Housing

Hamsters like and need lots of love and mental stimulation. We were finally able to get large living spaces for them, which they seem to dig. Thanks to nephew Jules (and the passing of his hamster Hammy), the Gulls received two fabulous Habitrail Safari homes. And they just got new fancy additions of extra tubing, thanks to the great prices and fast service from futurepets.com.

Since getting the new tubing, the girls seem to have taken to sleeping in one of the "cubes" instead of their "outposts." This is fine if they like it, it just seems funny. I think it would be uncomfortable, but if they like it - oh well!

Each of the girl's areas is composed of the main Habitrail Safri housing unit, an outpost, three T connectors, two "cubes", two 8" tubes, and one 13" tube. They seem to love running through them, and have no problem gripping on to the grooves to shimmy up and down them!

For reviews of Habitrail housing and accessories, check out this page at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/5788/hamsters/habintro.htm. This person really knows their hamster stuff!

Toys and Other Fun Times

The "gulls" have great fun just getting out of their cages and running around. They have quite a bit of space (and nowhere to get lost or get away) on the table their cages are kept on. Once they get going, they can really haul! They are so funny when they get going super fast, all squeezed down low to the ground. I read somewhere that in the wild, hamsters travel up to four miles a day! Once you see them run for real, you will believe it! (Please don't let hamsters out unsupervised. Make sure you check any possible escape routes - hamsters are fast, smart, and unbelievable escape artists!)

We have been playing around with creating exciting hamster activities, and came up with Playlandia! We cut holes in the lower bottom of several cardboard boxes and connected them with paper towel tubes and extra plastic tubing. We vary the playthings in Playlandia; there are toilet paper tubes for chewing, a wheel for running, and a plastic cup.

Jett and the other boys like to supervise Playlandia visits.	Playlandia now consists of two boxes (because they chewed escape holes in the others). More 'rooms' can be added on at any time.

The girls love to get in the plastic cup and rub against the walls - which makes it roll and shimmy. They seem to love this "go crazy" time. (Plus, it's really funny to watch.)

The girls must go into Playlandia one at a time due to their propensity to fighting. The second girl to get in there can smell the other one was there, so they must rub frantically against all surfaces. They get going really fast, but can still manage to rub their hips (where their scent glands are located) against everything! The first time one of them did this, it was kind of scary until we figured out what they were doing.

The "Gulls" home:
http://www.hamsterhouse.com/sararose/index.html