Robert

[Robert]

I appreciate the suggestion. Covered place is now next to the fence. I wanted to keep the food next to the water.

There are snacks and a spray of millet on the right side. I am ready to get a hamster. Tomorrow is my plan.

 

[elusive]

I agree with Maz about putting the food bowl on the substrate or you could put it on top of the house, I would put the water bottle on top of the house too, make more use of the house as a platform & free up more of the sand area for digging & maybe make a bit more of a cover over the sand at the opposite end to the wheel maybe, the do like a covered area in the sand.
The treat sticks are a good idea.
I’d add a couple more tubes or hides on the substrate too.
Did you freeze the food?
I think a name will come to you once you’ve had the ham for a few days, I find once I begin to get to know them a bit a name just pops into my head.

 

[Maz]

Hope you find the hamster ok It doesn’t matter that much where the food is . Adding more “enrichment” to the substrate area woukd give the hamster more things to do up there and feel less exposed, but you can add things as and when. Cardboard things are fine

 

[elusive]

Yes the food bowl can go anywhere really & you can scatter feed too so your hamster can forage for food so that’s not an issue I’m just looking at all the sand & thinking a hamster can’t really use much of it, Russian hams really like to have a good roll in the sand to clean themselves as well as just having fun digging & throwing it around! They also pee in the sand which makes cleaning easier. So I would free up more space for all that.

 

[RainbowBrite]

I agree with scatter feeding. It will be fun for your hamster to forage for their food.

 

[Member ID2]

Looks great! I'd move the food dish on the substrate or on top of the house so the hamster can roll in the sand.

I'd add a wicker or cork tunnel opposite the house. They are light and hamsters like to run through tunnels.

 

[Maz]

The hamster is going to LOVE that big tunnel going to and from the sand area

 

[Robert]

Female Chinese Hamster named仓鼠 Tsang Shu

 

[Robert]

First thing she found was the tunnel

 

[Member ID2]

Congratulations to your new hamster!
Welcome Tsang Shu.You are a very lucky girl.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Oh she is beautiful! I am very happy for you.

You may like to start a diary for her in the Chinese hamster section on the forum. You can post updates on her for us all to enjoy.

 

[Maz]

Congratulations - a beautiful chinese hamster They can be quite skittish for the first few days, while settling in and adjusting to a new environment - it can take 10 days sometimes, so best not to change anything or clean anything out at least for the first two weeks. Adding something new is usually accepted fine, providing it doesn't mean moving something else. Moving things around can cause setbacks and stress. They spend the first few days scent marking and deciding where to nest.

 

[Maz]

I think it was mentioned before, but fairy lights at night is not a good thing - they need darkness or it affects their biorhythms and health as well possibly. Some people think red light is ok but it's still light as opposed to darkness.

 

[Member ID2]

I have used red fairy lights for a shy hamster but i only left them on while i sat near the cage in the dark with only the fairy lights on. They were not near his cage either and placed about 50cm above it. I never left them on overnight and turned them off when i left the room.

 

[Robert]

 

[elusive]

Congrats, she really is so lovely.
I mentioned in her thread before i saw her here that Chinese do like plenty of cover & don’t like to feel exposed so adding in a some more hides, tunnels or tubes would be a good idea.
Chinese hams are usually quite timid to begin with but have a lovely gentle nature so just go slow with her & give her plenty of time to settle before interacting with her & she should do well.

 

[elusive]

One other thing, Chinese are avid burrowers, they like to dig & borrow the most of all species & don’t like anything to get int their way! She may well try to dig under your fence so I’d watch out for that.

 

[Frida]

Hello Tsang Shu I love all the photos and she is beautiful

 

[elusive]

I’ve been thinking about ways other than more tubes & hides you could adapt your cage a bit without too much disruption now she’s moved in to make it more suitable for a Chinese as they are quite different in many ways to other hamsters.
They do have a tendency to block tubes so make sure she has access with some sort of ladder or ramp in & out of the sand area, she’ll probably try to climb in or out anyway as they like to try & climb everything.
I know I suggested it before but I would move the water bottle & put it on top of the house, if she does dig in the sand she might knock it over where it is now. I would add a water bowl on top of the house too, they seem to prefer a bowl to a bottle although it’s best to have both at first just to see, something really small like a tea light holder is fine.
I was wondering about the ceramic hide (vase?) as that’s probably quite heavy & she’ll be likely to dig underneath it.
For sand they really do like a round enclosed sand bath, if you moved the water bottle you might have room to put something on top of the existing sand, not sure if you’d have the space but they absolutely love the Hagen bird bath or something similar.
Hagen bird bath
If you want to make some changes I think these would be fine to do now while she’s still settling in & wouldn’t stress her.

 

[Jain]

View attachment 3377

She's cute beautiful colour