Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Navigation
Front Page
Forum
Gallery
Wiki

Ads by Google


Go Back   Hamster Central > Hamster Central Forum Topics > Behaviour

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-22-2018, 09:19 AM   #1
Budhoo
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 2
Default New Syrian Hamster Behaviour

Hi all, This is quite long and I would really appreciate some help!!

I brought home Thor just before new year, I havent had a hamster since I was a little kid and am feeling so out of my depth.
I had made a few mistakes in the first weeks of having Thorand I'm feeling like I've completely messed up on everything.

Mistake one : Too small a cage.

Two shop assistants I was going to buy Thor from had told me the cage I chose is big enough and he could literally live there for his life. I knew in the back of my mind I wanted to get him a bigger cage eventually but I thought this is completely fine and will get him bigger in due course. Of course it wasnt big enough and after about 4 days I moved him out into a DIY display cabinet from Ikea. The floor space 702 square inches, I have spotted him scratching at the sides trying to get out but usually when I have the cage open.

Mistake 2: Woodshavings

I used the unknown woodshavings (Mixed with very little Carefresh for bedding) from the shop not realising anything about the trouble it could cause. I have since changed to Aubiose however as the woodshavings were completely all over his new cage I had made the decision to completely strip the cage bare and fill it with the new Aubiose and Carefresh. Knowing that it could cause some distress I left him for a few days to acclimatize. This was about 3-4 Weeks into owning Thor.

Mistake three: Plastic Tunnel


In the cage (from day one of the new cage) was a SnuggleSafe Runway Adventure Tunnel, he always seemed happy with it. I noticed he was chewing it after a few days so I took it out and shortened it. This seemed to do the trick.
I remade his cage with the Aubiose I had thought he would be okay with the tunnel so I put in plenty of chews (Which he always ignored), gave him dog treats to gnaw on, extended the tunnel all the way around the edge on side of the cage buried underneath the Aubiose with a house on top.
He immediately stayed in the tunnel and would come out occasionally to run around in his ball.
About 4days ago when I was headed to work about 10am I could head him chewing. Now by this point he was literally living in this tunnel, hardly coming out which I pinned to the new change in substrate. I bought a Boredom Breaker Shred-a-Log Corrugated Tunnel so if he chewed it would be fine.
When I got home I wasnt sure whether to change it straight away or wait until evening but I decided to do it ASAP. He freaked out and ran all over the cage. I changed the tunnel out and saw he'd chewed a 20cm hole in the tube and was nesting underneath. I panicked and took it out and all the substrate containing the chewed bits of tunnel. While he sat in another hide away I remade the cage, putting a hideaway buried under the substrate with the new tunnel coming out of it and left it. He seemed very happy but then would refuse to come out of the buried hideaway unless all the lights were off and the front of the cage was covered. I can hardly get him out to tame him.

Mistake Four: moving the new tunnel

I have come home today and could smell urine quite badly (4days after the old tunnel), now he was toilet trained and was working fine until the old tunnel (when I took it out I saw he literally had peed everywhere in it). He still seemed to be using the toilet but then he stopped, so I put in a second toilet, one closer to his house. He hasnt seemed to use it. I wanted to clean out his house as the smell is quite bad and i woke him up gently and he didnt come out further than the tunnel (as usual) so I moved it and he is freaking out. Hes buried himself, squeaking anytime i move something, when he saw my hand move to offer him a treat he squeaked and jumped and buried himself, tunneling from one side of the cage to the other and has settle outside his house.

My question now is what do I do and how can I fix this mess I caused?!
Budhoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2018, 01:48 PM   #2
Crystalroborovski
Senior Hamster
 
Crystalroborovski's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: USA
Posts: 437
Default Re: New Syrian Hamster Behaviour

Hi there! Welcome to the forum

Don't feel bad about making mistakes! A lot of first time pet owners have done the same thing as you. But, the only thing that matters is if you notice your mistakes and try to fix them

I'm glad you upgraded the cage and changed the bedding! Often times, pet store employees are only trying to do their job by selling products and they don't know much about proper pet care, unfortunately

The plastic tunnel itself wouldn't harm Thor, but if he was chewing on it and eating the plastic, it's best that it was removed, due to the safety hazard it poses. It may have stressed him out momentarily, but a good thing you replaces it with a safer toy.

Taming a hamster can be a long and difficult process, especially with skittish hamsters. Don't be discouraged- Thor is most likely not too far gone to be tamed! It might take awhile, but I'm sure with a lot of work and patience, you can build a bond with him. A few weeks after i had adopted my two roborovski hamsters, one of them escaped. Thankfully, i found him, but for many weeks he was terrified of me. But, with a lot of patience I was able to tame him (although, he doesn't like to be held). So the best thing to do would probably be to leave him alone for a few days and keep trying to tame him. Good luck!
__________________

❤️Mommy to Key Lime and Tangerine, my two fur babies❤️
Crystalroborovski is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2018, 11:22 PM   #3
cypher
Dwarf whisperer
 
cypher's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 24,789
Default Re: New Syrian Hamster Behaviour

Hi & welcome to HC

Most of us make mistakes in the beginning so try not to worry too much, it does mean your ham has had quite a lot of changes during the settling in period so it may just take a little longer for him to really gain his confidence & feel secure.
I think you need to find a balance between setting up the cage so they feel safe & have a nice dark house to sleep in without making it too difficult for you to get them out or even tempt them out to begin with & things like tubes where they can tuck themselves away out of reach can be a bit of a problem.
For now though I would just try not to change anything unless absolutely necessary, give him some time to settle again & just go back to the beginning with taming, take your time & he will become more confident & taming will get easier.
Spend time by the cage just talking to him (even if he's hiding) if he comes out offer a treat & if he runs off just leave the treat there for him so he begins to associate you with good things.
__________________
Slave to Zak.
Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
T'ycor, Ziggy, Zephyr, Flynt, Mickle, Little Whisp, Zen, Zeki, Tinwë, Zylvan, Míriel, Calyanwë, Gusto & Meri
❤️
cypher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-25-2018, 06:36 AM   #4
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: New Syrian Hamster Behaviour

It's so stressful isn't it! Both you and Thor are in panic mode lol. It will settle down.

He is hiding and a bit scared and stressed. The difficulty I've found is once they hide and nest under the substrate they kind of stay a bit reclusive and taming can be difficult to start.

I'd suggest leaving him alone completely for at least 3 or 4 days. Then kind of start again. Don't clean anything or move anything for the next 10 days. Let him settle down a bit. Doesn't matter if it gets a bit whiffy - he needs to find his feet again and decide where he's nesting and toileting. If where he's nesting gets smelly you may find he just chucks the smelly substrate out himself.

It's a bit of patience now unfortunately. So kind of keep your hand out of the cage apart from putting food and water out, so he can reclaim his territory. And talk to him gently each day through the side of the cage so he gets used to your voice.

After that I'd suggest making gradual changes by adding the odd thing, but not actually moving anything. Is it a detolf he is in?

I would aim to have him nesting and toiletting where you want! So you could add a large house (a shoebox is a good size - you can cut the base out, cut a hole for a door and use the lid as a lift-off roof) - or there are some good larger houses you can buy with lift-off roofs. You could just add the house to an open area in the cage (so you don't have to move anything) and put a bendy bridge tunnel over the door - and maybe a bit of food inside and a bit of nesting material (torn up strips of plain white toilet paper). They tend to like dark places to nest in and they like tunnels. It's worked for me each time - they go down the bendy bridge tunnel,have a snack and think - hmm this is a nice dark place for my nest and there's room for a toilet as well! And then move in. You can even put the litter tray in there to start with. If it's something like a shoe box then it works best if the door is to one side (so the other side is darker) and the litter tray is at the back on the door side. The bendy bridge also makes a ramp onto the roof so it makes another platform. The lift off roof means you can check inside and take the potty out to clean and put back,without having to take the house out and the nest falling apart.

I'd start with that. Then when he's in the house a few days and has a routine between house, food and water bottle and has got used to exploring the cage, maybe add a couple of other large toys so there isn't too much open space. I like the large cork logs - they don't sink in the substrate, an interesting texture to climb over and a tunnel to run through. Having some kind of platform is important too as they like to sit under a platform and it's something to climb onto and a place to put hard floor toys that could be tunnelled under and fall on them, if on the substrate. I actually use the large cork log next to a platform, as a way up to it.

Cardboard egg boxes and kitchen roll inner tubes (slit down the side so it expands) make good floor toys as well, especially if Thor is a chewer - he can rip them to pieces and line his nest with them.

So it's a bit of time and patience and seeing how he goes. After he's settled and in a workable routine with nest and toilet you can start getting him out for taming out of the cage. Even when tame they can still not like a hand in the cage but get used to it over time. Ours follow your hand around suspiciously!

To begin with, if Thor is still skitty - you could lift him out in a tube. I have a tube for out of cage time, just for that purpose. Put a treat in one end (a bit of cheese or apple maybe) and put the tube near his house (or even over the door) then when he walks in, put a hand over each end and lift him out in the tube and straight into something he can't escape from (ie a box or hand off one end and put that end into his hamster ball). Or straight into a fenced off playpen area nearby for taming and out of cage time.

We used to do - tube to ball, then gently carry the ball to the bathtub for taming sessions where hammy can't escape. You can put a few toys in the bathtub.

Then he will gradually get used to your hand and being handled. They cope with that better out of the cage than in it, initially.

When something new is added it's interesting and they investigate. If something familiar is moved or taken away it can cause major drama! Sometimes you do need to adjust things a bit and accept they may go a bit reclusive for a week or more afterwards until they're used to it.

It's a bit like your front path disappearing one morning and wondering what is the best rout to get out of the house to the nearest bus stop without having to walk through grass instead or climb over walls to get there - and at the same time feeling annoyed that someone has stolen your front path! Then you just get used to the new way of doing it and someone puts the path back -but in a different place! And not next to the front doorso you still have to walk across the grass to get to it.

That kind of thing! They do get scared easily as babies too and while the detolf is a lovely big cage, it can take at least 2 weeks to adjust from a smaller cage to a larger one.

Hope that helps!

Last edited by Pebbles82; 01-25-2018 at 06:43 AM.
Pebbles82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-10-2018, 05:50 PM   #5
Budhoo
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 2
Default Re: New Syrian Hamster Behaviour

Hi all,
Just thought I'd give you a little update, Thor seems to be settling in much better, we put in one of those edible just sized for a rabbit (I think it's a boredom breaker one) he absolutely loved it, had to change it out today as he had weed all in it and I worried about it going funny...
My partner made a box for him which has a shelter and covered area.

My only concern now is he always seems to be trying to get out, he climbs on top of the huts and just tries to push open the door (the cage isn't the detolf but a similar wooden framed cabinet, we took out the glass panel and put meshing in so we didn't have to make a lid). It's too heavy for him to lift but whenever he's out and about he's just scrabbling at the glass sides to get out all the time. We have a ball for him and let him out at least once every other day, more where possible. I'm thinking it might be quite common for hammies to want to escape but thought I'd check anyway

Thankyou for the advice though!
Budhoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
cage, tunnel, buried, house, mistake, aubiose, completely, substrate, literally, woodshavings, days, chewed, fine, toilet, thor, home, changed, carefresh, feeling, moved, hideaway, smell, left, underneath, side

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.43 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Copyright © 2003-2022, Hobby Solutions
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 08:13 AM.