Trying to avoid making my hamster angry..

Nyani8110 · 12-26-2014, 09:45 AM

I named my new hamster Nyani (monkey in Swahili), due to her excessive climbing. She was shot full of energy but wasn't entirely interested in my attention. I understand it will take some time and care for her to get used to me but over night she did something odd.
I have had 8 hamsters in the past (pet store didn't inform me my Maxidine was pregnant) and have seen and experienced a lot. So I set up two cages that connected with tubing (part of the tubing led to a small compartment) and when I woke up, she had compacted a portion of the tubing and the compartment with her bedding, blocking off her passage to the other cage. It had seemed that she was putting her scent on it too (maybe for territorial reasons?). I tried to get her to climb on my hand (which she has not come to terms with yet) and she softly bit my finger telling me she didn't want to be disturbed, but I needed to get her out so I could clean out the tubing without disturbing her with the noise.
I scooped her up and put her in the other cage, then emptied out the bedding into the cage that lacked it. When I made the tubing accessible again, she crawled right up it. She soon realized that all of her work was gone and started chattering really loud. She stayed in the tube a while, sort of pacing it, seeing that it was all gone.
What can I do to prevent her from doing this again and not make her so upset?

**kyrilliondaemon** · 12-26-2014, 01:24 PM

Could you just use one cage for her? Some people suspect hams block off their tubes to feel more secure and I suspect that was why my Scamp used to block hers at times

Skeever · 12-26-2014, 02:17 PM

Some hams go OCD over their tubes...living in them, making treasure vaults in them, making combination bedroom, toilet and hideout.....She made a nest thing and it got moooshed and removed.....LOL..........if they love tubes too much lots of owners remove tube setups for that reason, at least till they get over it.

Skeever · 12-26-2014, 02:30 PM

Remember: With hamsters , love means always having to say "NOW WHAT DID I DO THAT HAS YOU IN A SNIT?"

Nyani8110 · 12-26-2014, 06:06 PM

Thank you all for the advice, I will just use one cage for now and see how that works out!

Thin Lizzy · 12-26-2014, 07:28 PM

You've upset her! A new hamster in a new home like to make the cage theirs, mark their territory.
She built it to feel safe, maybe something has scared her and this was her way of making her home safe.
Hammies can be very ocd. My youngest Twinkle was really bad when I first got her, she'd have a huge tantrum whenever I changed her bedding, I now just take some of her old bedding away and put in fresh stuff with some of her old stuff. When it comes to her cage, I actually clean around her, she likes to be part of it and will nudge my hand away if I spend too long on a certain spot.
She might've blocked it off but, she can easily unblock it to move about.

Pebbles82 · 12-27-2014, 01:59 AM

I would take the tubes out. They seem to like snug round places to nest in - if you pop one of those little plastic igloo houses in she will probably like that just as much. A tube isn't an ideal place to have a nest, and also if her nest is there she can't use it as a tube anyway! They do hate their nests being messed with. Charlie went catatonic virtually the first time I had to remove most of his nest (it was wee soaked). He literally froze to the spot looking shocked when he approached his house and found new toilet paper there and his nest gone. Having said that, he has never pee'd in his nest since! They want somewhere dark and undercover and cosy to build a nest. I now have a big wood house with a bendy stick tunnel over the door to make it dark inside - he shot down the tunnel and made his nest in there straight away. It also makes it easier for me to clean without disturbing his nest now. I just lift the house up (no floor in it) and clean around the nest area - it collapses a wee bit but I don't need to remove much if it is dry - I leave most of it there and put a pile of clean white bedding paper in the cage and I've noticed he takes some and removes some of the older nest paper himself now (chucks it in his toilet). I think you'd be better with one bigger cage and no tubes, except a larger cardboard one inside the cage maybe as a toy and have plenty of dark little hidey places in the cage so she makes her nest in a more suitable place. In a week or so she'll have stopped being nervous and got back into a new routine and then you'll have more progress with taming and gaining her trust again. For now though, is one of the cages big enough on its own? Then you can just let her out a bit more often for out of cage time, in a hamster ball if the room isn't hamster proof maybe. Sorry I know you said you've had a lot of hammies so you maybe know this already.

Thin Lizzy · 12-27-2014, 05:02 AM

I'm with serendipity about taking the tubes out, I don't use them because they can be awkward to clean.
Archie my oldest ham has the igloo, and he loves it! His nest always looks amazing when I take it off and I manage not to disrupt the nest when I take out old food as he's built his nest to mimic the igloo.
Twinkle my youngest didn't take to the igloo and prefers to make her nest in her coconut hut.

Bbhami · 12-27-2014, 08:02 PM

I solved this problem by putting something on the other cage that my syrian would want to use. Some chews, toys, or their wheel just so they would havae a reason to use the other area. My female syrian used to do this but she would dig out the blockage herself (dont ask me how she does it). If you take out the bedding they would just do it more as they feel threatened that someone intruded in their tunnels. As long as they don't nest in between the tubes (poor ventilation) and use the bigger part of the cage then no need to destroy the blockage.

Thin Lizzy · 12-28-2014, 05:03 AM

Hey Bbhami, that's a good idea about putting something in the other cage that the hammie will want to use and even better if the treats can't be moved.