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Old 07-14-2019, 07:57 AM   #1
Lovehearts
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 1
Unhappy Nervous, stressed, escaping, unhappy hamster

I bought a Syrian hamster, lovehearts nearly 3 weeks ago from the pet shop. I gave her 3 days to settle in her cage and then started to introduce my smell by giving her treats, I’ve had her in the bath tub trying to hold her and she goes around in her ball. In her cage she has chew toys I put fresh fruit hidden in the cage, a wheel and 2 levels. However she is extremely nervous, very jumpy and flys out of your hand when handled and bits a lot! She continually chews the bars on one side of her cage, she has even chewed through a plastic tube in her cage and escaped! She just seems so unhappy I feel awful to be keeping her in a cage but she is so scared to be handled to enjoy being out of the cage. I’m really stuck on how to improve her wellbeing, any advice would be really appreciated! Thank you in advance.
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Old 07-16-2019, 12:49 PM   #2
mangoandmimi
Little Miss Tinytoes
 
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 7,036
Default Re: Nervous, stressed, escaping, unhappy hamster

Hi welcome. Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your new hamster. It does sound as though she isn’t settled, what cage is she in? She certainly shouldn’t be bar chewing and definitely shouldn’t be able to chew out of any tubes. Imo the cage does need to be a bare minimum of 100x50cm unbroken floorspace for a female Syrian really as any less and they very often get destructive as you are witnessing. For now - id stop with the handling until she is settled in a proper cage that she cannot escape from. Maybe one without bars since she is a chewer. If you are good at DIY a Linnmon Ikea hack would work, the eco habitat, or a fish tank maybe. Potentially an Ikea detolf if you have plans to build a raised lid. With a suitably large cage you can then add enrichment in the form of natural items and provide a 12” wheel if you haven’t already. If you need to transport her out of the cage maybe use a container for now if hands scare her.
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