Started climbing his cage

[weaverfam02]

I have had Bearie for 7 months and he has never climb his cage before. his cage is the (Limit animal care Savin hamster heaven metro cage) minus the Green platform, I took that out. It all start after I took the green topper off which he was nesting in but He was peeing in it too. He was smelling like urine pretty bad, so I removed it and he made his nest back in his castle in the corner of the cage. He has always used his litter bowl and he stopped. I guess it was to far to go so he just peed in his nesting area. Now He started climbing the cage and I'm afraid he'll end up hurting himself. I have a feeling he is trying to find his way back up into the topper. I think he believes it's still up there I guess or he just started wanting to climb the cage. My question is: is it that or is he bored or is he mad at me and wanting to escape lol? He is a Syrian hamster with a very calm demeanor. He only uses his wheel for about 4-5 hours at night if that, He is a pretty lazy hamster lol. Thanks for any feed back

[SKB_Hamsters]

Hello and Welcome to Hamster Central.
I think he behaviour could be both due to boredom as well as trying to find his green penthouse topper. Some hamster can get really stressed from changes to their cages but it was good that you removed the green penthouse as they do often like to use it as both a house and toilet - which can get quite smelly and also not got for them to sleep in soiled bedding. It will take him some time to adjust to not having it attached to his cage.

From the picture I would also recommend adding more toys to his cage to add more enrichment as it does look fairly empty - as this will help to provide him with other things to play and can help distract him from climbing the bars. You can simply add some cardboard boxes with holes cut out of the side and cardboard tubes (pringle tubes work well as tunnels for Syrian hamsters). Another thing also to try is adding more substrate to his cage (I would fill the base halfway as a minimum) this will enable him to burrow and dig around as well as will also help to break his fall a bit more.

[cypher]

I would think he may be getting bored rather than searching for the part you removed, you could add a lot more substrate to the cage, basically fill the base part which in itself would make the cage a lot safer then as SKB suggested put more toys & enrichment in the cage so he has plenty to keep him busy, as well as adding more toys & substrate you could try some scatter feeding or just hide his food or treats around the cage so he can forage for them & maybe try a whimzee dog chew to give him something to chew on, that keeps them busy!
You could try using a shoebox as a house for him, or any largish cardboard box with no base & hole cut out for the door, on top of deeper substrate that makes a great nesting place.
I would also get a larger wheel as soon as you can, even for a young ham that one is too small really & he might be happier with a larger one even before he grows much more.

[Pebbles82]

Agree with the others - He could do with a nice big house at floor level to nest in and more substrate to dig in Shoebox is a good option. Cut the base out and cut a hole for a door near one end of a long side. You can use the lid as a lift off roof - so you can check inside without having to take the house out -and it means his nest won't fall apart. They like to build quite big nests - don't throw the nest out when you clean unless it's pee'd in -they get quite stressed about that.

PersonallyI would also remove the external tubes and block them off - you could tie them to the inside bars maybe instead - so they lead from the shelf to the house roof That could make things more interesting.

[weaverfam02]

He nests in a 6 inch igloo in the corner, which is pretty buried. parts of the cage is 2inch deep and some is about 4 inches except under the wheel because it only sets close to the ground. The wheel is 8 inches wide, I wasn't certain if I needed to get a bigger one. I use to put 6 inches of bedding in his cage but I notice he never digs into it. I've gotten him chew toys and dog biscuits and mineral rocks but he never chews on them and I would rub food on it to encourage him. After months he is now comfortable enough to use the tubes. I have a Play bin (that's 40 inches long) that I put him in that has tubs and other stuff but he just goes in the corner and sets (when I'm not playing with him) unless he sees me playing with the other hamster then he comes over to investigate. He gets along well with the other hamster ( robo hamster)when they are in the play bin together. I've had him for 7 month's now and they said he was 6 months old when I got him from petsmart.I thought that was a little old but they also said that when I got my other hamster, so I don't think they really know. I'll try some more chew toys again to see if he is now interested.

[cypher]

Regardless of whether he appears to dig & burrow in the substrate I would still fill the base up completely so he has that option & it makes a much safer & more natural environment for him.
Mineral blocks aren't necessary & can actually be harmful so don't use those, wooden chew sticks (hazel or willow) are fine, if you can find a healthy dog biscuit he enjoys then that's ok too as an occasional treat, the whimzee chews are the favourite with most hams though.
Still suggest adding more toys/enrichment too.

Please don't put your hamsters together, you've been very lucky so far but they could fight at any time & you are risking stress, injury or worse by allowing them to come into contact.

[Pebbles82]

Sorry I didn't see the igloo under the shelf They do like round houses and it has a tunnel type entrance too, and presumably quite dark with it being under the shelf.

Does he use a litter tray? Whereabouts is he climbing the bars? They tend to do that when they're trying to get out - or when stressed and want to escape. Regular clean outs can cause stress, especially the nest area.

Apologies if you already know this/do this, but if he doesn't use his sand bath as a a litter tray and pees elswhere then using a litter tray with sand in will mean you rarely have to do a "big" cage clean - ie the substrate, and his nest will stay dry and can be left also.

Even if he doesn't dig in substrate, a bit more in the shallower areas will allow him to bury things like hoards more easily and will cushion any falls if he climbs the bars - which is quite important.

With deeper substrate and a litter tray you will actually use less substrate in the long run because you can just empty the litter tray every 5 days or so or "spot clean" the odd handful if necessary. I only do a substrate change about every 3 months (and even then replace the clean bottom half and mix it in so it smells familiar) - it just doesn't need doing because our hammy uses his potty They are quite clean little things really.

[Pebbles82]

To add enrichment and keep him occupied and doing hamstery things (a distraction from climbing the bars, you could add some more floor toys - cardboard tubes or tunnels eg, and other hidey type places, so the floor area is less exposed and he has some additional fun things to do and different routes across the cage floor via tunnels. Kitchen roll inner tubes are ok if slit the length of one side (so they expand or they can get stuck). Or pringles tubes. If the substrate is a bit deeper you can also have a tube/tunnel sticking part under the substrate and part out of it and they sometimes then like to go down and dig themselves out again.

If you were looking for one good floor toy, I'd suggest a cork log tunnel - they are quite large and light so don't sink into the substrate - nice and dark to run through and also something to climb over with an interesting texture.

I have this one - some are too long but these ones are a good size for a hamster cage.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cork-Tunnel...ork+log+tunnel

Or these hyacinth ones are good - they have holes in the side and are soft and chewable as well. The small size is plenty big enough for a Syrian

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosewood-Bo...yacinth+tunnel

They also need a chew stick (which I guess you know) to stop their teeth getting too long, and some kind of rough stone under a water bottle eg (to help keep nails short).

I also really like this trio of balls. Not the wicker one - I find it has the odd sharp bit, but the hyacinth and sisal ones are good as floor toys - you can stick pumpkin seeds in them and they spend ages getting the seeds out again

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosewood-Bo...=trio+of+balls

Apologies in advance as no offence intended - but do not put him in the same play bin as the Robo at the same time! However much you think they get along it will give them very high stress levels and that can lead to disease or early death. At some point as well it could lead to a fight to the death or serious maiming. The two species should never be together - and Syrians should always be solitary (unless it is a nesting Mother with babies). Even two Robos can't be put together unless they live together.

One last thought about the bar climbing. Our Syrian used to do that when I had that plastic shelf - to get onto the shelf - because he didn't like using the ladder if it had been cleaned. If the food bowl is on the shelf (looks like it) he needs to get up there and if he doesn't like the ladder for some reason,climbing the bars is the only way to get to his food. Maybe he's getting wet from the water bottle when he goes on the ladder or something? Or the ladder has recently been cleaned eg.

If anything has just been cleaned they will often avoid it thinking someone has invaded their territory or they just don't recognise it because their scent has gone.

So cleaning things at different times helps it to always smell familiar to the hamster (they scent mark their routes around the cage so they can find their way around by scent as they don't see well at all).

So doing the wheel a different week from the toys/shelves and a different week from the substrate is a good idea.

If he isn't using the ladder to shelf try putting a couple of treats or some hamster food on it to tempt him there and he may start using it again.

Their basic instincts are - nesting, hoarding, foraging. Any treats or food hidden or scattered always helps them enjoy a bit of foraging. NEsting material can be left in a pile somewhere in the cage so they can forage for that and add it to their nest.

Hoards they tend to bury (hence the substrate needing to be deep enough) usually under the nest or sometimes in other places as well. And they tend to eat from their hoard while in their house.

So also important not to remove their hoards - unless it is pee'd on and wet - in which case remove most of it and try and leave a bit of dry hoard behind and add some new food to the hoard - in exactly the same place.

If their hoards are removed, or their nest removed regularly, or the cage is fully cleaned too much they start developing abnormal behaviours and stress behaviours - eg peeing on everything to scent mark it (to deter people stealing the hoard or to mark their territory against invaders!), trying to escape if they feel unsettled.

Anyway apologies again if you know all that.

Your hammy has a nice set up there, and it could be even nicer with additional substrate to cushion falls and for burying things, and a couple of extra floor toys for enrichment

[Pebbles82]

Another thought. If the 8" wheel is big enough for him and he can run with a straight back - can it be attached to the bars and sit a bit higher up? Then you'd have room for more substrate in that area.

With that cage I used to have a wodent wheel hung from the top (either 8" or 11" is good) - it worked really well - the stand slots through the top bars and the wheel then attaches to the stand - it also used to spin much better hung upside down and didn't move around. The top stand was just held in place with a couple of cable ties.

Hammies often like to sit under a wheel

[weaverfam02]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Another thought. If the 8" wheel is big enough for him and he can run with a straight back - can it be attached to the bars and sit a bit higher up? Then you'd have room for more substrate in that area.

With that cage I used to have a wodent wheel hung from the top (either 8" or 11" is good) - it worked really well - the stand slots through the top bars and the wheel then attaches to the stand - it also used to spin much better hung upside down and didn't move around. The top stand was just held in place with a couple of cable ties.

Hammies often like to sit under a wheel

That's a good idea for the wheel, I will definitely try that. I hate that the wheel is to big to clip on the cage, the plastic part sticks out just enough were the wheel would rub up against it and won't turn.