Odd behaviour for fairly new hamster

[Cybal]

Hello,

I am new to the forum but have had hamsters before. I have come to look for some advice or suggestions. Sorry for the long post but I’m trying to give as much detail as possible.

My hamster seems so nervous in the cage but confident when out.

So about a month ago I got my little grey boy hamster cybal. He was about 8 weeks old when I got him.

He didn’t have the best of starts.
I let him settle in for a good few days and only started to hand tame him when he was awake, just by giving him a treat. I noticed he seemed quite stressed so I didn’t push him in anyway.
I also noticed he seem to be sneezing a little and my initial thoughts were that it was just a little different environment which was maybe causing him to sneeze. It didn’t go away in a few days so I phoned the pet shop and they covered the vet bills for him to be seen. They diagnosed an upper respiratory infection and prescribed antibiotics. I was concerned the trip would be stressful for him and the fact I hadn’t handled him. However when we got to the vets he was a completely different hamster. I was expecting him to bite the vet but he was so well behaved.

When we returned home he seemed stressed again, so for the next week I just allowed him to be himself and just gave the antibiotics in treats. This cleared up the sneezing and made him a lot more active.

After he seemed better, I have had him out of the cage and have had him in my hands and in the ball. He doesn’t seem scared of hands and will quite happily run over them. He is so active when out of the cage.
However when he goes back in the cage he seems so nervous, he creeps around and seems so jumpy, he also doesnt really like going down to the level with sawdust. I bought a quieter wheel and got some bulldog clips to hold the level down as the level moved a lot which seemed to be making him jump. Again I left him a couple of days but that didn’t improve it.

I thought maybe it was because the cage was too small for him so I hooked up a bin box using some tubes and this nervous behaviour still seemed to continue. He did go into the sawdust level but then he clogged the connecting tube to the cage so much with saw dust it was like he was protecting himself, however I do think he could get through if he really wanted. The other night he managed to escape but he was soon found and unfortunately I had to remove the bin cage. I can’t work out why he is so nervous in the cage but so confident out.

He also seems to fall asleep in random places after I’ve put him back in his cage after playtime. I would like to get him a larger cage but I don’t want to introduce it too soon in case it causes more stress.
In general he seems healthy and has gained a fair amount of weight.
I am really confused because I have never had a hamster like him.


Again I’m sorry for the long post.

P.S. when I say saw dust I am actually using pets at home wood shavings.