DIY Hamster Play Pen

My 5 month old hamster Tim has time out of his cage every night depending on my working hours. If I'm on earlies (6am starts) I struggle to get him out as he doesn't wake up till after 9:30pm and I'm normally asleep myself... 

Anyway I get him out for at least an hour. 15minutes running around on me and the sofa, then into the playpen for food and water and then in the ball for 15minutes. He goes back in the play pen for a while if time allows.

Here he is eating his veg in the DIY playpen:

This playpen is really easy to make and pretty much free if you can get hold of cardboard boxes. I used boxes from post deliveries, recycling! The cardboard boxes have to be tall enough so that the hamster cannot climb out.

To make this playpen I cut down the corner of the box:

With the box was completely flat I cut the flaps off one edge of the box (I used these later):  

I cut the other box exactly the same. I positioned the two boxes so that all the flaps were at the bottom and a large box/playpen was made. I used duct tape on the outside of the boxes (as hamsters should not eat duct tape) to stick the boxes together. I made sure there were no gaps so that Tim wouldn't be able to escape. 

To finish off the playpen I folded all the attached box flaps into the inside of the playpen to create part of the base (this protects my floor and Tim is less likely to escape by tunnelling under the cardboard). The flaps of cardboard that I cut off earlier I place on the floor under the playpen to cover the rest of the floor. I find this causes less mess in the room.

To keep Tim busy and happy I place toys, cardboard boxes to climb on, toilet rolls etc. as well as his wheel and Sand Bath in the play pen. I sometime hide some of his food mix and treats around the playpen for him to find. I feed Tim veg in the play pen; I feed Tim perishable food outside of his cage so that I know the food isn't going bad inside his cage. Placing water in the playpen is very important especially if he has been out of his cage for a while so his water bottle is always put in there. Keep the little guy hydrated!

The great thing about this playpen, apart from the fact it's free, is that it's easy to just fold up and tidy away after use. Here's a small tip: Before I tidy up the playpen, if there's a bit of mess in the bottom of the playpen I hoover it out before the mess gets on the floor.

Tim loves his playpen but I never leave him in there unsupervised as there is always a possibility that he may escape; it is made of cardboard this can be nibbled through! Never leave a hamster unsupervised when he/she is out of their cage.

Find other hamster posts Here.

DIY Aged Paper

I love the look of aged paper but who has time to wait for paper to start looking old? Here's how I made paper look old, in about an hour, using instant coffee.

What I used

• Plain white paper
• Instant coffee
• A tray - must fit size of paper 
• A kettle or saucepan - to boil water
• Somewhere to dry the paper that wont stain

Paper
I used normal plain white printer paper for this, although more absorbent paper would work better, printer paper worked fine for what I need. I ripped my paper in half as this is the size that I wanted and the ripping added to the aged effect.

Staining
The tray I used was a tin food tray, recycling! I placed a piece of paper in the tray then sprinkled some coffee on top, I then placed the next piece of paper on top and sprinkled some coffee on that and continued this using 5 pieces of paper in total (and a few extra bits). The colour of the paper will darken the more coffee used.

I boiled some water, waited for this to cool a little so not burn my fingers and poured it into the tray just about covering the paper. I pushed the paper down to get rid of any bubbles from underneath and to make sure the paper was completely covered.

The paper was left to soak for about 15-20 minutes then carefully removed from the tray. I added a few rips to some of the paper for effect, this is easier to do when the paper is wet.

Drying
To dry my paper I placed the paper on top of a larger tin food tray, more recycling! Paper can be dried by hanging it on a line or placed on a towel just don't stack them as they may stick together and don't place them on anything that will stain!

The drying time depends on the temperature and humidity of the room. My paper was dried outside as it was a very sunny day, they were fully dry after about 35 minutes. The pattern of the tray can be seen in some of the staining which I think adds a bit more interest:

I sprinkled more coffee on some of the paper when it was practically dry (as you can see in the picture below) to add a different effect:

This is what the paper looked like after it had dried:

In this photo I have placed the stained paper on top of the plain white printer paper for comparison. Paper that has been stained in this way will never look the same twice so each piece is unique.

To add to the old look I singed the edges of some of the paper a little with a candle and burned a hole and added a few burn spots. These are the pieces I singed:

Please do not handle hot water or try to singe paper unless your with an adult and you know how to do it properly.