It's been a busy work week so I've been remiss in posting! Wally has continued to be reliable in being coaxed out before our bedtime, though he still needs gentleness and patience. We missed a few nights with the 6-7PM window, but when we did, if we made some noise and brought food around 9PM, his nose was quickly at the entrance to his 6-chamber hideaway to be coaxed out with food. However, he is very much a creature of habit. If I don't put the upside-down igloo down for him to walk into with the food he seems very reluctant to come out for the food. He has to have the igloo to slowly be coaxed into, and then he knows the igloo will transport him to playtime. Last night when we came up late after 9PM he was already out of his hideout so we were able to easily take him out for play.
We've experimented with play in a few different places around the house, which has been fun. We don't have one large space that is totally safety-proofed, so we are very involved with our interactions. He still doesn't seem to crave out-of-cage time. He never tries to appeal to us to when we're around like some hamsters do, but as seen in my description above, he's become very comfortable with the routine of once-a-night play sessions. He tends to tire of it after 20-30 minutes, and we can tell because he'll find a corner or something to semi-hide in and curl up like he's ready to go back to sleep. So then we'll show him the igloo again and bring him back up. He's funny in the igloo because he put his front paws on the wall and sort of stand up and look around, but he also seems to know he can't jump or scamper out.
It's still learning time with my daughter (8yo). She absolutely adores Wally but I have to coach her to follow his lead at times when he's out (i.e., don't keep shoving things in his direction; set something down, and if he wants it he'll take it...I know you're still having fun, but I think he's indicating that he's ready to go back to his hideout by becoming less active.).
Another funny thing he did was this: 2x after we put him back in his cage this week, he went into his hideaway, but we could see that he was near a chamber that has a hole on top (there's the main entrance hole on one side, and one hole in a different place on the top). We held a final food item for him to take through the top hole, and he took it each time and then we went away. However, he must decided that our access to his chamber through the top hole was invasive, because yesterday he completely covered that hole with bedding- bedding is
overflowing out of that hole.
So we've slipped into a pretty good routine. He hasn't reacted poorly to our experimenting with play areas outside of the cage, and he's been up at night for hours while we sleep doing things that hamsters do, which is a positive change from when I first started posting and he was in a phase where he was almost entirely staying underground. I think the combination of the larger wheel and coaxing him out for an early play to get comfortable with that have made all the difference. He also knows that when he sees us he gets fresh food he likes, such as scrambled egg and broccoli. And then he gets to have the late nights all to himself.
. I can just imagine him with his paws on the edge of the upturned igloo - it's the sort of thing they do - nosey! It reminds me of Beryl's Percy in his mug - I'm sure she'll explain what I mean.
Our current Syrian is unusual in wanting to be out every night.
, sounds like everything is going really well with Wally settling in. Cute he hops into the igloo to be transported to the play area, our Syrian uses a plastic jug. Like you, we can tell when he’s had enough of the play area. I sit the jug in and he gently tips it over and climbs in to go home. Made me smile that he blocked the hole up and had bedding overflowing, they are very good at communicating with us through different actions.
