Snowy

[Banned Member 1]

I keep forgetting to introduce my little hybrid dwarf Snowy. She came to me at approximately a year old. I had been planning to adopt another dwarf that already had some enrichment in her current enclosure and mainly needed to be in a bigger enclosure but that adoption fell through. Snowy came to me with almost nothing, she'd been living in a 300 sq inch cage with no wheel, no sandbath, nowhere to burrow and was kinda stinky (and a little chonky!). She was very brave though and was accepting treats out of my fingers already on the second day I had her. It took me a few weeks to get her new home up to standard but just giving her the bare minimums was a big step up from what she was used to. She had a go at burrowing on her very first day and after three days she started sleeping in her burrow and never looked back.

She generally prefers to do her own thing but is very handleable and enjoys short sessions of floor time. She doesn't like to sit still in hands, if she's not running about exploring she'd rather be in a hide. I have an rgb light in the room she is in and it's set to emit no blue light after 8pm. She normally comes out around 9pm (sometimes a little earlier) to grab food and go to her pee spot. Normally she makes a couple more appearances before my bed time so if I'm lucky I'll spot her out and give her a treat and some floor time. When I first got her she'd be zooming on her wheel for hours at night but she has become gradually less active over the 8 months I've had her and is active in shorter doses than she used to be.

I felt like posting the video of her exploring her new enclosure the day she was brought home. She first pops out at 6m45 in this video:

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[Banned Member 1]

A little clip of my first bonding session with her. She was a little suspicious of me but brave enough to come over and check me out a bit.

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[Maz]

Ooh she is gorgeous Seens very active and curious. She had a good go at trying to climb that fence in the first video!

 

[Banned Member 1]

Ooh she is gorgeous Seens very active and curious. She had a good go at trying to climb that fence in the first video!

Yes, she is pretty good at climbing things. I had to extend the barrier between the bedding area and the sand area all the way to the top of the enclosure to stop her climbing over it and going splat into the sand!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Oh she is so cute! I laughed when she tried to tunnel under your legs! Thank you for showing us these lovely videos of Snowy.

 

[Banned Member 1]

She really loves to dig in her beech chips! Was up unusually early today.

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[RainbowBrite]

Aww, she was loving digging in the beech chips! I love her little turn when she turned around. She is so beautiful!

 

[Member ID2]

I enjoyed watching this video of cute little Snowy. What a good idea to place her wheel in beech chips and she loves them.

 

[Banned Member 1]

She does love her digging substrates. I have another acrylic box on order for her

 

[Maz]

Lovely video! She is digging so energetically. I recognise that thing where they dig like crazy, get to the bottom, realise they can't tunnel out of the cage so give up and go and do something else! The blue and white substrate looks nice and cosy for her too. She really does look cute and active!

 

[Banned Member 1]

The blue and white is carefresh. Will probably buy Clean N Cosy in the future as its supposedly better for holding burrows. I also have some aspen shavings to mix with it. She has been working on her burrows a lot lately. I have seen two new holes appear this week.

 

[Member ID2]

Kaytee clean and cozy works out cheaper when you buy the 85l bag which is the same price as a 60l bag Carefresh.
It goes further as well.
Like you, i have a white dwarf and thought i'd use coloured Carefresh as a substrate topper to see her better but she's a burrower and ploughs through the substrate mixing it all up!

 

[Banned Member 1]

Snowy is kicking up her beech chips almost every night at the moment. Sometimes she covers up the door to the hide under the ramp on the left entirely. I am wondering if she might benefit from having deep bedding on both sides of the enclosure as she is a huge fan of burrowing. I am considering moving the beech chips into the largest substrate box as she doesn't use it all that much with sand in it. I'd have to raise the wheel, possibly turning it 90 degrees so it's accessed from the ramp.

I'd maybe have to change the lid on the MCH under the substrate boxes because I'd worry about airflow as it has a plastic lid covering the whole thing and the only way for fresh air to get in would be the entrance on either side. Not sure if that's something that's actually an issue or I'm just worrying too much?

I don't really know how to tell if she's just enjoying herself digging or if she's exhibiting stress signs :/

 

[RainbowBrite]

From what I saw in the video it looks to me like she is having fun digging in the beech chips. If you can increase the bedding depth then I am sure she would appreciate it as I feel hamsters love burrowing. With the MCH having a plastic lid, is it possible to remove it and to make a cardboard one? I know some people make MCH out of cardboard.

 

[Banned Member 1]

From what I saw in the video it looks to me like she is having fun digging in the beech chips. If you can increase the bedding depth then I am sure she would appreciate it as I feel hamsters love burrowing. With the MCH having a plastic lid, is it possible to remove it and to make a cardboard one? I know some people make MCH out of cardboard.

It's reassuring that you think she's just having fun. Maybe she just likes to block up the entrance to the hide under the ramp? She definitely doesn't like having entrances to her main burrow visible. She has a good 7" of bedding on the other side.

If I do end up putting bedding on both sides I think I'll make a trip to hobbycraft and replace the lid of the MCH with basswood that covers 2/3rd of the hide leaving the left 1/3 open for airflow.

 

[RainbowBrite]

It's reassuring that you think she's just having fun. Maybe she just likes to block up the entrance to the hide under the ramp? She definitely doesn't like having entrances to her main burrow visible. She has a good 7" of bedding on the other side.

If I do end up putting bedding on both sides I think I'll make a trip to hobbycraft and replace the lid of the MCH with basswood that covers 2/3rd of the hide leaving the left 1/3 open for airflow.

In my experience, hamsters love digging. My robo loves digging and he tries to dig everything, even the stand of his wheel! Hamsters also like to block up hides. Maybe Snowy is blocking her hides to feel cosy. It makes sense for her to block entrances to her burrows as she is making sure nothing can get into her burrows. My robo does the same.

 

[Maz]

They often do block up entrances in colder weather. I’ve not heard about f digging being a stress symptom before. I’m wondering if she just wants to dig under her wheel. Hamsters seem to like to do that - especially if they love their wheel! So could you raise the wheel on little platform so bedding goes under the wheel and is a bit higher (but no necessarily as high as the rest of the cage).

 

[Banned Member 1]

The beech chips do go under her wheel. There's a good 2" or so gap under the wheel which is why I'm using the small sandbath as a step so she can get into the wheel easily. I can't raise it much higher than that as the top of the wheel is already pretty close to the roof! The limited height of the Maxi Duna is certainly annoying at times!

 

[Maz]

Oh sorry - I should have checked the photo. Ok how about changing the beech chips for a different substrate? Something soft she can burrow in more easily maybe? Maybe the beech chips just annoy her lol!

 

[Maz]

I think I would try that first rather than having to change a lot of things. It may also distract her out of it.