Bar chewing - advice on set-up please!

[Scrabble]

This is my first post here so to introduce my hammy.... She is called Snowdrop. She’s a Syrian hamster, seven months old. We’ve had her for five months. She is very tame in that she is happy to be picked up, carried about, she’ll clamber about on us etc, but she is absolutely full of energy and always trying to get somewhere! Our previous hamsters were all really calm and placid. They slept a lot, and whenever we got them out of the cage they would just potter about and eventually go to sleep behind a cushion. Snowdrop is completely different. She is awake a lot of the time, and chews the bars of her cage a lot, which I know isn’t good for her, and makes me sad because it must mean she’s bored or stressed.

We get her out of her cage a couple of times a day, but it’s hard to keep her out for long as she is just desperate to escape so keeps trying to jump off things/bite through things etc. We’ve hamster-proofed my daughter’s bedroom now so hopefully we’ll be able to let Snowdrop have a decent run in there.

How can we find ways to help her burn off all her energy? She has a hamster ball but doesn’t like it. She has two wheels in her cage, both of which she uses but only for a minute or so, and then she gets off and rushes off to do something else.

I think her cage is big enough, it’s the Alaska one, 48cm x 44cm x 44cm, but I’ll get her a new cage if necessary. We’ve put toys, ladders, ropes, hammocks etc in there and we change them around every few weeks but is there anything else we could try? I think she’s unhappy and it breaks my heart

[NibblesTheHam]

Unfortunately, that cage isn't really big enough, In my opinion, the very smallest floor space a hamster should have is 2903 square cm, yours is only 2322. So really I'm not surprised she's unhappy. Hamster balls aren't really safe, they don't have much ventilation, and make the hamster run with an arched back, which isn't good for them. Is her wheel big enough? A syrian needs a 12 inch wheel, otherwise they have to run with an arched back, which again isn't good for them. Also, just like humans, every hamster has its own personality, and some of them will be very quiet and calm, while others, like Snowdrop, may be super active and hyper. Good idea to try free-roaming her, she may like that. Could you take a picture of her cage/setup?

[Scrabble]

I got the dimensions of the cage wrong

It’s 84 x 44 x 44. It was the biggest cage we could find when we bought it, but that was nine years ago and I think there are bigger cages on the market now. I’ve taken a picture of it but can’t seem to upload it. I’ll try again...

[Scrabble]

Here’s the cage....

[Ria P]

Both my Syrians happily live in this cage and free roam in the evening.

l think that the things inside your cage may be too small for a Syrian. Is that the orange or the yellow silent runner wheel? I can't quite make out the colour The yellow is for a dwarf hamster and the orange is for a Syrian.

Does your hamster have a large, bottomless house to make a nest and keep a hoard in? The little white house supplied with the Alaska is way too small for a Syrian.

Open ladders and hanging toys like swings and hammocks can be an accident risk because paws can get trapped in them. Trixie does 55cm long ladders that are far more suitable and versatile.

I'm not trying to critise your set up but trying to point out what may not be suitable for a Syrian and which could frustrate Snowdrop because she can't use it.

My hamsters let me know when something in their cages is not to their liking and sometimes it takes me a while to get it right for them.

For example, my Syrian Rodney doesn't burrow but likes heights and sitting in various hides. He always sleeps and hoards in his Ferplast guinea pig house and pees in his sand filled corner toilet under a shelf.
This set up suits him but could be all wrong for another hamster.


What i'm saying is that the cage may be fine but maybe Snowdrop wants a different set up so is trying to tell you that.

[Scrabble]

Thanks for your reply, that’s really helpful.

Snowdrop does have a large bottomless house to sleep in. She sometimes sleeps there and sometimes in the Alaska white house, but usually she just piles up all her sawdust in one corner of the cage and turns that into a nest. She hoards some food in her nest, and some in a jar in another corner, and has a toilet corner as well.

The yellow/orange wheel is 22cm diameter - is that too small?

I’ll get a couple of the Trixie ladders. Anything else we should try? She had a run about on the floor of my daughter’s room this afternoon and enjoyed it - hopefully she’ll be too tired for bar-chewing tonight!

[Pebbles82]

I agree . The cage may or may not be be big enough for her but a bigger wheel and different kind of set up would help a lot. I am a bit anti hanging toys unless they are “stable “ as in don’t swing about too much which can make them feel insecure. Also no fabric (they can chew it and get internal blockages or threads wrapped round a leg and cut the circulation off). Runged ladders are also asking for accidents and can make them feel insecure.

I am also not criticising- just looking at what could be causing an issue.

They do like to havd overhead cover and not feel too exposed from above. Something like a rat Sputnik next to a shelf helps with that. They can sit under it and also inside it (an extra hide). They also need somewhere dark to retreat to do a large ish house/nesting box that’s dark inside. Ideally open underneath and sat directly on the substrate. This allows them normal behaviours (hoarding under the nest) but is also more hygienic (air flow underneath via the substrate).

All that aside a common thing that causes stress and bar chewing is moving things around and cleaning out too much. They feel invaded and want to escape. So changing things around is likely to make things worse rather than better.

She maybe needs more to do in terms of places to go, routes in the cage etc (generally known as enrichment). Something like a large cork tunnel is good - fills up the floor space, provides overhead cover and something to run through.

I would get a new wheel - either 11” or 12” and remove the other two. They run much better in a bigger wheel. Female hamsters tend to be larger and if the wheel isn’t comfortable she may not be use it and have pent up energy.

However you could adjust all that and her still be frantic and bar chew and she may just need a large cage. Females are often much more active and maverick and need a lot of space and enrichment.

It is actually really hard to find cages to buy at the moment. Everything seems to be out of stock. One option (if you have the space) is a detolf. Google “hamster detolf “ and click on images for some examples. It also makes a nice focal point in a room if sat on top of kallax units (plus storage!).

But if you are thinking about upgrading the cage it may depend which wheel fits! A 12” wheel won’t fit in the detolf but an 11” will.

Popular 11” (28cm wheels) are the £9 trixie plastic one on Amazon. It’s not silent but usually fairly quiet. If you need a silent wheel then the 12” silent runner is best and it’s a great wheel. That will actually fit in a detolf but only with a bit of diy (ie don’t use the stand and mount it to the end panel using the bar mounting kit and drilling a hole through the end of the detolf.

[Pebbles82]

Posted at the same time. I don’t use ladders usually - but the cork log can double up as a ramp to a shelf. Sat partway under the shelf.

I also make a roof run - with a rat Sputnik and a rat tube tied to the roof leading from a shelf - so they can use the height of the cage as well (also gives overhead cover and blocks falls).

Have a look at the “let’s see your cages” thread for some ideas

[Ria P]

Yes, that's the one for dwarf hamsters really and the bigger one would be more suitable for a Syrian. Depends on her size though because hamsters come in all different sizes. I had a very small foster Syrian who would have been fine with a 22cm wheel but it wouldn't have been any good for my late 230g Syrian. A hamster needs to be able to run with a straight back but when they look like a banana the wheel is too small.
All my hamsters love a coconut hide and cork tunnels are popular too.
That's great that you hamster proofed your daughter's room. That's what i did because none of my hamsters liked a playpen. They enjoy the freedom to run around and it does make them happier and more content.

[Pebbles82]

Ooh a forgot coconut hides - yes they are usually popular. The yellow silent spinner is supposed to be 9” diameter (maybe internally). Technically that could be big enough for an average size Syrian to run with a straight back but they do run better on a bigger wheel and enjoy it. Most people get 11” or 12” wheels for Syrians.