HELP!!! My hamster is constantly trying to bite his way out the cage

Hollslewis · 07-21-2019, 03:46 AM

So I made a diy hamster cage out an Ikea cube storage unit and it’s over 1200 sq inches of space so plenty of room! He has a huge wheel plenty of chew toys! Deep bedding places to hide and a sand pit! However, he keeps going to the corners and chewing the sides of the cage! He frantically paces around like he is scared! I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong! His cage is in a quiet location of the house! we don’t have any other pets to scare him and he has so much room his cage is almost as big as the bed 😂
Any advise would be useful

thank you

Hollslewis · 07-21-2019, 04:05 AM

These are the photos

Ria P · 07-21-2019, 09:26 AM

I can't see the photos. Please post them.
What kind of cage did he live in before?

Hollslewis · 07-21-2019, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ria P

I can't see the photos. Please post them.
What kind of cage did he live in before?

hey, sorry it hasn't shown up here are some photos.
he previously lived in the zoo zone 2 which was fairly big anyways and he seemed fairly unhappy then too. he has always been like that.

mangoandmimi · 07-21-2019, 10:56 AM

It is a good sized cage - the main issue I can think of is that there is a lot of open space particularly in the lower half of the cage, and that doesn’t sit too well with prey animals that like a lot of shelter. It also means a lot of the cage lacks enrichment. You can quite easily fill up the cage if you go on zooplus and buy a few cork tunnels (medium), grapevine pieces, bendy bridges - they’re relatively cheap and will add a lot more interest & new textures to the cage.

Also, where is he sleeping? I can’t see any kind of dark box or similar for him to retreat to and I’d say that’s essential for them. A large shoe box with the base cut out would suffice. Rodipet do very nice (and expensive) multi chamber houses that mimick a burrow, and they go down great with hamsters.
Also wondering how deep the bedding is. A large cage is great but enrichment is just as important, and that includes deep bedding. For a Syrian I would be aiming for over 9-10” in at least half the cage to allow him to burrow.

Hollslewis · 07-21-2019, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mangoandmimi

It is a good sized cage - the main issue I can think of is that there is a lot of open space particularly in the lower half of the cage, and that doesn’t sit too well with prey animals that like a lot of shelter. It also means a lot of the cage lacks enrichment. You can quite easily fill up the cage if you go on zooplus and buy a few cork tunnels (medium), grapevine pieces, bendy bridges - they’re relatively cheap and will add a lot more interest & new textures to the cage.

Also, where is he sleeping? I can’t see any kind of dark box or similar for him to retreat to and I’d say that’s essential for them. A large shoe box with the base cut out would suffice. Rodipet do very nice (and expensive) multi chamber houses that mimick a burrow, and they go down great with hamsters.
Also wondering how deep the bedding is. A large cage is great but enrichment is just as important, and that includes deep bedding. For a Syrian I would be aiming for over 9-10” in at least half the cage to allow him to burrow.

Thank you for the advise! I will have to get some of the things you mentioned! I gave him hideouts and he never seemed to sleep in them! He likes to sleep in the underground tubes and also the purple tube! I have given him plenty of bedding before around 9inches however he doesn’t ever want to burrow! He never used to do it! So I stopped putting so much in as it was getting too expensive to fill! The cage is so large it needs so much carefresh to fill and that is the only thing in pets at home other than sawdust which I will never use because it’s bad for his respiratory system! Thank you very much for the advise! I am slowly trying to fill it but pets at home doesn’t have much for small animals! So I will have to have a look on zooplus

it’s mainly at night he seems bored so I think it must be he hasn’t got enough to do!

mangoandmimi · 07-21-2019, 11:32 AM

Yeah online shops have a much better selection - half of what is sold in pet shops aren’t ideal they’re either plastic (a chewing hazard) or aren’t even big enough for a Syrian. Unfortunately that white/clear tube is also a bit small for a Syrian too. Zooplus is great though.

Generally deep bedding is actually cheaper to maintain in the long run, as you only need to spot clean and in a cage that size with 8” of bedding in half the cage you may only need to do a partial clean every 3 months. Otherwise you may find you’re overcleaning which again, is a cause for stress. But yes carefresh is very expensive, you could look into fitch next time as it is similar but softer and comes in bulk which is much more useful. Have fun filling the cage I hope he settles down some

Ria P · 07-21-2019, 12:16 PM

Not all Syrians burrow, mine doesn't. He likes to sit on top of things like shelves and walks along his suspension bridge and hanging tunnel.
The Ferplast guinea pig (hamster one too small) house is good and only around a tenner. Big enough to build a nice big nest in. Do you give him strips of plain white toilet paper for his nest? They really like that.
The p@h coconut hut for a fiver is a big hit with my hamster, he loves sitting in it. I throw a few sunflower seeds in and that's him contend then for an hour or two.