Digging Play Bin For My Robo Hams
Ever since I had to take Sofia to the vet to get her nails trimmed I’ve been on a mission to get both her and Steven digging again. I’d really like to be more proactive about keeping their nails trimmed so they don’t have to deal with (what I can only imagine are) traumatic visits the the vet.
SO. I am trying this out! I wanted to create a play space for my Robo hams to continue the taming process with them by giving them a consistent space where they can explore (and dig!) without feeling too nervous. I got footage of both Steven and Sofia… Steven was more into going around and under everything, Sofia was all about finding EVERY seed and stuffing it into her quickly filling cheeks.
I hope they enjoyed the experience! I only let them in there for about 10 minutes max, and then I bring them home so they can start to learn that they’ll always return home and there’s nothing to fear :)
How do you tame your Robos?
Introducing… RGH Shorts!
I have SO MANY hamster videos on my phone! I try to use them as relevant clips in my weekly YouTube vids, but honestly, it’s getting out of control. Also, these are pretty cute videos and no one was getting to enjoy them!
So I decided to add a new type of content to my YT channel- outside of my longer-form hamster product reviews and hamster life updates, I’ve created a playlist of “Rachel Got Hamster Shorts!” with new and adorable footage being added throughout the week (or, whenever I have a cute hamster moment to share, which is often).
Displaying this new playlist below, I hope you all enjoy!
(I love the) Niteangel Super Silent Wheel!
I’m here to shout it to the rooftops! I love this wheel. Watch my latest vid to find out why:
To purchase this wheel through Amazon, click here.
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
You can also check out the Niteangel Website for more of their products!
Making a Lid For My 200 qt Bin Cage
I signed up for foster some hams for a local rescue and ended up with a pair (I brought them home on Friday, it’s now Sunday).
Since I was planning on just one, I have them in a 100 qt bin cage. Buuut, one seems to be a bit aggressive. I’m not sure if it’s just towards us, or if it’s towards the other ham as well. I don’t want to separate them yet until I know that is right for them, but I would like to put them in a bigger bin so I can have separate hides for both of them.
Hence! A new bin cage is necessary.
I also ordered some taupe duct/duck tape from Amazon to make sure I can cover all those sharp, chicken wire edges: https://amzn.to/2VevTrR
YouTube update with videos coming soon!
This was really difficult! 😅
Wine Box Upcylcing// Homemade Multi-Chamber Hide
If you are someone who gets wine in the mail, you might enjoy this!
Sofia Gets a Nail Trim
Sofia’s nails got too long! I made a quick video diary of how I got her nails trimmed up. I hope she forgives me!
Giving Coconut 🥥 Fiber a Try
I just got a huge bag of loose coconut 🥥 fiber from ZooMed, can’t wait to see how Steven likes it!
This is what I’d like to put in Steven’s natural/“enchanted forest” theme cage. He’s very sensitive to change, however, so I’ll wait a few days before I place it in there (maybe I’ll even remove him from the cage)
Little Sofia digging in her EcoEarth coconut fiber
Action shot of the digging!
Still reviewing this to see how my hamsters and I like it, but if you’re interested in buying, here is the link to Amazon (as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases): https://amzn.to/37zNaRU
It is also available at PetCo (affiliate link-I earn a small commission if you purchase through this link).
My Little Hungry Hippo 🦛
I love my little Sofia. But as she has gained confidence with us, she’s become a bit of a “biting Betty.” It doesn’t appear to be aggressive, it seems more like she is just SO excited to see us and leads with her mouth, 👄 hoping food will find its way in.
I’m hoping that this is just a phase, she has grown so much and I believe we could have a really sweet and affectionate ham on our hands, we just have to get her used to the idea that we aren’t also food.
For now we have begun wearing gloves when interacting with her, letting her crawl in our gloved hand and get used to being comfortable with that.
So far the leather gloves have proved appealing to nibble on, but at least it’s not our fingers!
Oddly enough Steven appears to be less afraid of a gloved hand than a naked hand, so it’s been fun letting him crawl over the leather gloves too!
Wyze Pet Cam
I plan do do a review on this pet cam soon and will post when it’s ready. Until then I feel like I have to share how much I love this pet cam!
It’s fairly inexpensive and then for about $14/year you can have all your pet cam videos uploaded to the cloud!
Since hamsters are nocturnal animals (and can sometimes avoid coming out until you go to sleep), I found this pet cam SO helpful. It allows me to check in on my little friends and make sure they are happy and healthy. It also helps me see what toys and parts of their cages they tend to use the most so I can give them the best care possible.
Also, it’s just adorable. I have have two per hamster enclosure, one on each end :).
You can purchase it from Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2VNIJNK
*as an Amazon Associate I ear from qualifying sales
Look how great the quality is!
The night vision is good too! And the camera uses a light spectrum that isn’t visible to hamsters 🐹 (so it shouldn’t disturb them and isn’t visible to people either!)
UPDATE: Video is up!
Sofia Gets a Cage Clean 🧽 & Update!
Sofia chews on her Whimzee in her freshly cleaned 🧹 bin cage
Hamster 🐹 Haul, Election Week Therapy
It’s been a weird week. How ‘bout we just talk about hamsters?
I got some new hamster things! Come open them with me! :)
Steven’s Continued Bin Cage Updates
I’m on a quest to get Steven’s 200 qt bin cage to feel juuuust right. I want all the fluff, all the sand, and lots of places to hide. Easier said than done!
I love my hamsters 🐹
Steven drinks in his freshly spot cleaned enclosure
How cute is he when he drinks water? I’m still not over it.
My Dream Bin
Bins used to be something that held stuff. Don’t get me wrong- I loved a good bin.
But now, now bins are for HAMSTERS! And I see them with totally new eyes.
I recently discovered (after some deep dives on the Hamster Hideout Forum) the IRIS Christmas Tree box from the Container Store! 1000 sq inches of hamster play space!! Woot!
I juuust got my little fur balls into 200 qt bins. But, maybe in some time I’ll give them the upgrade to these longer, IRIS bins!
The only downside I see is height- the IRIS Christmas Tree Bin is only 14” high, which means there’s not a lot of room for a wheel (when you add the base height). Even though I have robos I do like to give them generously sized wheels (as I think all hamsters deserve!).
You can check out the IRIS Christmas Tree Bin on the Container Store website here.
Have you used it? Let me know how it went!
Another thing I love…
I just bought this small, 3” sieve from Amazon (as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases), and OMG does it make a difference!
I have two Roborovski hamsters: Steven & Sofia (named after Steven Spielberg and Sofia Coppola). I love them both and especially love how different they are! Their habits, their likes, food they go for, what they do with their evenings, and so on!
Steven is a “wheel-pee-er,” as I have heard many hamsters seem to be. Steven wakes up, runs to his wheel and immediately pees. I wash his wheel constantly (and even have a few on rotation so I can swap one in when I wash the other) but it’s always an uphill battle.
Sofia, on the other hand, is a sand-pee-er. This actually makes more sense, it’s kind of like having a teeny, tiny cat. Only thing is, now I have to stay on top of keeping her sand clean…. and that’s where this small, 3” sieve (strainer) comes in handy!
I have been running the ham’s sand through a fine mesh sieve about 1x a week, depending on how it’s looking. I usually reserve Saturdays for tidying up the hamster cages.
For Sofia, however, I felt that I needed an easy way to clean up more frequently without having to disrupt her habitat too much. It’s hard during the week, since by the time I’m off work, she’s already awake- I can’t easily remover her sand bath while she’s awake without her getting a bit frantic.
So! I think I found the perfect solution! I tried using this last night and was very happy! She clearly doesn’t like the sound, so I have to use it when she’s occupied eating or burrowing, but at least I can quickly get in there, scoop a few bits of dirty sand out and move on!
I will say, there probably are some particles on the air as a result of this, so I would recommend doing this while your hamsters are otherwise occupied. Probably the sand settles after a minute or two, but I wouldn’t want a hamster around this just in case they inhale a bit of airborne sand.
I’ll still want to do a full straining on the weekends, since it’s hard to get all the corners and far reaches of her sand bath, but I do think this is a step in the right direction.
How do you keep your ham’s sand bath clean?
Long nails
I finally got Sofia to slow down for a second and I saw her long nails! Eek! She doesn’t do the digging in her sandbox like Steven does, so I think I’m going to have to find a new solution for her.
I ordered some pumice stones from Amazon yesterday, let’s hope I can get these to work!
Hamster Lava Chews from Amazon (as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases):
https://amzn.to/2JXfFk8
Wednesday 11/4/20- update
I just got home from work and they arrived! They are so weird - ten individually wrapped, square, grey pumice stones! They aren’t super attractive but I’m hoping they work for little Sofia!
I’ll have to figure out how to arrange them in her cage… more to come!
Eeek So Cute!!
I got the cutest little house as a birthday gift!
From my new fav Etsy shop: Love Drizzle!
Link to their store in Etsy (Not an affiliate link!): https://www.etsy.com/shop/LoveDrizzlesStudio
I can’t decide who is going to get this house- Steven or Sofia. I’m thinking Steven, since he doesn’t have a little cozy hide the way Sofia has her strawberry hide. He’s more of a burrower anyway… but maybe he just hasn’t had the opportunity to get cozy in a little hide? We’ll see!
Kaytee Crittertrail SUPER Habitat Review
The review is live! Can’t wait to hear what the rest of you think of this cage!
It’s a huge box!!
If you are interested in this cage or the products show, including links below!
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Kaytee Crittertrail SUPER Habitat: From Amazon. You could also try Craigslist or OfferUp, I’ve seen a few for sale recently, you can save some $$!
Kaytee Silent Spinner 10” (size L): Amazon
PetCo only sells the size 12” silent spinner (size XL), which would be good for a Syrian. I’m not sure it would fit in this cage, however.
PetCo also sells the size M, 6 1/2” Silent Spinner, but I only recommend this wheel for young hamsters who are not strong enough to push the larger wheel. Even for a robo I would recommend not going smaller than 8”.
*I do like that PetCo has a pay online for a discount and pick up in stores option! I actually use this a lot- it saves time and money, AND packaging!
You and Me Exercise Saucer, size Medium (7 1/4”) from PetCo - This is not a good replacement for a real wheel, but I found both of my hamsters enjoy using it and it serves also as a hide that they like to snuggle under. I have been putting this in Sofia’s sandbath (since she loves to hang in her sand so much) and she spends a lot her evening on or around it! Get size L for a Syrian hamster. The small size is too small any type of hamster in my opinion. A very similar product by Ware is available at Amazon.
Clean and Cozy (white) paper bedding: from PetCo and Amazon. I have tried using aspen in my hamster enclosures and found I am VERY allergic to it, so I got rid of it :/. I also found that the aspen didn’t make for great burrowing. I liked that it provided some variety in textures for my little friends, but seeing all of their tunnels in the paper bedding is so fun and cute. Clean and Cozy works really well for this. Steven has more scent than Sofia (I’m not sure if that’s a gendered thing?) but I rarely smell anything aside their natural hamster scent.
Zacro Acrylic Silent Spinner: I love this wheel! So does Steven. It’s truly soundless and very wide. My only dislike is that it doesn’t have great traction, but Steven makes it work. You can see my review of it here. And a link to the product on Amazon here.
ReptiSand: I live in an apartment, so I don’t really have a lot of space to store a 40 LB bag of children’s playsand (but if you have the space, this is a great option). If you’re like me and you just need a little bit of sand at a time, ReptiSand is great! You can find it from Amazon here.
Hamster Rainbow Suspension Bridge (I tend to use it more as a “fence” around sand, but it is a fun pop of color!): From Amazon
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