Hamster sleeping a bit exposed

HannahE · 12-13-2020, 11:30 AM

My hamster used to sleep under her inches of bedding and randomly recently she’s been sleeping next to her wheel either side placing bedding there, it’s so random and I feel like she’s a bit exposed doing this and wether there’s a reason. She’s eating and drinking as normal, playing on wheel as normal ect. I cleaned her bedding so no wee, possibly food that’s there ? So random. In the first pic attached she’s in the middle of the bedding, you can see her obviously. I just worry if she’s getting cold.

HannahE · 12-13-2020, 11:31 AM

Attached here is where she would usually sleep.

HannahE · 12-13-2020, 11:33 AM

This is her realising I’m watching her but continues to go to sleep there 😂

cypher · 12-13-2020, 11:58 PM

They do sometimes change sleeping habits, how often do you clean. her nest/sleeping area? Had you done it just before this began?
I find sometimes if you clean the area where the nest is they will move to sleep elsewhere so keep cleaning that area to a minimum, just spot clean any pee otherwise leave it alone.
I would just leave her too it, make sure she has plenty of deep substrate to burrow under if she wants to, as long as the room is warm day & night she won’t get cold.

HannahE · 12-15-2020, 01:00 PM

Yeah I did crappy clean her cage then this started, I’ve been removing wee and poo weekly. Recently she keeps weeing in her sand bath which is very annoying as I have to keep changing it but she hasn’t been weeing anywhere else which I guess is a bonus?

cypher · 12-16-2020, 11:43 PM

If she pees in the sand bath then that makes life easier, you don’t need to chuck it all away though you can just sieve the pee out as it usually forms clumps.
I would try to leave her nest alone as much as possible, with luck she’ll continue to pee in the sand & you won’t have to disturb it so she may settle back to sleeping there.
You don’t need to worry too much about cleaning poo out, it’s dry & odourless & they will eat some of it so it doesn’t need cleaning frequently.

HannahE · 12-20-2020, 11:54 AM

How often do I need to clean her sand if she wees in it a few times a day and how offen should I check her bed and should I get rid of her dry food stash

Pebbles82 · 12-20-2020, 02:16 PM

The answer to that is really you need to leave her nest and hoard alone. Unless it is pee'd in. They are very precious about their nest and hoard. If it's been removed she will abandon it and nest somwhere else. They are hardwired to have a secure nest and hoard food so can get stressed if these are "invaded".

Honestly I never remove our hamsters nests. They stay clean and dry. They refurbish them themselves usually -adding new nesting material and chucking bits out of the house sometimes. They are really quite clean little things and groom themselves regularly. It is only their pee that is smelly. As babies they sometimes pee in the nest and then it has to be removed, but they usually grow out of that.

Their hoards can get quite large - they usually bury them under their nest. But it's dry food and can be left quite a long time. One issue that can occur if you remove their hoard is they then start peeing on the hoard to deter "thieves"! Then it can become a bit catch 22. You have to remove it because it's pee'd on and they pee on it to deter thieves removing it. You can break that cycle by replacing any hoard removed with new food, nearby where the old hoard was.

So if the hoard isn't pee'd on, just leave it. I go about 3 months before changing the substrate (with 4 to 6" and a litter tray it stays dry). And at that time I will "prune" the bottom half of the hoard as that is the oldest food and can go stale. They tend to eat any fresh food - eg veg - straight away rather than hoard it.

They like to build a really big cosy nest in winter, so a large house is ideal - the nest will fill it. It helps them feel secure.

She sounds a bit lost at the moment. Avoid spot cleaning for a few days and put a big pile of nesting material out somewhere in the cage so she can build another one. If you can fit in a shoebox house that would be good. Eg where the old house was. If you put a bendy bridge over the door it makes it dark inside and she'll probably move in and build a new nest. You cut the base out of a shoebox and keep the lid as a lift off roof and cut a hole for a door. If you cut the door at one end of one of the long sides it means the other end is darker. They always nest at the darkest end. Try not to keep taking the roof off though as that freaks them out. But it's handy for checking inside if you need to so you don't need to remove the house and avoid the nest collapsing. Some of their nests are impressive!

HannahE · 12-21-2020, 03:54 AM

Thank you for your help, I’ll do the shoe box thing today as she’s started to but food under her wheel and sleeping on the side with bedding she’s put there but I can see and avoiding her old hid which is the other side completely. She is the most social hamster I’ve ever known past 8 she’s up and waiting for me to pick her up, she stands and looks up and just lets me pick her up but I don’t think she’s that comfortable to let me see her sleep. Now she’s 100% doing all her weees in her sand I won’t check her bed or hoard like you say again thank you both so much for your help. Hamsters are complicated little things ��