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rowan22 · 02-16-2019, 06:19 AM

Hi there, I’ve had my hamster for around a month now. She is settled in fine, however she displays some really odd behaviours. Some of it I put down to the fact that she was adopted and she wasn’t tame at all when we adopted her (she was a child’s Christmas present who was returned to the store because she kept biting), I have been trying to tame her but she’s not coming on very well at all. She is extremely nervous and though she will let you touch her, often when you enter the room her cage is in, she will just make herself as flat as a pancake and not move at all unless you coax her with treats or move your hand around the substrate. She also doesn’t use her wheel AT ALL (I thought this might be down to having a small wheel, but I just bought her an 11 inch one and she doesn’t use that still. She doesn’t run when you put her in a hamster ball, she just sits there. Another strange behaviour is that she doesn’t use houses to make her nest- I put tissue in the cage for her to nest with and she sleeps with it in a different place every night (she has plenty of houses and tubes to burrow in but she chooses not to, which I feel is quite normal but the fact that She changes her nest every night seems strange). I spot clean her cage every other day and will clean her out once every 4 weeks, so I don’t think she’s moving her nest because it smells weird or has been disturbed.
When I put her in the bathtub she runs around fine and likes to explore, but she’s just very timid whilst in her cage.
She also sleeps for a large majority of the day. I’m talking doesn’t wake up till 1am, goes back to sleep at 4am. I know because I often don’t get home from work till 4am and I always check on her when I’m back and most of the time she’s sleeping again.
She’s eating and drinking fine and seems otherwise healthy, no sign of wet tail or any other illness.
She’s a Syrian and she’s about 4 months old.
Is this strange behaviour for a hamster ? I have never had a hamster which sleeps so long, doesn’t run on her wheel or ball and generally just liked to stay in one spot in her cage, as much as she does.

02-16-2019, 06:19 AM
rowan22 Hamster Pup Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 51	Weird behaviour?? Hi there, I’ve had my hamster for around a month now. She is settled in fine, however she displays some really odd behaviours. Some of it I put down to the fact that she was adopted and she wasn’t tame at all when we adopted her (she was a child’s Christmas present who was returned to the store because she kept biting), I have been trying to tame her but she’s not coming on very well at all. She is extremely nervous and though she will let you touch her, often when you enter the room her cage is in, she will just make herself as flat as a pancake and not move at all unless you coax her with treats or move your hand around the substrate. She also doesn’t use her wheel AT ALL (I thought this might be down to having a small wheel, but I just bought her an 11 inch one and she doesn’t use that still. She doesn’t run when you put her in a hamster ball, she just sits there. Another strange behaviour is that she doesn’t use houses to make her nest- I put tissue in the cage for her to nest with and she sleeps with it in a different place every night (she has plenty of houses and tubes to burrow in but she chooses not to, which I feel is quite normal but the fact that She changes her nest every night seems strange). I spot clean her cage every other day and will clean her out once every 4 weeks, so I don’t think she’s moving her nest because it smells weird or has been disturbed. When I put her in the bathtub she runs around fine and likes to explore, but she’s just very timid whilst in her cage. She also sleeps for a large majority of the day. I’m talking doesn’t wake up till 1am, goes back to sleep at 4am. I know because I often don’t get home from work till 4am and I always check on her when I’m back and most of the time she’s sleeping again. She’s eating and drinking fine and seems otherwise healthy, no sign of wet tail or any other illness. She’s a Syrian and she’s about 4 months old. Is this strange behaviour for a hamster ? I have never had a hamster which sleeps so long, doesn’t run on her wheel or ball and generally just liked to stay in one spot in her cage, as much as she does.