What should i do?

hamsterlover20 · 12-01-2018, 07:23 AM

When I first got my hamster I didnt know very much about proper hamster care and i got my hamster a cage that was way too small for him. i now feel terrible about it

. Anyway, now I know that the cage should be alot bigger so I upgraded him to a cage of 50x80cm/31.5x19.7". At first he seemed quite happy with his new cage but now hehas started to che the bars of his cage. Is this beacause he needs a bigger cage??Isit beacause he's bored?

Unfotunately this is the biggest cage I can offer him as i dont have that much space to put the cage in. if Its becasuse he is bored I'm fully willing to get him a playpen to play in. does anyone know about any good,not too expensive playpens? Thanks alot!!

cypher · 12-01-2018, 07:44 AM

It could be that he's getting bored & maybe doesn't have enough to occupy him in his cage.
Zooplus sell a wooden playpen that's suitable for Syrians or you could make one like this.
Having enough out of cage time in a playpen with lots of toys & things to explore as well as interacting with you out of the cage would be great for him.
You can try things like scatter feeding if you don't already or just hide food & treats around the cage for him to forage for, give whimzee dog chews which generally keep them busy for a while, these things should help.
Do you have a photo of your cage set up? It would help to see if there are any changes we could suggest that might give him more to do or make him feel happier in the cage.

hamsterlover20 · 12-02-2018, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

It could be that he's getting bored & maybe doesn't have enough to occupy him in his cage.
Zooplus sell a wooden playpen that's suitable for Syrians or you could make one like this.
Having enough out of cage time in a playpen with lots of toys & things to explore as well as interacting with you out of the cage would be great for him.
You can try things like scatter feeding if you don't already or just hide food & treats around the cage for him to forage for, give whimzee dog chews which generally keep them busy for a while, these things should help.
Do you have a photo of your cage set up? It would help to see if there are any changes we could suggest that might give him more to do or make him feel happier in the cage.

thanks for the advice. I will buy him a play pen and some whimzee chews. i often hide some monkey nuts in the far right corner. i used to scatter feed him but i stopped. i dont actually know why i stopped but i will restart.
thanks!!!

mangoandmimi · 12-02-2018, 08:05 AM

Can you make the bedding much deeper (up to the top of the base) in at least the areas where the wheel isn't? Hamsters can't burrow in only a few cm of bedding and need over 6" of it really.
Couldn't find many Syrian setups in similar sized cages but these might help (second link is for a larger cage but you get the idea)
cage improvements
Is the cage set up ok?

The main thing is putting the cage height to better use. Probably remove that hanging thing in the back right corner as it's not safe really, you could replace it with a couple of shelves or levels. It gives a bit of cover as well as adding a bit more to do in there. I would also consider a digging pit with sand or eco earth or something as they do enjoy digging about in that. You could potentially replace the toilet with that as the toilet really doesn't add anything exciting to the cage.

Where is he sleeping? The yellow house isn't great, it's not big enough. A shoe box would be better if it's got the base cut out. If you want something a bit more fancy then rodipet sell very nice ones. Ferplast do a guinea pig 'Sin' house which is also nice and will double as a shelf. Having no base allows them to burrow down to sleep just underneath it which is generally what a lot of them like to do. The bedding will need to be deeper for that though.

Those toilet roll tubes don't look to be serving much purpose as they're too small for Syrians to be able to fit through comfortably, even with a slit cut along it. There are bigger more suitable ones that would be a bit better.
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pe...e-tunnel-small

I'd also get some of those log bridges and just put them around the cage for climbing on, you can have them as a normal arch or have them flat to use as walkways. Very cheap and will add a bit more interest to the cage.