Hamster nest question

[mrbagelsowner]

Hi guys!

Thank you to those wonderful people who helped me and gave brilliant advice on my first post when it came to my rescue hamster, Bagel. He and I have been doing amazing. He’s thriving, getting more friendly each day, has new toys and boredom breakers, and I’m getting to know his favourite fruits and veggies (don’t worry I checked which are safe, which aren’t and how frequent)

My only question is, is I normally clean him as required but tonight I’ve done an even extra thorough clean of his cage while he’s been in his ball and his nest has been quite small every time, just bedding mostly. It’s hidden inside a wooden house that he loves because it has 4 walls and a bridge above. It’s safe for him.

However, when cleaning him tonight, I’ve noticed his nest is now HUGE and it’s mainly because underneath there is so. much. food. I’m talking about the dry hamster food that has biscuit looking things, peanuts etc. That’s of course not his only diet but I put a dish of “hamster food” for him and it seems like there’s a mountain underneath his nest!

My question is, do I keep topping up his bowl only fo him to keep adding to his “nest” or do I let him eat that and no top ups? It’s just so much that’s he’s stored and I’m not sure if I’m over feeding or if I need to keep adding food to his bowl only for him to keep storing it? There was no fresh food in his nest, just dry food. I just didn’t expect that much.

I’m not very familiar with hamster behavior so any advice or answers would be much appreciated

[Ria P]

It's called a hoard and hoarding is what hamsters do. It's a perfectly natural behaviour but opinions on how often to top up the bowl may vary and i can only give you mine.

I feed my hamsters their dry mix daily by feeding half/half meaning half in the bowl and half scattered about.
Yes, they all have a huge hoard under and near their nests and now and again i prune it by removing the bottom layer. If it gets peed on and you have to remove all or most of it then make sure that you replace it at the same place with fresh.

Hamsters don't overeat because they're not greedy like humans so i wouldn't worry about that happening. They like to snack while in their nests and foraging for food is part of a hamsters natural instinct.

Trying to control that by limiting the food supply would cause them anxiety i think. Yes, there will be waste but humans waste food as well.