Beanie was probably seven months old when I started free roaming her, so she was pretty big. I felt confident I wouldn’t lose her, so I extended her huge playpen and renamed it, ‘The Great Wall Of Beanie.’ The Great Wall Of Beanie sectioned off less than half of the room her cage is located in. It separated the, ‘Messy Side,’ from the, ‘Safe Side.’

I soon realized my efforts to keep her out of the Messy Side were proving to be unsuccessful. After several tries I finally discarded the playpen, and Beanie was officially ‘Free Roaming.’ So much for being in control 😂

How To Save Your Door

When Beanie was officially free roaming I had to DIY the amazing, door saving ‘Beanie Barricade!’ The Beanie Barricade has saved my door from further destruction! Beanie cannot, no matter how hard she tries, fit under the door, so, she chews it. And that’s how the magnificent Beanie Barricade came to be. I have a DIY tutorial for the Beanie Barricade you can check out here if you have this same problem.

BeanVille

Shortly after the creation of the Beanie Barricade I created, ‘BeanVille.’ BeanVille is a collection of Beanie’s things in an out-of-the-way spot. BeanVille stays setup 24/7, which is awesome! No disassembly required. BeanVilles are really simple, and you can create your own using:

• Three hidey houses
• A wheel
• Food dish
• Water bottle/dish
• Three toys of your choice.
• An out-of-the-way spot in your free roaming room.

1. Take everything to your out-of-the-way spot in your free roaming room and organize them how you want!

Tips For Free Roaming To Improve The Experience

1. The Beanie Barricade can save your door from chewing!
2. Free roam in a room where you can do things while your hamster runs around.
3. Make your own BeanVille.

If you’re interested in more hamster-related content be sure to like this post and follow the blog, and I’ll be back on Tuesday with more small pet care, DIYs, recipes, cage setups, stories and more, have a ham-tastic day!