Raffy (Syrian Hamster)

[Maz]

I wish I could have seen that! I can just imagine Raffy in front of the mirror, I wonder what he was thinking
Good luck with the moths & all the cleaning.

I wish I'd had my phone on me and taken a photo!

 

[elusive]

See if you can get him to do a repeat performance for us!

 

[Jain]

I refurbished Raffy’s egg box treat thing that lives on his out of cage dig box. He still regularly goes to nibble it even though there wasn’t much left on it. So while I was making Molly’s pyramid treat I stuck some more seeds on Raffy’s egg box. Not so easy with the centre bits being upright, to get the seeds to stick but I’m sure it’ll keep him occupied. The pyramids on their own are easier as you can roll them in the seeds.


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Brilliant idea I wonder if Raffy can sit comfortably in the egg holes to eat the pyramids a dwarfie would fit very nicely

 

[Maz]

No he can't really Jain - he's too big to sit in the egg holes and eat the pyramids at the same time He does like sitting in an egg box lid though.

Yes I will try and repeat the mirror scenario and get a photo! Of course he probably won't do it again now.

 

[Coco61]

I am sure that Raffy can look at himself in the mirror again. After all, he might want to see if that handsome hammy is still lurking in his play area and possibly usurp him in his home!

 

[Maz]

Here he is Not sure he can actually see himself - I think he's just sniffing it.

 

[elusive]

Love it! He does look as though he’s having a sniff in the first one but I’m sure he’s admiring his reflection in the second one!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Raffy: Wow, I really am beautiful. Mum is right.

 

[Frida]

I love the photos of Raffy checking himself out in the mirror.

 

[Maz]

Lots of hassle and upheaval here. As well as mice we have been finding moths - one on the side of Raffy’s cage and two on the wall behind. It seemed fairly clear they were coming from his cage. I’ve been a bit grounded with a torn muscle but OH helped set up the other plaza for Raffy upstairs and he’s been moved up there. He started to take the contents out of Raffy’s plaza 120 but we had to stop as moths kept flying out so the whole cage had to be carried out to the garden with all the bedding in. To try and avoid moths infesting the house. He was due a cage clean but it’s such a shame. I can only assume it’s because I’ve had the heating on in that room a lot recently but still flummoxed as I freeze everything.

Poor Raffy is bound to be a bit disorientated with a complete cage move and being in a different room. It’s set up reasonably nicely so I hope he settles.

It’ll probably be about a week before I can move him back as now need to wait and see if we’ve nipped it in the bud. I really hope they aren’t in Molly’s cage as well - there was one on the wall above her cage as well.

 

[Hank]

I'm sorry to hear this, I'm sure Raffy will settle soon. I hope you've managed to fix the problem and I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Maz]

Thank you Hank. It's created a huge amount of work and upheaval and needing another pair of hands to do it all. I do think they are in Molly's cage as well as there was another one on the wall behind her cage tonight. It's a classic thing when they're on the wall behind a cage, having just emerged/hatched out. That would be a terrible shame as that cage is only recently set up.

Raffy has been out tonight again in the other room for a bit of a free roam. He seems ok - he was running in the wheel when I went up to fetch him tonight. But he has this slightly bewildered look - as if he's waiting for me to take him home. I hope he doesn't get too freaked after the first night in a different cage. It must be confusing for him because everything is so similar, but different. Same door, same bars, similar house, similar layout - different room, different smells.

 

[elusive]

Glad you were able to get Raffy out for a bit of out of cage time, he will be confused bless him but I’m sure he’ll be fine.
It is a lot of work but I hope you get it all sorted soon & can relax a bit again.

 

[Maz]

Well he was always wanting to get up the stairs and run around - so now he's up here But I have to take him downstairs to run around as upstairs isn'r hamsterproof.

 

[Maz]

Raffy was not very happy with me tonight. He wouldn't take a treat from my hand. I put it down and he then picked it up and ran off into the house with it. It's been a big change for him, but hopefully it won't be for long. He seems fine otherwise.

 

[4melyon]

Awe poor dude! Sorry to hear about the moths! Until I read your thread on freezing and baking items, I had not realized this was a possibility. I hope you’ve managed to eradicate the issue and that Raffy starts to warm up again.

 

[elusive]

That’s understandable, it has been quite a big change for him, I’m sure he’ll soon forgive you.
Hope it’s all sorted soon.

 

[Jain]

Just catching up here hope you are coping with the torn muscle they are so painful. So sorry to hear about the moths what a nuisance and just when you don't need the extra work I'm sure Raffy will adapt to the temporary changes he sounds more confused than upset

 

[Maz]

Thank you - yes it was really not great having all this happen at once - but at least it's now rather than over Christmas! OH has had to deal with most of it. Although it took about four hours to set up the spare plaza with me giving verbal instructions so he could work out how to put it together ha ha. Then putting bedding in and attaching shelves and a wheel. He has now had a crash course in how to set up a hamster cage.

I think Raffy is both confused and upset with me - I just need to try and get things back to normal as quickly as possible. The cage pieces are in the bath ready for cleaning but that is not a small job. A vet once told me to soak everything in a bath of disinfectant after something like a moth or bug outbreak. As that is not affordable (for gallons of disinfectant) it's a case of spraying and making sure bars are fully covered all round and all the little crevices in the cage corner struts etc (which is where they tend to lay eggs). So far it's just had a quick spray over with vinegar (and stunk the bathroom out! It smells like a chip shop). Vinegar is supposed to kill moth eggs. Soap washes them off. OH is happy to clean it with supervision although it tends to lead to tetchiness with me saying - you've missed a bit! As I had run out of disinfectant and couldn't get hold of the usual one (I've sent for the Johnsons one but not sure it's as foolproof as the Beaphar one - it doesn't say) it'll probably be better to use a sponge and fairy liquid after the vinegar spray, to get soap into all the crevices. Cleaning is one thing I can't do right now! Any pressure hurts the rib muscles!

At times like this I wish it was a tank style cage as it would be easier and quicker to clean out. Bars are a pain to fully disinfect in every crevice and then construct the cage again.

It will need a few days anyway to see if there are any more moths appearing. There were a couple above Molly's cage the previous couple of nights. I didn't see any last night which is good, but went to bed about 11pm and they tend to come out after 11.30pm! We have two types of moth traps down on the floor and various places as well.

No point re-setting up Raffy's 120 cage only to get it reinfected again if there are any adults about laying eggs. And there are still all the contents to disinfect as well. I'm thinking of maybe sticking the plastic and ceramic things in the dishwasher as it apparently gets to 60 degrees. But not sure I could rely on that! OH isn't keen on that for hygiene reasons but everything gets washed away!

I haven't had chance to have a poke around in Molly's cage yet.

They don't look like Indian meal moths (pantry moths) though - they look like the brown household moths - and they will eat anything - food, carpets, clothing etc! The first time I ever had an outbreak (before I knew about freezing food) I had three different types of moths hatching out! Thankfully there have only been a few so far and getting Raffy's cage outside removed them before they started taking over.

The moths don't do any harm to the hamsters, but if they impact on the human lifestyle for any length of time, then that impacts on the hamsters so it needed dealing with. Hopefully it's been nipped in the bud.

Don't want to alarm anyone - freezing the food works. I foolishly left the box of food on a shelf next to the heater and had the heater on a lot recently. So maybe the odd egg had not been killed off by freezing. That wouldn't matter as long as they don't get heated up too much! I've thrown the current box of food away and got a new one out of the freezer. I had four or five years of no moth issues since freezing food - not sure what's going on this year!

I'll see how Raffy is tonight. He's still active enough.

 

[elusive]

It is a lot of work, I hate cleaning bars too & always think i must have missed a bit, not that I’ve had any outbreaks but I do it before reusing a cage.
Those spray bottles of disinfectant work out really expensive, I use the Safe4 unscented one & have 5L cncentrate that I just dilute down, it’s useful to be able to make up different strengths if need be, I use it for everything & it lasts ages even using it for garden bird stuff & there’s a lot of that!