Free Range Hamster Play

[FluffyHam]

I’ve been socializing my Syrian hamster almost every night since I got him last November. At first, he was very satisfied with his wheel and his cage. He never bit the bars, and he would never come out. I could leave the door open and leave the room for a few minutes and when I got back he would still be in his wheel, just staring at me.

So to get him out of the cage, I took his whole wheel with him still in it and laid it flat on the bed. He still didn’t want to come out and would hide (I have one of those silent runner wheels with covers). After much coaxing and sticking my fingers in the wheel, he came out and started to run around. Because he kept sliding off the edges of the bed, I put him on the floor. I thought he was having a blast, running around. I let him run for a while and put him back in his cage every once in a while in case he needs to drink some water. A few days of this and I now notice he has less interest in his wheel now. When I put him back in his cage, he’ll zip around and come right back at the cage door. If I close the door, he will sniff and start biting the bars! He looked so miserable that I let him out again. I can’t just leave the door open because his cage is on the table and as soon as I let him out to explore the table, he’ll suddenly think he’s a flying squirrel and jump off the table !

The problem is, I need to sleep lol. I start letting him out around 9 pm (earliest was 8 pm on the rare occasions he woke up earlier) and let him play till around 11 pm. But now even at 11 pm, but now it doesn’t seem enough and he still wants to go out. Now I wonder if it’s a mistake. Did I just train him to hate his cage ? How long do you let your hamsters out to play? Because I’m sleeping I no longer know if he still bites the cage bars when I’m away. What about leaving the cage on the floor and letting him roam around and just let him freely come back to his cage when he’s tired (while I’m asleep)?

[cypher]

Definitely don't let your ham free roam when you aren't around & awake to keep a close eye on him.
Some hams do like as much free roam time as they can get but if he has a large enough cage, a large enough wheel (12") for a Syrian, & lots of enrichment in the cage, things to explore, scatter feeding etc he should settle well enough once back in the cage.
What cage is he in now? If you could post some photos of his set up we might be able to make some suggestions that could help.