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Old 03-05-2016, 08:53 AM   #1
Bananachicken
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Exclamation Is this normal?

My hammy, Quasar is acting a little strange. I just cleaned his cage, and right now he is being EXTREMELY active, which is weird for him, but the part im concerned about is that he is climbing on the bars, sometimes to get to other platforms, even though there is a ramp for him. Is this normal?
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Old 03-05-2016, 09:01 AM   #2
Hentala
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Default Re: Is this normal?

Did you change entire bedding? He might be just anxious because of unfamiliar smell in his cage.
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Old 03-05-2016, 09:05 AM   #3
cypher
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Default Re: Is this normal?

In your other post you said you'd only had him a week so it's just too early for a cage clean, they get around using their scent trails a lot & get very upset & stressed by over cleaning.
For now just leave him to settle down quietly & make it his own again. Try not to react to bar climbing or any other behaviour like that & only intervene if you think it might be dangerous or he could start learning attention seeking behaviour! What he needs now is just quiet to calm down.
For the first few weeks at least try to do just minimal spot cleaning, that is remove any damp substrate or nesting material, don't do a full clean, you don't ever really need to clean everything but if you do more than spot clean always put back some old substrate, some of the nest & some of the food hoard (where you found it) or replace that with some fresh mix in the same place.
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Old 03-05-2016, 10:28 AM   #4
Bananachicken
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Default Re: Is this normal?

Yeah, he stopped. He is now sleeping in his burrow. My sister told me every week I need to clean it.
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Old 03-05-2016, 11:10 AM   #5
Hentala
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Default Re: Is this normal?

Many people believe in this myth, that cages/tanks should be cleaned once a week or two. I also did when I was younger, since my mom always lectured me to clean the tanks and change entire substrate. This belief have origins in people's fear of bad smells, but if you're using a good bedding you can avoid changing entire substrate even through the entire life of your hamster - just remove wet bedding where hamster pees and once in a while, when bedding gets a little too dirty or smelly - you can partially change substrate - take out only a part of old substrate and add new to the rest, remaining in the cage, and then mix it, or remove all of the old substrate first, then put new substrate, and put a layer of the old one on the top of the new, so the smell of the bedding won't change drastically

Hamsters rely on their noses much, so a full clean upsets them - for them it's like you would move them to a new cage, since nothing smells familiar, so it's normal for them to be nervous in such situation

And if housemembers worry about the smell much, remember, in few weeks they'll get so used to it that it'll go unnoticed until cage is really dirty -and that you can prevent by cleaning the spot where hamster pee regularily
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Old 03-08-2016, 07:49 AM   #6
AnyaAndLyra
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Default Re: Is this normal?

How big is your cage? A proper cage shouldn't need cleaning very often. I usually clean my dwarves cages once a month with spot cleans. For my Syrian it's usually every two weeks with daily door cleans.
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Old 03-10-2016, 06:27 AM   #7
Thin Lizzy
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Default Re: Is this normal?

A week is too soon, as long as you spot check the toilet area daily and remove any soiled substrate, you can prolong the cage clean, the longer the better especially with a new hamster, they need to mark their territory and it's important that you keep some substrate back to mix in with the fresh once you do a cage clean.
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Old 03-10-2016, 06:39 AM   #8
AmityvilleHams
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Default Re: Is this normal?

I cannot even begin to tell you how many people have said that cage cleaning should be done weekly.As everyone has said,it should never be done weekly due to stress.Really,it originated through people being very sensitive to the high buildup of smell due to small cages as well as this whole ridiculous "miasma" theory that was always used for everything from decomposing corpses to pets.The theory is that floating particles of certain scents would make someone ill,pretty much,which is just such an insanely irrational idea.If your cage is around the UK minimum for hamster cages I'd say clean at most every two weeks,preferably 3 weeks.For cages that are around the German minimum for example Detolfs and large DIY cages(1,000 square inches and over but not sure on square cm at the moment and I'm too lazy to google the square cm right now)you can go anywhere from a month to supposedly a whole year without doing a full clean,depending on bedding depth and the hamster's own habits of where it goes to do its business.
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Old 03-10-2016, 09:31 PM   #9
Bananachicken
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Default Re: Is this normal?

The only issue is, I never see him use the bathroom! He is almost ALWAYS underground during the day.
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Old 03-10-2016, 09:39 PM   #10
AmityvilleHams
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Default Re: Is this normal?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bananachicken View Post
The only issue is, I never see him use the bathroom! He is almost ALWAYS underground during the day.
Hamsters are nocturnal,so I wouldn't doubt that your hamster sleeps under the substrate and then uses the bathroom when you're asleep.
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