Robert

[elusive]

That platform looks good for the wheel, it will keep it stable & they do tend to like to dig under the wheel too so that will work well.
Are you going to put the sand bath on the other one? Sand baths are quite heavy so need a platform, the top of the house can act as a platform for some other things too.

 

[elusive]

I don’t think we mentioned whimzee dog chews, the mini toothbrush ones are great for hams if you want something for your ham to chew on, they love them & the chews are safe for hams.

 

[Riven]

I can only echo the great advice and ideas above. You have made a brilliant start to the cage. Your future hamster will be grateful for your efforts. (S)he will be a very lucky ham.

 

[Robert]

My "Sunburst" feed bags came in and millet sprays as well. I am ready to fetch my my furry creature.

Both water bottles, in the cage and in the travel cage, are hung with water.

I got an idea from another hamster cage which I saw. Half sand, half deep bedding. I reorganized my cage. The wheel needed a sturdy base and the bedding needed to be deeper. I used the wooden fence, instead of being the background of the entire cage, to divide the cage in half. Imagine...

Food, water and wheel are to the left. The floor on the left side is covered in sand. The wall divides the sand from the bedding.

The 6 room hideout is half buried at the surface of 25.4 cm/10 inches of bedding. My hamster can burrow down in the bedding on the right side of the cage. For an access ramp back and forth, I put a board with a roughed up surface. He will have easy traction. I put a small card board structure under the ramp in case he falls off the ramp.

I strung white Christmas lights along the top of the back of the cage. This gives a half lit appearance to the cage. My hamster may be busy at night. I can leave the Christmas lights on and not disturb anyone.

Please post suggestions. I love this forum.

 

[Robert]

Arugula is up. The Lentils are rooting.

 

[elusive]

I would go back to having substrate in the whole cage & just a good size sand bath with 2 or 3 inches of sand & some cover over a part of it.
Having half the cage sand really compromises too much on substrate, burrowing & othe hides, Russian hams do love the sand but they don’t need too much & it doesn’t need to be too deep, I think your ham would be much happier & have more enrichment with your original set up so I would change it back. It’s a great enclosure & you have some really nice things in there for your ham so I would try to make the most of the space.
We did have a discussion on this in another thread about robos which use & need sand the most of all species & it was generally agreed that even for them a large sand bath is better than using half the cage.
Your ham will need to be in the dark at night, they don’t need light at night relying on their other senses & it is important for health that they have a day night light cycle so I wouldn’t put the christmas lights on at night.
Your sprouting seeds look really good there.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Those sprouting seeds are looking lovely. Your hamster is going to really enjoy those.

Which Sunburst did you buy? The vita garden one is the best one as it does not contain any fruit.

 

[Member ID2]

Your little greenhouses are lovely. I must steal this idea and have an unused mini greenhouse in the greenhouse. Planning on sprouting fenugreek seeds.

I can only second what elusive has already said. I find that dwarfs love an enclosed sandbath. My dwarfs use their bon bon jar sandbaths a lot but doubt that they'd like half of their enclosure covered in sand.

 

[elusive]

Your little greenhouses are lovely. I must steal this idea and have an unused mini greenhouse in the greenhouse. Planning on sprouting fenugreek seeds.

Beryl I’m not sure that fenugreek would have the same benefits if grown as microgreens like this, probably better to do the jar method & use when just beginning to sprout.

 

[Maz]

Hi Robert. Yes it can be a real fiddle working out how to support wheels and have deep bedding! I've just had similar things to work out, setting up a cage with deep bedding. It sounds like you've gone for split level. As the others say, it could be better if the sand area wasn't a full half of the cage, so there is more substrate. Some of that depends how big the cage is as well. It does make it easier not having to have very tall platforms for the wheel and sandbath. Maybe you could have one third sand area, two thirds substrate? But then I guess the ramp would be very steep. What some people do is have a hole in the divider fence lower down near the sand area, and a tube going through that, from the sand area up to the bedding area - you can have that any angle you want and it come out further along the bedding area. Then maybe have a hide the other side of the fence, further along, with a smaller ramp on that (as hamsters have a habit of trying to get over places rather than use the tunnel! That way he could get to the wheel area without jumping too far, but to get out again, he'd need to use the tunnel. Does that make sense? Or would cutting a hole in the fence down the bottom be difficult as well?

The multiroom house really should be supported on legs actually, as if they burrow under it, it can sink and potentially squash them! That is actually easier than working out platform heights though because the house has a solid surface at the front and sides. What I do is just glue thin dowels on the front and sides of the house. Two at the front either side of the entrance, and one at each side nearer the back. The dowels get glued to the full height of the house so have plenty of surface area to adhere to. Elmer's wood glue is ok to use (depending which version it is - it needs to say non toxic).

So if you glued on 30cm dowels and the bedding was 30cm, the house would be mostly submerged under the bedding. But if you glued on 35cm dowels it would only be partly submerged . I've got a photo somewhere. Recently, I did this for our Robos cage, and only had 30cm dowels so I just glued them part way up the front and sides of the house. My bedding is about 27cm deep so the house still sits on top of the substrate. It's better to glue them the full height of the house though, and have something like 35 cm dowels (if you have 30cm of bedding). The house is on the right. I also really struggled having platforms with tall legs! But that was because it's in a cage with a sloping base.

 

[Maz]

Having said all that, if you have it set up with half sand and half substrate, I'm sure it'll be fine, but ideally you'd have a bigger area of substrate. And the house is not likely to submerge completely with very deep bedding, but it would be better if it was supported with dowels so it can't submerge (and end up at an angle with things on top sliding off!). Glueing dowels to houses is the easy bit I find - once you have the right length dowels (and they are easy to cut) it only takes minutes to glue one on. But it takes me a couple of days because I do the the two at the front first, and put some decorator tape to hold them in place while they're drying. Then the following day, when they're set, do one of the sides, then when that's dry, do the other side.

 

[elusive]

I think the size & type of sand bath or sand area varies from one species to another but going by the behaviour of the Russians I’ve had I really can’t see any benefit in having a large sand area, even a third of the cage, it just means they lose out on other things & they do enjoy an enclose or partioally enclosed sand bath.

 

[Robert]

Those sprouting seeds are looking lovely. Your hamster is going to really enjoy those.

Which Sunburst did you buy? The vita garden one is the best one as it does not contain any fruit.

No fruit

 

[Robert]

I have not found my hamster so I will continue tweeking the cage. I like the hole/tunnel idea. And a smaller sand area.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Do you have any plans on where to get your hamster from? There may be a rescue in your state.

 

[Maz]

I like the hole idea too I've seen other people do it. Would it be tricky to cut a hole in the fence though? I guess it doesn't have to be a round hole!

 

[Robert]

I removed six slats from the fence and cut a semicircle in two slats with a skill saw. Pretty easy. Here is a picture of the cardboard tube protruding from the hole.

 

[Maz]

Brilliant! If there are any splintery bits, a bit of sandpaper will sort it. I'm paranoid about splinters!

 

[Robert]

I am very excited. Everything is ready. I prepared treats inside the black tray. Wooden dowels covered in flour/water paste and the dipped in food. There is also a cardboard covered place in the left side. It was glued and is now drying. What do I call my hamster?

 

[Maz]

Well done A couple of tweaks I'd suggest. Having the food dish in the bedding half with the house. So it doesn't get sand in the food - and also they like food in the house area generally. And putting the cardboard hide where the food dish is - just in case the hamster decides to climb over the fence - so they don't fall too far. And maybe adding a few hidey places on top of the substrate, so the hamster doesn't feel to exposed with open space or they could hide away a lot. A toilet roll tube or tissue box hide eg. Also did you have sprays to add? The treats look amazing.

Name might depend on what the hamster looks like And whether it's male or female.