Will my hamster jump from her hammock?

[scabs]

The question says it all but I just made her a hammock and when I watch her she starts to climb to the edge thats exposed to open air and gets so close leaning over it that I get scared and grab her. If I don't will she jump? I don't think she's learned to climb back onto the wall from it yet!

[SoapyVP]

Can you put something below the edge so she can jump onto that? Or a lot of substrate/bedding so she has a soft landing.

[scabs]

There's plenty of kaytee clean and cozy bedding (which is very, very soft paper) but my cage is over 1 1/2 feet tall and I feel like that's a huge drop for a syrian!

[racinghamster]

It is a long drop and any suspicions that your Syrian could topple and get an injury are real, so I would remove the hammock. Hamsters don`t require material hammocks and in fact, they can be dangerous if a hamster catches a claw in any of the threads. Reducing hazards inside a cage and only using secure platforms and solid ramps are a better solution. Even when I kept mice, I never trusted hammocks that `hung up` from the bars because I actually witnesses a few of my mice getting a claw hooked onto the material and puling a leg to release their foot free again, so I never used hammocks. I only allowed standing tissue boxes for them to explore and accessories that were safe to chew.

My advice would be not to use hammocks or anything your hamster could potentially pouch or swallow that isn`t easily digested like toilet paper. better to remove it now in case an accident is waiting to happen. x

[scabs]

Okay thank you for the advice! I took it out!

[racinghamster]

Your hamster won`t miss having it so don`t worry. If your worried that your hamster climbs too high, you could stagger the cage by adding shelves and placing them at intervals with solid ramps. Just takes a wee bit of working out, but it`s worth doing. x