Sleeping Schedule

[Charliestar]

Hey,

Brought home my new hamster Peaches on Valentine’s Day and she’s been settling in just fine - has even started taking food from my fingers and a flat palm occasionally.

But her sleep pattern seems weird to me - I know Syrians are nocturnal but on the first night she was awake 7pm until 9am, the following night she seemed the wake a little later and was up until about 9am again. Although tonight she got up, I turned the room light on to spend some time with her and she went back to bed. She’s still asleep now at almost midnight, have I confused her by turning on the light or is this normal for her to sleep for over 14 hours? Is turning in the light a problem?

I know I’m a bit of a worry but since I haven’t had a hamster before and am keen to spend time bonding with her I’d love to have an answer.

[mikatelyn]

I've had my hamster for 2 months now, and I've noticed that he'll only come out if the lights are off. I noticed that because he seemed to adjust his schedule to go to bed exactly when we got up, and wake up exactly when we went to bed. So I started turning the lights off earlier in the night, and sure enough he started to wake up earlier. Now I will have a light on in the hallway so I can see a little bit, but will keep the room dim to get the hamster out. I don't know if other people have to go to these lengths, so I'm curious what everyone else says, too!

[cypher]

You've only had her a few days so she will still be settling & getting into a routine.
The first day you bring them home they can often be very curious about everything & some will be out more exploring & then they may settle into a pattern of getting up a bit later.
If the room she is in is dark & you walk in & suddenly turn the light on then that might just spook her enough for her to run off back to her house so it's probably better to put the light on earlier & leave it on. Running off like that could also be a sign that she's not feeling really safe in her cage so make sure there isn't too much open space, some good hideout places as well as her house (bendy bridges, tubes, things like cork tunnels) & lots of deep substrate too, about 15-20cm at least, preferably more if the cage allows so she can dig down & burrow if she wants to.
I would just give her time to settle into a routine, if she starts to get up really late you can try waking her a little earlier by feeding at that time or offering a treat or two but I wouldn't do that just yet, if she's in her house you can still just spend time talking quietly to her so she gets more comfortable with you being around.
14 hours is totally normal for a ham to be asleep!