Cookie seems stressed!

Robodwarfs18 · 11-29-2015, 03:58 AM

Little bit worried about Cookie.

Ever since I cleaned out his cage, he has been destroying everything.

He took the lid off his hideaway, pushed toys to the side, knocked over toys and hideaways and has moved all the bedding to one side. He is also bar chewing and trying to escape his cage.

He seems so stressed! I don't know if I didn't put enough old substrate into the cage after the clean out or if I changed the arragement of the cage too soon but he is freaking out and I feel so bad for him

Help appreciated x

Chezzu · 11-29-2015, 04:44 AM

Hmm, how peculiar!
How long have you had him and what are your cage dimensions? ♥

Robodwarfs18 · 11-29-2015, 05:13 AM

Had him 6 months now and he has an 80x50cm cage x

racinghamster · 11-29-2015, 05:36 AM

Hi Robodwarfs. Chances are you have emptied away his little domain (his scent and stash). Full cage cleans are not necessary unless a hamster has wet tail or requires it due to other illness that causes smell or ammonia to build up. I have a Russian hybrid male and I take the shelf out and where he sleeps under it, I just feel with my hand any damp stuff, remove that and replace it with fresh. I rarely remove anything else I feel is okay. If you wait a while and let Cookie re-arrange things to his liking again, try and spot clean areas and only remove what needs removing. Maybe twice a week. His layout will also be familiar to him. His wheel, his bed area and food dish, water bottle etc....

Hopefully he will settle down soon and you can practice the above. Don`t feel bad if you smell him because it doesn`t mean his cage stinks! You only need to remove damp areas, little poos and anything he hasn`t eaten that may turn like fresh food. x

cypher · 11-29-2015, 07:24 AM

Rearranging the cage can often upset them on it's own so that in combination with a bit of an over zealous clean probably is the problem, try not to worry too much though Cookie should soon settle down again just leave him to sort things out & put them to rights his own way, if the bar chewing carries on try threading some card through the bars.
Once he's settled go easy on the cleaning, just do minimal spot cleaning & if he's happy with the layout & things the way they are I wouldn't rearrange anything unless you really need to.

Thin Lizzy · 11-30-2015, 10:06 PM

Sounds like Cookie couldn't smell his scent in his cage after it was cleaned, it's important to use a small amount of cleaning spray, I usually spray where Twinkle's toilet area is and use warm water for the rest. Also I will do the cage and then do the toys a week later. Infact, I've just been using warm water on her toys when they need done.
Maybe hold back some substrate and bedding when you do your next clean so that Cookie has something with his scent on it.

Robodwarfs18 · 12-06-2015, 12:44 PM

Thank you for all the helpful replies. Sorry I haven't replied in a while. Cookie has settled down now. He still bar-chews but I found out it's because he wants out his cage cause recently I haven't been letting him free range out the cage as much so that was why I think

Thin Lizzy · 12-07-2015, 09:06 PM

Good to hear Cookie's settling down, it helps if you try and get them into a routine, gave a set time each day for playtime, try and secure an area for him to free range. And after this reward him with a tasty treat. If you stick to this, cookie will hopefully stop bar chewing. If he does after this, then it's best to ignore it, hamsters hate being ignored and will eventually stop.