piece with cut outs but then had few sort of patchwork pieces in places. I added the fuzzbutts hammock so it was darker over the house entrance which made him feel more secure. It was hanging very low so it was level with the house roof and he used to just walk into it and loved sitting in there snacking. He was not a chewer so it was fine.

The first one shows the slope down to the labyrinth house entrance and the cut out for the sand bath so the entrance is level. Where the hemp mat slopes up onto the roof, there is a bendy bridge under the hemp mat - so it makes a soft level ramp.

View attachment 1459

This one shows the hammock over the house entrance and sand bath to make it darker and hanging level with the house roof

View attachment 1458

View attachment 1460

There are cut outs just under the saucer and wheel so they can sit low enough that the entrance is level with the hemp mat. I also had a cut out for the food bowl so it was level to walk into.

View attachment 1460

View attachment 1461

View attachment 1462

View attachment 1463

The front end of the hammock opening was in front of the door and he would just walk out of that, straight into a snooze cube.

I left a couple of gaps where substrate was showing - around the wheel (which was on a stand) and in a back corner. In case he wanted to burrow down under the substrate near the wheel where he used to. But he didn't bother - he was happier with a level surface.

It was still important to have about 5" of substrate under the hemp mat, as before - partly to give the height for the floor level, but also so it was a softer surface and could undulate in places, allowing for shallow ramps etc.

Thank you, that's really helpful to see. I will still be giving Snowy a good amount of bedding, she's still an enthusiastic burrower so it's important she still has plenty of opportunity to do that! Think I'll wait a little while before giving her hemp mats, just because it'd be another unfamiliar thing for her to process if I give it to her now.

 

[Banned Member 1]

I haven't seen much of Paŭ for a couple of days but he emerged when I was right next to his enclosure (sorting some new hamster cage stuff) and happily started searching for food while I was there. He's busily digging in his tray of beech chips now. I gave him his Bunny Nature Junior Extra today instead of Dwarf Hamster Expert, which I plan to give him once a week, hope he likes it!

(I got him a coconut hide yesterday and decided to put it in the oven to be on the safe side and it cracked a little bit, so filling the crack with tissue and pva)

 

[Member ID2]

I'd return the coconut. It must have had a crack. I've put coconut hides in the oven a number of times (100C for an hour) without damage.

 

[Banned Member 1]

I'd return the coconut. It must have had a crack. I've put coconut hides in the oven a number of times (100C for an hour) without damage.

Ah. Maybe I just missed it. I have already repaired it now so a little late to try returning it.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Paŭ has been a bit more skittish about noises the past few days. He's bolted a few times when I've opened the lid of his bin. Also been snatching food out of my fingers, dropping it and running away. Today though he confidently took a pellet out of my fingers and then a pumpkin seed and afterwards came back to sniff my fingers a bit and give them the lightest of curious nibbles

 

[elusive]

Great to hear he’s happy to take treats from you again now, I think they often go through a bit of a phase when they’ve established the cage as theirs & get a mite territorial & seem nervous for a while but soon seem to get over it.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Great to hear he’s happy to take treats from you again now, I think they often go through a bit of a phase when they’ve established the cage as theirs & get a mite territorial & seem nervous for a while but soon seem to get over it.

Yeah, it's the first time he's had his own space coming from a pet store and then the whole mess with him being put with a hybrid dwarf... Since he was already pretty good around human hands I decided to keep interacting with him in a small way every day so he wouldn't lose his tameness while his hamster instincts were kicking in. It has been working pretty well so far

 

[Banned Member 1]

Starting to figure out how to set up the maxi duna for him. Going to use the barrier that I already have to divide it into an area of deep bedding on the right and a sand area on the left.



I would need to extend the shelf at the back to reach the divider (the timer plug is just propping it up as I need to attach more legs to it). Need to make a second ramp directly from the bedding area to the sand area. There is also a hole in the barrier that comes out where the substrate box is to allow direct burrow access without going up a ramp. Of course, areas under the ramps need to be carefully setup to prevent dangerous fall risks.

 

[Maz]

For a robo, I personally wouldn't have a dividing area. They tunnel a lot - it's better to have a full substrate area, a good house, and a platform. A labyrinth house would work well and some kind of platform. I wouldn't worry about fall risks in that cage - it's not that tall and if you have the base filled with substrate it's not really a fall risk. They do like running up a ladder to a shelf/platform though

 

[Maz]

Just looked at the photo The house on legs looks great. I would take the divider out - so he can tunnel throughout the whole cage - I find they tunnel from hide to hide sometimes. And fill the space with lots of small hidey places and tunnels. And have a platform (it's something they can sit under for overhead cover, and run up to. And a good place for a food bowl and sand bath.

Am assuming the divider is so you can creat a sand area? Personally I think the full floorspace with substrate for tunnelling is more important than a sand area, and a sand bath would be fine. If the cage was bigger then maybe a separate sand area might be nice.

 

[Banned Member 1]

For a robo, I personally wouldn't have a dividing area. They tunnel a lot - it's better to have a full substrate area, a good house, and a platform. A labyrinth house would work well and some kind of platform. I wouldn't worry about fall risks in that cage - it's not that tall and if you have the base filled with substrate it's not really a fall risk. They do like running up a ladder to a shelf/platform though

For a more timid robo I'd probably set it up more that way but he loves to spend a lot of time in his current sand area even though it doesn't have a lot of cover. He's very brave and happy to be out in the day and with people in the room.

 

[Banned Member 1]

On a different note: Its fine to reuse wicker stuff if I sanitise it in the oven first, right?

 

[Maz]

I’d say it was the other way round for a timid hamster, because putting a divider in halves the floorspace for substrate. 100cm of substrate and a sand bath is better than only half a cage of substrate and a sand area. Unless you have a much bigger cage.

 

[Maz]

Tunnelling isn’t always about being timid. Robos just like to dig and tunnel between places as well as overground.

 

[Maz]

I think if you really want a sand area, maybe section off a much smaller area - eg a small corner (although that’s just the same as putting a sand box in). Or about 15cm at one end. That still does lose the benefits of a 100cm cage though - unless it’s just a sand box in one corner.

All robos need overhead cover in some areas whether they are timid or not. They are the most frightened prey species due to being so tiny. Which is probably also why nature made them so fast. They feel more secure having things to dive under as they move around the cage - which helps keep stress levels down. They really love a platform and zooming up and down a ramp - plus it adds enrichment and somewhere else to go. It’s also a good place to put sand bath to free up floor space.

 

[Banned Member 1]

I decided to go with the large sand area setup as I still felt that'd work well for him. He seems to be getting on with it great. After a couple of days of not coming out until the night (which is to be expected after the stress of moving to a new enclosure) he has regained his confidence and is out and about whenever he feels like it. He is using the MCH on stilts a lot, that's his main burrow entrance now. I haven't seen him using other burrow holes yet but I suspect he will. Also hoping he connects the hole in the barrier to his burrow system eventually. He has poked his nose in there but not tried to burrow there yet. He absolutely loves his cave and regularly rests in there for extended periods.

Gonna link a video of him exploring for the first time. I've since moved a couple of things to eliminate the drop at the front. He has stopped trying to get down that way anyway but it's good to err on the safe side. I'm amazed how strong he is, he often climbs up the barrier from the substrate box as a shortcut instead of using the ramps.

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I left him be for a couple of days to settle in before interacting but he had a nibble of a treat from my fingers yesterday. He's still nervous of hands but that's totally expected.

 

[elusive]

Lovely to see little Pau again, great to hear he’s settling in so well now he’s in his new cage, he’s certainly having a really good explore there.