New Dwarf Hamster Sounds Like a Drill

[Natasha95]

I got a new hamster last night (she's a Djungarian dwarf hamster, over a year old), and she seems to be adjusting fine, except for the fact that she keeps shaking violently. She hides under objects in her cage, and I assume she's shaking because it sounds like a power drill. But when I lift up the object to check on her, she stops and just stares at me, so I don't actually see her shaking. Is this normal? I've never had a dwarf hamster before.

[Pebbles82]

Hello. She sounds very scared! They can be like this when they've just arrived - new home, new cage etc - lots of different smells. General advice is to leave them alone for 2 or 3 days to settle into the cage, without disturbing anything. During that time she will scent mark around the cage to find her way around and build a nest somewhere. They are also more scared if there isn't much overhead cover - ie quite exposed. So having a shelf, a house, the odd hidey place and tunnel and plenty of substrate (4 to 6 " deep) should make her feel secure. If it's a bit exposed/not enough substrate now I'd put some more substrate in now, and add something (a cardboard tissue box makes a an ok hidey place) to give more cover/hidey places - and do it and then leave her three days to settle.

Meanwhile you can talk to her gently near the cage so she gets used to the sound of your voice and your smell. After 3 days, if it's a cage you could offer the odd treat through the bars, but avoid putting your hand in the cage just yet.

They need two weeks to fully settle really, so no cleaning out for the first two weeks. If it gets a bit whiffy then after a week or so you could just take out a handful of pee'd on substrate and put a clean handful in and mix it in a bit so she still knows it's her pee place. That's called spot cleaning and it's really all you need to do mostly. No need to do big clean outs for 6 to 8 weeks or even longer if you have plenty of substrate in. Even then best not to clean everything at the same time so something always smells familiar to them or they get very stressed.

So if you do a substrate change - leave any toys till a different week, and the wheel to a different week again. I just do the wheel as and when.

The noise is something they do sometimes and no-one really knows what it means - sometimes excitement - or maybe anger. Our Syrian did it when he was angry and seeing you off (after I dropped him - not far but far enough to scare him). It's a bit like loud purring like cats do?

Anyway in a couple of weeks your fur baby will be happier and then you can thnk about taming.

[Natasha95]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

She sounds very scared! They can be like this when they've just arrived - new home, new cage etc - lots of different smells. General advice is to leave them alone for 2 or 3 days to settle into the cage, without disturbing anything. During that time she will scent mark around the cage to find her way around and build a nest somewhere. They are also more scared if there isn't much overhead cover - ie quite exposed. So having a shelf, a house, the odd hidey place and tunnel and plenty of substrate (4 to 6 " deep) should make her feel secure. If it's a bit exposed/not enough substrate now I'd put some more substrate in now, and add something (a cardboard tissue box makes a an ok hidey place) to give more cover/hidey places - and do it and then leave her three days to settle.

I also have an older male Syrian hamster (Hamtaro) in the room. They're in different cages, near each other but not directly next to each other. You said she (my new dwarf hamster) sounds scared, so could she be afraid of the other hamster? They haven't met, and I have no plans to introduce them, but could being in the same room be scaring her?

I'm also worried I might've messed up her adjustment process because I got really excited about how friendly she was, and instead of leaving her alone to get used to her new cage last night, I kept putting my hand in because she kept crawling into it and sitting there, which really surprised me because Hamtaro took 6 months to fully tame and this new hamster seemed to like me already. But I'll definitely leave her alone now. I just hope I didn't stress her out on her first night.

Also, I gave her an actual hideout, but she seemed to really like the box she came in instead, so I left it in her cage, and she seems to like to sleep under it. This might be a dumb question, but can she breathe under there? It kind of worries me.

[Pebbles82]

All sounds fine Good that she seemed tame enough to sit on your hand. Even tame hamsters need time to adjust to their new environment so sounds like she just needs time to settle - not one thing in padticular