New Syrian acting strange.

[Dogfisher1]

Hello all. We just got our first family pet 5 days ago. A Syrian hamster from Petsmart. Without really thinking, I bought one of the starter kits that they offer only to figure out later that the cage is way too small for her. They should be ashamed of themselves, sending countless animals home with undersized cages. Anyway, I ordered an appropriately sized cage but it took 4 days to arrive. During her time in the small cage she showed all the signs of hamster in a too small cage. Last night we put her in her new cage and set it up all cozy and she had fun exploring all night long. Today however, my wife said she has spent the entire day borrowed under the ramp. She thought she was dead. When I got home from work I opened the cage and lifted the ramp and she looked up at me and started walking around just fine. I handed her a little piece of carrot and she immediately took it back under the ramp and has not come out. What gives? I will watch her closely tonight to see if she comes out to play but I have my doubts.

[mangoandmimi]

Hopefully she's just settling in and nothing's wrong. Just make sure she's acting normally and looks healthy when she is up and about. If you mean asleep all day that is normal, Syrians often do sleep all day. The sleeping under the ramp may be because she hasn't found a proper nesting spot. I'm assuming you couldn't fit a Syrian house in the small cage so if you haven't already, put a large house in. An overturned shoe box is a good size and will do just fine. Also make sure she has nesting material (strips of loo roll). It just needs to have an open bottom so she can burrow underneath it. They need dark places to retreat to so make sure there are lots of hides, tunnels etc.

It is very early days and she's already had a cage change within that time so now, don't change or clean anything in there for a good 2 weeks. Also leave her alone for a week or two so she can settle in properly. This is a really stressful part of their life so you do have to be patient now even though I'm sure you want to get her out to play!