Does anyone else's hamster do this? is it a thing?

[Noahsark]

Hi everyone!

I've had my little Noah for just over a month now, he has the savic plaza cage, currently he has the green stairs that it came with, but the thing is he doesn't use them, or the ledges I've got. He'd rather climb the bars to get where he needs to go, then he'll just leap off from the highest point it causes me stress watching him, as sometimes he tumbles or lands funny! I'm currently in the process of making a wooden shelf and stairs, which hopefully he'll use, just wondered if anyone has seen there ham do this?

Thanks

[Baron]

My Syrian hamster Bayou also did this, when she was housed in The plaza.

In the end I just removef the stairs completely,and lowered the shelf a little bit. She did use those woody bendy bridges to climb on the shelf, though. Maybe the stairs are a bit steep for hamsters?

Is there anything interesting on the shelves? For Bayou I had plastic house on top of it, ans she used it to 'hide' her food.

[cypher]

It's quite normal behaviour really but in a tall cage like the plaza you do need to try & prevent it as much as possible to avoid the risk of injury.
What ledges do you have? Using things like lava ledges or something similar fixed to the bars almost like steps around the cage can help to prevent it but you also need to set your cage up so that he can't fall too far & won't fall onto anything hard.
If you have a photo we might be able to make suggestions to help.

[Noahsark]

Thank you both for your reply, Ive lowered the shelf a bit, but thats as low as it goes! hopefully have his wooden shelf and stairs ready soon, making them so its not going to be as steep and they'll be a lot more secure, basically he's gonna have a wee hand rail lol.
I'll attach a photo of his cage, if you look closely you'll see him chilling next to his coconut!

let me know what you think.

[Baron]

I think that's a fine height! Noah should be able to reach this without any trouble.

[Noahsark]

Yeah I’ll watch him tonight and see what he thinks, thank you☺️

[cypher]

If he only climbs the bars to get to the shelf then it's not too high although you could add more ledges, if he does climb the bars above that then you would need to add more ledges, or other things to try & prevent it or make it safe.
That hanging bag thing (for want of a better word!) doesn't look safe to me, he could get caught up in the straps of metal bits & if chewed I think it could be a hazard, you could put something like a sputnik there which would be safe & more fun for him, just make sure he can access things easily, bendy bridges can help with that.

[Noahsark]

Yeah, he only climbs the bars to get to the shelf and I've also seen him use the bars to get to his top ledge (although not very often) He does like his bendy bridges, used one for his cave, and theres another one just under the shelf, though he'll still use the bars. I've lowered it as much as I can, so even if he does jump he doesn't have as far to go!

as for the hanging bag its meant to be a castle (link below) he's only been in it twice since I put it in, so I don't think he'll miss it if I take it out. Quick question, I actually nearly bought him a sputnik den, but I thought it would be too high?

https://www.petplanet.co.uk/product....iABEgKPlvD_BwE

Again, thank you for reply, all advice is welcome I'm still new to this

[cypher]

You're absolutely right about the sputnik! Sorry I think the heat has melted my brain & I wasn't thinking straight I would still take that out but you couldn't attach a sputnik or anything that needs to hang from the top, maybe just put something else on the shelf, you can get coconuts that attach to the bars from amazon & other places, something like that would be nice for him, I'm sure others will have more ideas too.

[Noahsark]

Ohhh I'll have a look for the coconut I like the sound of that! and I totally understand, I'm also melting, so is Noah he's sleeping in the corner of his cage, bless him!