Pudding

[Doodleham]

Well pudding still hasn't moved into her plaza cage. Monday night I was too tired to wait any longer to move her than 11.30pm. And last night she wasn't up either, I may have to wake her up tonight. However she was up yesterday afternoon before I left to visit my husband, she went into my hand and ate a treat then pancaked on my hand for five minutes. She's so funny.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Aww, how adorable she lay on your hand for a while!

Good luck getting her into the Savic.

 

[Maz]

I hope you find the right moment Assume you'll be transferring her old bedding across as well? That really helps them settle. I just spread all the old bedding out on top of the new and press it down firmly so it's not overly tall afterwards. I also think it's good to transfer the nest and hoard over to help them settle in and have familiar smells.

 

[Doodleham]

I hope you find the right moment Assume you'll be transferring her old bedding across as well? That really helps them settle. I just spread all the old bedding out on top of the new and press it down firmly so it's not overly tall afterwards. I also think it's good to transfer the nest and hoard over to help them settle in and have familiar smells.

Yes I will try and do that. As well. Here's hoping she likes it.

 

[elusive]

Aw that is adorable pancaking in your hand.
If I’m changing cages I usually pop them in a carrier with some substrate so they can snooze if they want to while I transfer everything over.
I’m sure she’ll love it when she gets to move in.

 

[Maz]

That's what I do as well. In fact I even put the pet carrier in a different room so they can't smell/hear that I am messing with the cage! I've had some hamsters be really bothered hearing things going on. They seem to know you're messing with their cage!

Then you can transfer some of the old things to the new cage. If they move cold turkey with everything new they can be quite stressed for up to two weeks, but if moving the bedding and nest and hoard over (or some of the hoard anyway) and havign the odd familiar old toy in there, they can be settled within a day or three Although can be a bit skitty for a couple of days even then.

It also helps if you can keep some of the new layout similar as in location of things - eg wheel back left, house front right. so their habits are similar. But that's not always possible.

 

[Doodleham]

That's what I do as well. In fact I even put the pet carrier in a different room so they can't smell/hear that I am messing with the cage! I've had some hamsters be really bothered hearing things going on. They seem to know you're messing with their cage!

Then you can transfer some of the old things to the new cage. If they move cold turkey with everything new they can be quite stressed for up to two weeks, but if moving the bedding and nest and hoard over (or some of the hoard anyway) and havign the odd familiar old toy in there, they can be settled within a day or three Although can be a bit skitty for a couple of days even then.

It also helps if you can keep some of the new layout similar as in location of things - eg wheel back left, house front right. so their habits are similar. But that's not always possible.

Yes I'm transferring all her toys wheel etc. And I am going to try and put them in the same place. I need to try and find her nest as I think she keeps on moving.

 

[Doodleham]

She's in!! Happy maybe not but in. hoping she calms as she's a bit mad at the moment.

 

[Doodleham]

Hoping I haven't made a huge mistake moving her to the bigger cage. She's not happy. Zooming about wrecking the place.

 

[Maz]

She may need a few days to adjust. It is maybe a bit exposed from above, so adding a shelf or large cork log hide might help. I can see you've got some perspex panels attached Would you be able to have the bedding deeper so it raises everything higher up - then it's less of a fall if she did happen to climb the bars.

You could also maybe tie chill n chew mats round the inside of the bars at one corner to help it feel cosier so she doesn't feel too exposed?

Just suggestions. It looks very nice, I was just thinking more safety aspects with the height, in case she decided to climb on top of something and past the perspex to the bars. But she has lots to do in there and will need chance to settle for a few days now. If she is still very skitty after 2 or 3 days, then the odd tweak might improve things. Do you have the green shelf that comes with the cage? That could make things more sheltered underneath at one end.

 

[Doodleham]

She may need a few days to adjust. It is maybe a bit exposed from above, so adding a shelf or large cork log hide might help. I can see you've got some perspex panels attached Would you be able to have the bedding deeper so it raises everything higher up - then it's less of a fall if she did happen to climb the bars.

You could also maybe tie chill n chew mats round the inside of the bars at one corner to help it feel cosier so she doesn't feel too exposed?

Just suggestions. It looks very nice, I was just thinking more safety aspects with the height, in case she decided to climb on top of something and past the perspex to the bars. But she has lots to do in there and will need chance to settle for a few days now. If she is still very skitty after 2 or 3 days, then the odd tweak might improve things. Do you have the green shelf that comes with the cage? That could make things more sheltered underneath at one end.

I got the cage 2nd hand without the shelf. And I put my other cages green shelf into recycling because I felt it wasted a lot of space in the cage. I will try with the mats. I've honestly put so much bedding in the cage it's unreal. Plus also most of her bedding from her old cage. It's actually spilling out the doors at the front . The things we.do for hamsters.

 

[elusive]

Great that she made it into her new cage, she may well be stressed for a little while & take a bit of time to adjust & settle down so just give her time.
It does look nice but a bit open, could you maybe put some more hides in, things like cork tubes make good cover for them & are great to climb on too.
A partially covered sand bath usually helps them with feeling a bit more secure too, it can be anything really, just plastic boxes with something like a bendy bridge over half of it, Frida has a good idea fixing some cardboard to the bars next to the sand bath to make a cover over part of it.
Maybe have a look through the lets see your cages threads for more ideas.
I would be a bit concerned about bar climbing, Russian hamsters are surprisingly good at climbing up the bars but hopeless at climbing down & tend to just let go & fall so I would have a think about that .

 

[Doodleham]

Great that she made it into her new cage, she may well be stressed for a little while & take a bit of time to adjust & settle down so just give her time.
It does look nice but a bit open, could you maybe put some more hides in, things like cork tubes make good cover for them & are great to climb on too.
A partially covered sand bath usually helps them with feeling a bit more secure too, it can be anything really, just plastic boxes with something like a bendy bridge over half of it, Frida has a good idea fixing some cardboard to the bars next to the sand bath to make a cover over part of it.
Maybe have a look through the lets see your cages threads for more ideas.
I would be a bit concerned about bar climbing, Russian hamsters are surprisingly good at climbing up the bars but hopeless at climbing down & tend to just let go & fall so I would have a think about that .

She's never bar climbed before in the hamster heaven cage. I've had a few russian dwarf hamsters in that cage previously and they've never bar climbed. I have corrugated cardboard I will try some of that for shelter. I literally cannot put more bedding in it it's piled right up past the black cage base and as there's no plastic at the front it's spilling out the door

 

[elusive]

However deep the base is my substrate is always falling out onto the floor!

You wouldn’t want to change anything much except maybe a little more cover while she’s settling in anyway but I would still bear in mind that you never know with bar climbing unless you have a camera on the cage as it’s something they will often get up to at night.

 

[Maz]

That's good if she doesn't climb bars - my robo didn't either and he was in that cage too, but I still worried about it! In case he decided to. Your set up looks lovely. It's tricky with a taller cage sometimes. One way round it is, if you have a shelf at one end, then hard items can go underneath it and then there is just substrate to land on in the middle. And if you put something tall like a cork log in the middle it's not too open and is higher up so less far to fall onto. Likewise a platform is less far to fall onto. I also put hemp mat on top of any house roofs or shelves so they have a soft landing if they did fall on them. Chill and chew mats do similar.

But yes it doesn't have to cost a lot and cardboard can be used for a lot of things I actually have three of the green shelves with ladders if you want one! I've not used them as had a wood shelf made originally that goes across the width of the cage. One from my first plaza (which is now defunct) and two from the current ones. Yes they do take up quite a bit of space in the cage though and getting a wood one made to fit can cost about £20.

I went with deeper bedding to reduce the height - it's also not that easy an option either as it uses an awful lot of bedding - I fixed a piece of cardboard across the bottom part of the door so I could have it deeper all through the cage The door was still plenty big enough to get things in and out and the cardboard was easy enough to remove and put back if necessary. (I just punched a couple of holes in it and tied it to the bars).

It didn't look as glamorous as perspex, but if it's just across the front it's not so bad and it doesn't have to be brown cardboard!

I have a photo of my robo's original set up to show you what I mean. But if you're confident she doesn't bar climb maybe it's not such a worry with the perspex as well.

 

[Doodleham]

I've put deeper bedding and it's all on top of the platforms I've got in. Thanks for offer of the green shelf but I hate the shelf's in they waste so much cage space.
I feel like leaving this forum now as I've had hamsters for 30 years. Never had any die from falling from bars.

 

[Maz]

I'm so sorry. There was no intention to offend. And you're clearly an experienced owner. It was just a safety suggestion as it's such a tall cage for a dwarf hamster It was not meant as criticism by any means. It is annoying when you've been keeping hamsters a long time and people make suggestions! I do think that looks a lot cosier for Pudding though!

 

[RainbowBrite]

I hope you will stay on the forum. In the short time you have joined, it has been lovely hearing about you and your hamsters. The forum is a very friendly place and nobody meant to offend you. In just two years hamster care has changed such a lot as I am sure you know so members with more experience are just making suggestions in case a new member may not be aware.

 

[Doodleham]

I'm so sorry. There was no intention to offend. And you're clearly an experienced owner. It was just a safety suggestion as it's such a tall cage for a dwarf hamster It was not meant as criticism by any means. It is annoying when you've been keeping hamsters a long time and people make suggestions! I do think that looks a lot cosier for Pudding though!

The problem is I was going to get a maxi Duna originally for Wren but in one of the Facebook groups they said the Duna wasn't suitable at all as it wasn't tall enough. They said go for the plaza. Hamster care is so so stressful

 

[RainbowBrite]

The problem is I was going to get a maxi Duna originally for Wren but in one of the Facebook groups they said the Duna wasn't suitable at all as it wasn't tall enough. They said go for the plaza. Hamster care is so so stressful

It really is stressful and especially when you hear different things all the time. It can be so hard to know what to do and who to listen to. The Savic is a great size though.