anxious hammie??

[happy hamster 101]

Today I discovered that he was very anxious in his cage, trying to excape, shuddering at every sudden noise etc. So I took him out to play, he seemed to calm down on my hand but wenether I put him down he became anxious again... I ended up spending most of my day handling him... But i can't do it all day, every day!!! What should I do to calm him down???? I hate to see him this anxious. advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[Piebald]

Hi happy-- tell us more about his cage. What kind is it and other than the scratchy grass tunnel you removed what is in it? What kind of substrate do you use? Have you changed anything recently or cleaned it out? Think a bit on it and see if anything occurs to you.

[happy hamster 101]

He is currently in a small cage, its 50cm by 34cm,it will soon be replaced by a massive cage (in June) it is 164cm by 43cm. he has a tube running out and back into the cage, he also has a crinckle tunnel, a bendy bridge, a 8.5 comfort wheel (which is perfect in size as he is a small syrian), and a boredom breaker play and climb kit ( once again he is a very small Syrian) . he is on care fresh connfeti, I have not changed anything except take the grassy hut out as it was scratching his nose, I have not cleaned it in the past 1 week 2 days, but I do spot clean it every day. I think I will go out and replace all these toys to entertain him more... At the moment I can't do anything about the cage, only in June.

[Piebald]

You are doing your best I would be careful about replacing too many things at once it may upset him. I would also, before adding anything new, give it a chance to get familiar smells on it, just being in the room for a few days and then maybe in a playpen before putting it in the small environment.
Is he a growing up hammie? Maybe he is just getting more adult and having the urge to go further and even look for a mate. Try to give him playpen time. What about a hamster ball? There are various opinions about them just be careful if you do get one to tape it as they can pop open.
Would it be possible to connect his cage with a tube to a burrowing bin?

[Thin Lizzy]

I would just like to say that Piebald's advice is spot on!

[racinghamster]

What`s the reason you have to wait until June for your Detolf? Any way you can get it sooner? The cage he is in is very small, but your hamster does sound lively. Hamsters usually sleep most of the day naturally. My Russian dwarf doesn't even wait for me to get up! That`s how time-set they are.

Does he get peace and quiet to sleep during the day? What room is he kept in? I keep my bedroom TV on low during the day but I never have anything loud. This just helps to add some soft background noise if I`m out. It`s not necessary, but I`ve always done this.

[happy hamster 101]

OK, I won't replace it suddenly, thanks for the warning, yes I do place him in a bath play pen, he adores his hamster ball, although its a dwarth size so I will be needing to get a bigger one, he gets lots of out of cage play time, bed play time, I even once tried free roaming once, and I can tell you... I'm never trying that again! sadly I can't connect anything for him to burrow in onto the cage but I give him so much toilet paper nesting that he built himself a whole burrow with tunnels =-O !

Once again I sadly can't give him his detolf sooner, as ( once again sadly) we will have to move houses and I know this will cause much stress, he will be kept in his familiar cage and stress will be reduced as much as possible, I would appreciate if you could also give me some tips for traveling with hamsters incase I missed anything or miss heard any YouTube tips. .

He is kept in my bedroom, were he gets his sleep in a quiet place as we have no TV in my room, headphones always on, and no one barely comes in there, I don't make much noise myself , surprisingly, he does like to have a run on his wheel once in a while during the day, and loves to come out of his cage during the day, I can't fix the position of his toy or change his food bowl without him climbing onto my hand and waiting to be lifted, it's quite cute . this anxious behaviour does unfortunately start after he gets bored of his wheel, he starts climbing his bars, showing reapeted behavoir, and stands up on his hind legs on the bendy bridge which is on the second level and grabs on to the bars at the top, trying to brake free, once again this does stop while he goes out of the cage for some sort of play time, but I can't keep the play time up all day . I did move the bridge to the bottom level so that he doesn't get hurt when falling of the bars, as when I see it, I cant save his fall as the only way to get into the cage is were he is hanging, so he is now just standing on his hind paws, reaching up, getting nowhere, it worries me... This behaviour started the day before yesterday, he also seems reluctant to go back into the cage, and instead climbs up my arm, this once again worries me. Thank you for the help !

[racinghamster]

He does sound to be displaying learned behaviour but excitable behaviour. Anxious behaviour would look more like a reluctance/fearful stance and he`s climbing up your arm which suggests he could be unsettled somewhat, but his routine may need adjusting too so that he`s doing more sleeping through the day and playing in the evenings! I know some Syrians can be real attention seekers and they will play on emotions, but because his cage is a two tiered small cage, he could be showing stereotypical behaviour just because the cage forces it upon him.

Using a larger Bin/storage box type of cage might help, but in all honesty, it would be an enclosed space and I fear this may make him more anxious/excitable, so what you are doing now giving him attention where possible is all you can do until things improve. x

[happy hamster 101]

Thank you, it helped a lot, I guess I'll just give him lots of attention!

[BloonStuff]

I find Rue is more likely to act like that if I'm in the room with her. Especially if it's bright. She is a frantic bar chewer when I'm present. It's almost like OCD. If I put something in front of her favourite bar she becomes more frantic. But if I leave the room and turn off the light she'll opt for her wheel instead most of the time. It's the same at night when I go to bed. She'll bar chew until the lights off because she thinks there's a chance I'll let her out. So perhaps it is a more attention seeking behaviour or 'let me out' behaviour than an anxious behaviour. At the moment I'm just trying not to reward the behaviour but at he same time make sure she gets plenty of attention and exercise. I hope things get better for you!