hamster who's always trying to get out of his cage

[michelle]

The last hamster I had was a Syrian hamster. He was about 4 months old when I got him. He never seemed satisfied in his cage. I spent about $200 on a fancy critter trail two level cage, two exercise wheels, all the fancy little accesories and plenty to do, much nicer than the cage was in at the pet store. And I let him roam the house in his ball every night for about an hour, which he loved. But when he had to be in his cage he was always biting and trying desperately to get out. He never seemed happy.



I'm wondering if most hamsters are like this, or most Syrians are like this, or if it was just his personality? I would love to have another hamster but I always felt guilty that he wasn't happy, and I don't want another pet who is going to spend every waking minute trying to get out of his cage.



Any advice, is this commom hamster behavior?

[flogging_molly]

Gnawing on the cage bars is extremely common behaviour in Syrians. They don't do it because they are unhappy they do it to keep their teeth down. Sometime they can do it out of boredom so if you have a big cage with lots of toys around (not too many though) to keep your hammie entertained it may help stop the majority of gnawing but it is the behaviour of our hammies to do this