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Old 05-11-2019, 09:19 PM   #1
mazzypan
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Unhappy Hamster suddenly behaving strangely/advice on moving room?

It’s currently 5am and I woke up to my hamster, what I assume, trying to get the treats I hid on top of his litter box. Once I realised this was what he was doing, I moved the litter box, however he continued to make noise. He was climbing the bars and doing a weird sniffing type thing. I’m pretty sure I caught him chewing the bars too

I’m thinking it was just him being hyper as he’s never done this before, so I hope it’s a one off. He’s currently on my bedroom floor despite the time - hopefully this will get his energy out. Has this happened to your hamster? Is it possible that it could in fact be suddenly due to his cage/enrichment? I’ll link his cage at the end - he has a sand bath, whimzee crocodile thing, large wooden hut, litter box from his old little plastic hut (I don’t think he uses), large cardboard tube for hammies, wooden chews and a carrot chew. I’m not sure how large is wheel is, I’ll link that below too, but I know I need to buy a larger one as he gets bigger if you guys have any recommendations. He’s currently about 10-12 weeks old now I’d say but I couldn’t be certain, and free roams nearly every night for 15ish mins too. Last night he didn’t free roam as I didn’t have time! But he hasn’t behaved like this before when he hasn’t either.

My second issue is that I’m moving room tomorrow, and I’m pretty sure a cage move can cause stress. Should I leave it a couple days before allowing him to free roam in case it adds to the strangeness of being in a different environment?

Thank you all. I’ll keep updated if this happens again tonight.

My cage:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Frie...gateway&sr=8-6

(Wheel is a medium blue from pets at home I think)
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Old 05-11-2019, 09:40 PM   #2
mazzypan
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Default Re: Hamster suddenly behaving strangely/advice on moving room?

I managed to kind of get videos:

Arthur sniffing thing -
https://vimeo.com/335655265

Arthur climbing -
https://vimeo.com/335655363
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Old 05-12-2019, 03:49 AM   #3
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Hamster suddenly behaving strangely/advice on moving room?

All looks normal to me! He's just being a hamster. And they get up to all kinds of things during the night when we are asleep. It is their most active period and they do have a lot of energy to burn at night. It looks like he is trying to see if he can escape or get out or maybe he can smell food out there and is seeing if he can get it. If you do get him a bigger wheel that could really help as if it isn't comfortable to run in he may avoid it and they do need their wheel at night to burn off energy.

Climbing and dropping can be an issue as they can hurt themselves - but your cage isn't too tall so he doesn't have a long drop. The main thing is to make sure they can't land on anything that could hurt, so it can be an idea to put any hard, sharp or pointy items under the shelf and just leave larger or not hard items out on the substrate. Adding more substrate would help too as then he'd have a nice soft landing.

It is one of the reasons why people say cage size is so important for Syrians. As night time is their most active period and they can't get out for out of cage time when we're in asleep.

In the wild they would roam for miles at night, hunting and foraging for food and nesting material. They seem to be hardwired to do this, even as pets. Hence they like foraging for nesting material and food in the cage. If he could smell treats out fo the cage he probably wanted to get at them!

Your cage is a good size but you might need to see how he goes. I suspect with a bigger wheel, the cage size will be ok for him, but if you do think about upgrading at some point then a 100cm cage can be good - if you have the space. His current cage is perfectly adequate but if he starts bar chewing ....

I would upgrade the wheel asap as that may help him settle. Yes moving rooms probably will stress him but if you have to do it then try and plan it for least upheaval. So maybe put him somewhere quiet when all the upheaval of moving things out goes on. Then wait till everything is sorted in the new room and less upheaval and then move him in there. He may need two or three days to adjust and be skittish. But if he needs to come out then let him have out of cage time. I wouldn't do free roaming until you've fully had time to check how hamster safe your new room layout is - maybe have him out on the bed or in a secured area. If he does start bar chewing it will probably settle down once he's adjusted to the move but keep an eye on it.

When you put his food out you could maybe scatter a little bit of it as well as putting it in his bowl. He will like foraging for it and it'll keep him occupied and motivated. Maybe move the treats further away from the cage!
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Old 05-12-2019, 03:52 AM   #4
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Hamster suddenly behaving strangely/advice on moving room?

I think the wheel is the issue at the moment - a 28cm trixie wheel would be good and would fit in the cage. It's not too expensive. The other one won't be comfortable for him to run in and may even be causing back pain so he won't be able to burn up energy at night.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Exer...gateway&sr=8-1
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Old 05-16-2019, 05:01 AM   #5
Puddle
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Default Re: Hamster suddenly behaving strangely/advice on moving room?

All looks normal to me too, all hamsters will sniff through the bars etc to see whats about and climbing is perfectly normal. Think all of mine have walked upside down on the cage roof etc and theres no easy way for them to get down apart from falling. Also have left treats etc on top of cage accdentily and they are straight there to sniff and try and reach it.

Looks like a nice inquisitive, energetic hamster - how they all should be.
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