soggy cupid

[Ameris]

this absolutely goober decided it was a great idea to sit in his water bowl
The face of a guilty man

(I only held him like that for a second to see how wet he was and make sure he was okay, luckily he was just damp. Little man got dried off and kisses soon after )

 

[elusive]

Not such a good idea Cupid!

How big is his water bowl? It shouldn’t really be big enough to sit in, no bigger than something like a tea light holder.

 

[Maz]

That face looks more like "yeah so what" to me I have only recently started using a water bowl (as well as a bottle) and am still cautious about them for this reason! Could you put it in a corner maybe on a shelf? Then it's less likely to be sat in or fallen in. My Syrian still just has a bottle as I am sure he would walk or sit in a water bowl!

Glad he is fine and all dried off and had some cuddles

 

[Frida]

Cupid looks so funny in the photo. He's got a naughty guilty look on his face

 

[RainbowBrite]

I use glass tealight holders as water bottles. Once my hamster sat in it and then looked shocked his bottom was wet! This was when he first arrived and kept looking for ways to escape.

 

[Maz]

He is very cute by the way

 

[Ameris]

Not such a good idea Cupid!

How big is his water bowl? It shouldn’t really be big enough to sit in, no bigger than something like a tea light holder.

It’s only about two inches long. He can’t get very submerged in it at all, only a bit damp. A little soggy

 

[Ameris]

That face looks more like "yeah so what" to me I have only recently started using a water bowl (as well as a bottle) and am still cautious about them for this reason! Could you put it in a corner maybe on a shelf? Then it's less likely to be sat in or fallen in. My Syrian still just has a bottle as I am sure he would walk or sit in a water bowl!

Glad he is fine and all dried off and had some cuddles

It sits in the corner of his sand bath— I’ll probably take a photo of it when I get home from today’s classes. Unfortunately Cupid doesn’t learn from mistakes, and he does this often. Thinking about switching him to a bottle since the bowl is such a hassle (he likes to pile sand into it as well which gets messy)

 

[Ameris]

this absolutely goober decided it was a great idea to sit in his water bowl
The face of a guilty man

(I only held him like that for a second to see how wet he was and make sure he was okay, luckily he was just damp. Little man got dried off and kisses soon after )

View attachment 4544

he’s a silly little fellow

 

[elusive]

If he’s used to a bowl I wouldn’t switch to a bottle, can you put it somewhere else? It’s best on a shelf or platform if you have one above the substrate & clear of sand.

 

[Ameris]

If he’s used to a bowl I wouldn’t switch to a bottle, can you put it somewhere else? It’s best on a shelf or platform if you have one above the substrate & clear of sand.

I’ve tried putting it on a piece of wood to elevate it before. He carried paper bedding up to put it in the water he will intentionally climb into the bowl. Sometimes I wonder if he has something a little off in his tiny head because of how weird he is lol

Hopefully I can get him accustomed to a bottle, or figure out how to keep him out of the water. It isn’t good for him to get wet, even if it’s just a little it still worries me

 

[RainbowBrite]

Would you like to post a picture of the cage so members can give you some tips?

 

[elusive]

It would be helful to see his cage & as Rainbow said we might be able to suggest something.

I would try a smaller bowl if you can get one, a couple of inches doesn’t sound big but it may be a bit too big.

I would try to avoid changes at the moment, as you’re not sure why he’s losing weight it’s probably best not to do anything that might stress him a bit so if you can stick with the bowl I would.

 

[Ameris]

It would be helful to see his cage & as Rainbow said we might be able to suggest something.

I would try a smaller bowl if you can get one, a couple of inches doesn’t sound big but it may be a bit too big.

I would try to avoid changes at the moment, as you’re not sure why he’s losing weight it’s probably best not to do anything that might stress him a bit so if you can stick with the bowl I would.

Agreed, thank you! I’ll take a picture when I get home.

 

[Lovelyness]

I have a tea light holder which I use as an extra food bowl so that Blossom can have an extra spot to forage in. She enjoys going round her cage collecting her goodies. She can sit in it tho, so I wouldn’t dare put water in it lol. She’s quite a petite Syrian

 

[Ameris]

Got pictures of the cage! I’m rather self conscious about it to be honest. It’s not nearly as beautiful and full of variety as everybody’s cages in here is, though I can assure y’all it’s 40 gallons (650 ish inches of floor space I think?) anyways, my point is sorry it’s not the prettiest :’)
Also I weighed him again and he’s hanging out at a steady 38.5 grams still, so I suppose that’s good news! I’ll be weighing him in two more days again.hamster on the scale

 

[elusive]

Cages don’t haave to pretty as long as they’re fun for hams & have what they need so don’t feel self conscious, it’s taken most of us a while to figure how best to set up our cages for our hams

I can see how you might have a problem with the water though as there isn’t much in the way of clear space free of the substrate to put a bowl on.

I’d suggest either buying or making some platforms, it’s quite easy to make them with a piece of hamster safe wood & some birch dowels for legs but you can buy platforms too.

If you had the wheel on a platform you could put a lot more substrate in so Cupid could dig & burrow more, with more substrate it’s actually easier to clean & you tend to need to do it less often.
That way things could be more on one level which would make things easier to set up & easy for Cupid too.

If you had a platform along most or all of that side where the wheel is you could put the water bowl on there too.
You could have the sand in a smaller slightly deeper container maybe on another platform as sand is quite heavy.
There’s a thread here that might give you ideas for a sand bath container.

You could do that without disturbing the end of the cage with substrate in so it wouldn’t be too much change for him.

Good to hear his weight is stable.

 

[ilguy]

That bowl is just too low to the ground unfortunately. I used to have a ceramic one that was just too low as well.

I recently switched to these basic things with my ham, and they've worked surprisingly well.

PetSmart Bowl

 

[elusive]

Sorry I forgot to add the link!

What do you use as a sandbath?

Thought we could add tips for sandbath containers on here :)

www.thehamsterforum.com

This one is worth a look too.

What size sand bath.

Hello everyone, is there a minimum size for a sand bath. Albert has a square tub, internal size 11cm x 11cm x about 4cm deep. It's about one third full of sand. Albert is very protective of his sand bath and will charge and attack if I go to clean it if he's in his cage. So I guess he's happy...

www.thehamsterforum.com

 

[RainbowBrite]

I think you are brave to show a picture of your cage. This is a friendly and caring forum so do not worry as members just want to help you and your hamster.

Cage set ups are a very individual choice. I personally like to fill mine with substrate so the hamster can dig and make tunnels all across the cage. Elusive has given you great tips because having platforms is going to make everything much easier for you and Cupid. I like to have a hamster wheel on a platform so it does not gets stuck with substrate and the hamster can burrow underneath it too. A sand bath on a platform will allow Cupid to burrow underneath it and also allow for a deeper sand bath which I am sure he will enjoy.