Lariath- Live a Little.

I've been really wanting a glass tank for Tim for ages, mainly so Tim has more space but also I think they look really nice and Tim can't chew on any bars etc. Don't get me wrong, the DIY Bin Cage  that I made is awesome, more so after  Adding a Door , especially for new hamsters for taming purposes. I will be keeping the bin cage for when I go away and Tim goes to a friends house to be looked after, let's face it moving a massive tank to a friends house for a week is never going to happen. I've seen a few people using an IKEA Detolf glass cabinet (put on its side/back) as a hamster cage and for a glass tank it's a really good price for an amazing size too. The only issues I have with the Detolf are space to put the cage and transporting the cage when we move....but we will deal with that when it happens. The only other issue is that Syrian hamsters, such as Tim, can escape the Detolf if there is no lid (the glass door that comes with the Detolf cannot be us...

I enjoy growing plants that I can eat, there is just something about growing my own food from seed that I love. Especially basil, I adore basil. At the minute my house is rented so I can't trash the garden with food experiments so I'm stuck using the kitchen windowsill. My windowsill is full of herbs and 'speedy salad'. Anyway onto hamsters. I feed Tim bird seed just to add some variety to his diet, it's perfectly healthy as an occasional treat. While giving him his bird seed I had a random thought; I like to grow things from seed....these are seeds.... Oooooo. So I sprinkled a little bit of birdseed in a little pot of soil (my DIY Recycled Plant Pot  no less) watered the soil quite well and allowed it to drain then sprinkled a little extra soil on top. After a few days I had some green shoots coming up, then after a few more days I had this: Most of the shoots just look like grass, I cut a few pieces of the grass shoots about an inch above the soil and give ...

Just a quick post about a new DIY treat that I have given to Tim. It entertained him for ages! The treat is just made with birdseed, flour and water. It's very easy to make and doesn't take long. It took longer for Tim to destroy the treat than it did for me to make it, that's saying something! For Tim I put them on his Kabob: I made some for my friends little pets, these I put on some string: I do apologise for the quality of these next pictures my phone does not pick up Tim very well when he is moving around. What is this? (I only give Tim one at a time as they are quite big and knowing Tim he would eat them all in one go) Tasty! Can I reach it better from up here? Yep! The idea is not my own please see This Awesome YouTuber  (YouTuber....is that even a real word?). Her videos are very entertaining with some great pet ideas. Click  Here  for video instructions on how to make the Seedy Treat. Enjoy this post?

I'm always trying to come up with toys to keep Tim busy. This is one of my favourite DIY toys as it keeps him busy, is very amusing to watch and it is very quick, easy and cheap to make. Equipment: Toilet roll Pet safe natural string Scissors (anything to poke a hole a pencil would do) Whole peanut still in its shell Method : Poke a hole into the centre of the toilet roll tube (I use toilet rolls that are slightly too small for Tim so that he has to work harder to get to the nut...it also encourages chewing). Tie the whole peanut onto the end of the string. Thread the string through the hole so that the peanut is in the centre of the toilet roll. Hang the toilet roll in the cage and enjoy the show. Enjoy this post?

To make this bridge I used all natural Jute string a 5.5mm crochet hook. I made the stitches  VERY  tight so that Tims little paws wouldn't get stuck in any gaps, this took quite a bit of effort as the Jute string is very stiff.  SC- Single Crochet Chain 14  (or as many needed to made the bridge wide enough)  Row 1: SC in each chain along, turn Row 2 - 35: SC in each stitch along, turn (add or decrease the amount of rows to create a longer or shorter bridge) Finish off.  Tie a length of string to each corner of the piece to make supports and hang securely in the cage. To make the supports stronger I used two pieces of string in each corner and tied the pieces together all the way along.  Safety! Only use materials that are safe for a hamster. Make sure there are NO gaps for little feet to get caught in. Don't hang the bridge too high from the ground and make sure there is lots of soft bedding beneath the bridge in...

One of my DIY toys for Tim is the Suspended Tunnel-Bridge: Equipment: Natural String Thick cardboard tube Screwdriver (or anything to make a hole)  Scissors I bought my thick cardboard tube and natural jute string from my local pet store, they were both pretty cheap. I think the thickness of the cardboard is quite important as it needs to be quite sturdy, a toilet roll would not be suitable for this... no hamster injuries! Also natural string is a must because hamsters love to chew and 'normal' string is full of icky chemicals which cause upset tummies.  My tube was waaaaaay to long in length so I cut it down to a suitable size. (I say cut... I ended up using a saw due to the thickness of the cardboard.).  Then I used a screwdriver to put two holes into the top of the tube near to each end.  I knotted my string at the end making sure the knot was big enough so that it couldn't slip through the hole in the tube.  ...

Here's a quick and cheap toy I make for Tim quite regularly. Equipment: Toilet roll tube/kitchen roll tube Natural String (important see 'Safety' below)   Scissors Hamster food/treats I save all my toilet roll tubes and kitchen roll tubes etc to make toys for Tim. This is the best toilet roll tube toy I have made so far they seem to keep Tim entertained for a while and only takes me 5 minutes to make. All I do it grab a tube fold in one end of the tube and place some food/treats in the tube.   Then I fold the other end of the tube so that the treats cannot fall out.   I then use the scissors to make two small holes as the top of the tube, thread the string through the holes and tie to the top of the cage.    Voilà! The first time I made this toy Tim ignored it completely because he couldn't smell the food that was in there. To make him more interested I pulled open one of the ends a little so that he could smell t...

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 wer...

Meet Tim my extremely 'Tim'id hamster. I got Tim about a month ago and decided to make him a bin cage so that he had a lot of room to run and a place to burrow (and an excuse to get my craft on). I bought the biggest storage box I could find that was tall enough to fit the 11" wheel in. My boyfriend excited to use his manly drill drilled many many many holes in the box sides and lid.  I bought a small kitchen bin to use as a burrow, the top of the bin was cut off and sanded down to fit comfortably into the cage. So that Tim could reach his burrow I bought him this  Flexible tube . I think these are awesome as they bend to whatever shape you need, can be as long or short as you want and are big enough for Syrian  hamsters to use. The only downside is that they can be a bit tricky to clean due to the ridges but I definitely think it's worth it. Here's the bin/burrow where he's made a nest right at the bottom: I made a sand bath for him out of a...