Need advice
I have a hamster since February. He’s a lovely little guy, very calm but very self going and he’s in love with the paper bedding so he basically just wanna stay in it all day. He only comes out around 2 h every night and runs in his wheel for a bit but definitely more into burrowing and doing his own thing. I know this bc I’m a night owl myself and I’ve listened/observed him for 3 months now. His enclosure is 120 x 50 cm with plenty of items, enrichments etc.
I’ve now decided I wanna get another hamster. Everything is prepared and the second enclosure is 100 x 50 cm.
I haven’t got the other hamster yet but I’m gonna try to look for one that is more active and requires more stimulation this time. I have so much time and engagement I can invest in these little creatures so it would be nice to experience a more active one as well. I know there are no guarantees and they can develop personality as time goes, but I’ll try to look for one. Either it will be more active, either not. We’ll see how it goes.
However what I’m thinking is if I should move my hamster to the 100 x 50 enclosure instead since I already know that he’s super calm and doesn’t really wanna come out of the bedding anyway. And place the new hamster in the 120 x 50.
The 120 x 50 is also higher/deeper(?) so it’s impossible to try to escape despite having deep bedding. The 100 x 50 cm on the other hand isn’t as high/deep so the hamster can try to escape and most likely chew on the lid when I fill it with deep bedding.
Let’s say, hypothetically, my new hamster is more active I could provide them bigger space in the 120 x 50 and also it would be impossible to try to escape. Meanwhile my chill hamster would be satisfied with a 100 x 50 cm enclosure as long as there’s plenty of bedding, I’m sure. And he’s never showed any signs of stress or attempted any escapes.
At the same time I don’t know if this whole moving process and adapting to new environment would potentially stress my hamster (and I obviously don’t want that). But if I decide to do it I have to do it now before I buy the second hamster bc then it will be impossible for me to swap them between the enclosures.
What would you guys have done?