Hamster only leaves hideout every other day?

[marina]

So it's been a month now of owning my hamster. She buried herself a sleeping place and everything, which is find by me if that's where she wants to sleep. Only issue is that she's been leaving her house only every second day instead of every day. I'm sure of this because I have a camera with time lapse function set up, which I've been using to see if there are any dangerous places in the cage or anything happens.
Her only coming out every two days means she's also been only getting food and drinking every two days... Whenever she's out, though, she's all normal. As if everything's fine.

I don't know what to do. Is it maybe because she's still not used to her new place?

[Shannonmcn]

A month is quite a long time to still be so unsure of her home that she isn't leaving her nest. If you're sure she's not showing any signs of being unwell then it is still possible that she is just very shy. But she won't be starving herself, she probably has plenty of food stored away in her nest. The drinking is a concern but I assume you have seen her drink and she knows how to use a bottle or she wouldn't have lasted a month... so she must be just suiting her own preference.

Are you interacting with her much? One way to get them into a bit of a routine is to rustle bedding around when you feed them (scatter feeding is best) so they come investigate, and if they do they get something very delicious. Just as encouragement. Scattering food around encourages them to explore and gives you a chance to observe.

Another thing could be how exposed she feels when she comes out of hiding, some hams do prefer a busy cage with lots of cover and hidey places so you could try stuffing her cage with toys and hides. If you post a pic we can probably spot/ rule out any easy-to-fix cage issues that might be hampering things.

[marina]

Originally Posted by Shannonmcn

A month is quite a long time to still be so unsure of her home that she isn't leaving her nest. If you're sure she's not showing any signs of being unwell then it is still possible that she is just very shy. But she won't be starving herself, she probably has plenty of food stored away in her nest. The drinking is a concern but I assume you have seen her drink and she knows how to use a bottle or she wouldn't have lasted a month... so she must be just suiting her own preference.

Are you interacting with her much? One way to get them into a bit of a routine is to rustle bedding around when you feed them (scatter feeding is best) so they come investigate, and if they do they get something very delicious. Just as encouragement. Scattering food around encourages them to explore and gives you a chance to observe.

Another thing could be how exposed she feels when she comes out of hiding, some hams do prefer a busy cage with lots of cover and hidey places so you could try stuffing her cage with toys and hides. If you post a pic we can probably spot/ rule out any easy-to-fix cage issues that might be hampering things.

This is the cage. I don't know but wouldn't it be too crowded if I were to put more stuff in? I also circled the entrance to her hide red.