One Level Is Plenty Now
A dwarf hamster in his second year is an old gentleman on a short clock, and the multi-level cage that suited him as a youngster now taxes him daily. Back legs weaken, grip fades, and a fall from a platform that once meant nothing can injure him. Strip the cage back to a single generous level: platforms, ladders and tubes that climb all come out, not blocked off but gone, because barriers invite attempts and attempts invite falls. What remains should be a wide floor of deep bedding he can cross in any direction without meeting an obstacle taller than he is. The cage may look emptier to you; to him, measured in effort, it has just become larger, because every corner of it is reachable again.
Food and Water at Nose Height
Reaching food is the layout detail that decides whether an old dwarf eats properly. Retire the hanging feeder entirely. Place a small, heavy food bowl — too weighty to tip when he leans on its rim — a short distance from his nest entrance, close enough that a stiff hamster crosses a few body lengths, not the whole cage, for a meal. Better still for his mind, scatter part of his mix through the bedding around the nest each evening so he forages at ground level the way dwarf hamsters naturally feed. Lower the water bottle until the spout sits at his nose height where he stands flat-footed, and check it daily; if reaching even that seems effortful, offer a tiny, heavy, very shallow water dish as well, refreshed often and set where bedding will not be kicked into it.
Keep the Fun on the Floor
Removing climbs should not remove his life. Dwarf hamsters are burrowers before they are climbers, so deepen the bedding at one end of the cage and let tunnelling replace climbing as his great project — it asks strength of his front end and none of his failing grip. Keep his wheel, but set it directly on a firm, level surface at floor height, with a solid running track rather than rungs, and big enough that his back stays straight as he runs; an old hamster who still wants his wheel should never have to mount a stand to reach it. Cardboard tubes laid flat, a cork tunnel on the ground, and chews scattered in the bedding give him a rich cage that is entirely horizontal.
Nightly Checks for a Fast-Ageing Animal
Dwarf hamsters decline quickly, so the layout deserves a sixty-second audit each evening: food bowl reachable and not buried, spout at nose height and dripping freely, wheel unblocked, no object helpfully added by a family member that reintroduces a climb. Weigh him in a small bowl on a kitchen scale when you can — a falling trend in a second-year dwarf is worth a vet call sooner rather than later. Contact your vet promptly if he becomes wobbly on the flat, hunches and stops foraging, feels cold to the touch, or goes a night without eating, because small animals this old have very little reserve. Leave a plain note of the flat layout where whoever cleans him out on Saturday will find it, so that person rebuilds the cage exactly as his old legs need it, with nothing put back up high. Family members you choose can be given access to his profile by way of KinsLe Family Sharing.