Is it okay to move a hamster's food stash?

[Natasha95]

My hamster has started putting food in his wheel (he has a Trixie Rodent Wheel, which is a closed wheel). It wouldn't be a problem if it was just seeds or something small, but he also put his big lab blocks in there, so when he runs it makes a really loud noise throughout the house. I don't want to stress him out, but would it be okay to take the food out and put it near the wheel?

[cypher]

It wouldn't hurt to try taking some of the food out, they can be incredibly noisy when they put big chunky things in the wheel & run with it! If you put it close by he should get the idea that it's not the best place to stash it & it shouldn't stress him out.

[Natasha95]

Originally Posted by cypher

It wouldn't hurt to try taking some of the food out, they can be incredibly noisy when they put big chunky things in the wheel & run with it! If you put it close by he should get the idea that it's not the best place to stash it & it shouldn't stress him out.

Should I wait until he's asleep, or would it be better for him to see me doing it so he doesn't think someone stole his food?

[cypher]

You could try moving some while he's awake but that could upset him or he might just try to put it all right back!
If you don't move it far from the wheel he should be fine if you do it while he's sleeping.

[Pebbles82]

What Cypher said Also - does he have deep enough substrate? If they substrate is deep enough and they have an open bottomed house on the substrate, they tend to prefer to bury their hoards under the nest. Another thing is - if you've recently cleaned out and removed his hoard maybe he'll be looking for somewhere to guard it! So main thing is - plenty of substrate, house open underneath on top of the substrate (a shoebox house is a good size), and spot clean mainly rather than full cleans. And leave any hoard you find when you eventually do a bigger clean, unless it's pee'd on or wet, then leave as much as you can and replace any y

[CMB]

I’m lucky that mine usually take small seeds or small pieces of food in their wheels. You may find that your hamster removes bigger items. Mine have done this. I think the bigger items make running awkward, so they remove them.

[Natasha95]

Well, he used to hide his food in his nest, but now he puts toys in there, and he's been putting his food in random places. I don't know if this is an instinctual winter thing or if he's stressed by all the Christmas activity going on around the house. He's not in the middle of all of it, but I'm sure he can sense it. I also recently moved his cage to a warmer room, so that's another change in his life.

[Natasha95]

The food that was in the wheel is gone, by the way. He either ate it or moved it.

He's also been calmer but jumpier lately, if that makes sense. Like, he's fine being picked up and held, and he doesn't jump out of my hands, but when he's walking around everything seems to scare him. He walks close to the ground and keeps jumping back at everything. He also freezes in place a lot.

[cypher]

Glad the wheel problem has been sorted, they do usually stop doing it after a while, must give them a headache running with all that food in there!
Recent changes may have made him nervous & jumpy, he should adjust after a while.

[Natasha95]

Thank you!!