To let my hamster be a house hamster?

[DifficultSituation19]

I rescued a hamster about 4 months ago who had had a pretty shit life up until then (she was about 8 months old when I got her).

She had never really been handled, but is now super tame and friendly. Her (very large) cage is on the floor of the living room, and since she’s become tamer I’ve been just opening the door of the cage and letting her free roam around the living room every evening, usually for 3-4 hours, sometimes longer. When she’s tired she gets back in her cage and puts herself back to bed.

Last night I was —three sheets to the wind— tired, and fell asleep while she was having her run around. This morning, when I went downstairs, she wasn’t in her house. No sign of her all day, but this evening she woke up and has been running around as normal, popping back into her cage every now and again for food and drinks or a quick run on her wheel.

I closed her cage door at about 10.30, and her little face broke my heart! She just sat at the door of her cage looking very sad indeed. She’s now out running around again. So I’m thinking, people have house rabbits, how about a house hamster? I’d keep her confined to the living room and she’d have the option of being in her cage if she wanted to be there (and I’d obviously put all her food in there).

Is this a bonkers idea? She has a sand bath, soil, deep substrate, and more toys and treats than you can shake a stick at in her cage, but she’d far rather not be in there. We don’t have any other pets that could munch her, and the dc are well trained at keeping the doors closed.

@JaimeBronde ooh I like that, Tiggy for short. Dd isn’t so convinced though 😁. She’s adamant that she must be called Rose 🤷‍♀️.

Well in true nutty hamster mother style I’ve just done a 4 hour round trip to pick up a humongous cage for new hammy. It’s 120cm x 80cm, which is the same size as my kitchen table. I think I’m going to have to get rid of the kitchen table.

See what I mean - this is the base of it (Peanut for scale)

Wow!! That’s a big cage. She will have lots of fun in that!

I would be tempted by Sassy....short for Sasquatch but still a cute name

My sister got a hamster and on her way home opened the box to peek at it. Cue escaped hamster in the car. I put down humane traps and food and we tried to catch it for a week. No luck. Eventually took it to a garage where the mechanic (insisting on doing it out front where it wouldn't chew his wiring if escaped) unscrewed part of the dashboard and we caught it.

The worst thing was it was a hire car. God knows what it did to the electrics. She never told them!

I am so glad to see you have such a big cage OP, a lot of people underestimate the size they should be in. Those starter cages make me cringe.

Bloody hell! That cage is about the same size as my kitchen floor space!

I think she is a delight. I am not sure about the best way to give her playtime - we had a smashing little chap (Hamlet) and, one afternoon, he squeezed his way into part of a kitchen unit Hammos appear to be incredibly elastic!! He came out later but it was an anxious time. One thought has come to me - could you get a hammo compartment set fro freecycle/freegle? That was it wont be expensive and you can collapse when not in use.

I love her white paws but then I am a huge MJ fan.

That’s great! Is it an actual hamster cage?

@titanicteaspoons yep, well it can be used for any small furry critters! The lady was selling two and I went to buy the one on the left (still much bigger than the recommended minimum) but of course came home with the one on the right. Have ordered lots of stuff to go in it to make it into a hammy paradise so she can move in in a few days. Which is just as well as it turns out she’s a terrible bar biter and she’ll have no teeth left soon if she stays in a barred cage.

@RoLaren that reminds me of the time I got to work and realised my cat was in the car (no longer have cats for anyone worried about hamster safety)

@DifficultSituation19 I think you need a bigger house!
I think this one is perfect
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60349269.html

It's in a village called Hamsterley 😂

@jaimebronde OMG 😮😍 I love it. Imagine how many hamsters I could have there. In Hamsterley. And room for the pony too. Unfortunately I only have about 20 quid in my account after my mega spending splurge on hamster accessories today, but maybe I could start a CFuckery crowdfunding effort to start my Hamsterley Hamster Sanctuary, and be moved in by the new school year? 🤔😂

@Badcat666 yeah it’s about the same size as my kitchen floor too. The fun bit about that being that it is going to have to go in the kitchen, because that’s the only option 😱

I live near Hamsterley, and it's a lovely little village. I've never seen any hamsters there, but there again I've never looked...

I think Peanut for scale is the best comment on any thread ever.

It looks amazing - when I was looking nothing that big was available but that looks custom-made?
My hamster chewed the bars of the Alaska but now he has two Alaskas joined together he doesn’t even want to leave it so it must have been a space thing.
I love how they are taking over the space of your home as that’s exactly what’s happened here! Just wondering where I can fit another one

It’s a crackers idea but she’s v cute

Wow, those cages are enormous! @titanicteaspoons how did you fit two Alaska together? Not that I've got space for a bigger cage unless it could stack

DropZoneOne I used wire cutters to cut the bars, they were quite easy to cut then I used Savic square connection rings over the holes I’d cut and a Savic Nobby Pipe tunnel between the cages. It does take up a lot of room (overhangs Ikea Kallax) but even when his door is wide open he isn’t fussed about coming out - this is far from the memory I have of my hamsters growing up clinging to the door trying to escape from too small cages as soon as I entered the room and chewing the bars all night long

With all the escaped hamsters I’ve heard of I’m surprised we haven’t got colonies of wild hamsters

@titanicteaspoons no they’re not custom made, the name of it is living world eco habitat if you want to have a google.

Hopefully the bits I ordered will come soon as it turns out the new hamster is an escape artist and in less that 48 hours has worked out how to open her cage door. I was very confused when I came downstairs last night at about 1am to find her sat in the middle of the kitchen floor looking guilty. I wasn’t sure if maybe dd had left the cage open by mistake but I thought I wouldn’t take any chances and cable tied her door shut. This morning she’d opened it again but only about a centimetre as the cable tie had stopped it. The most worrying thing is that she must have jumped off the kitchen table to get onto floor. She seems fine though.

In other news, Peanut’s nest behind the bookshelves is coming on very nicely. Christ knows where she’s got all that stuff from!

With all the escaped hamsters I’ve heard of I’m surprised we haven’t got colonies of wild hamsters

Maybe we have but they all live in nests behind bookcases etc like Peanut's, so they live among us undetected...

DifficultSituation19 have you considered building Hamster Towers or Hamster Castle for Peanut & her friends?

@DifficultSituation19

@JaimeBronde I love the castle! I may ask dp to fashion me one for Christmas . I do get the sylvanian families stuff out for Peanut. It’s very cute watching her go through doors and up the stairs.

Oh goodness can we have a pic next time she's in slvaynian hamsters