Stress or excitement??

[izzyshams]

Hi, I am new to hamster central and had an enquiry about a behaviour in my Syrian hamster, Willow. She is 4 1/2 months old now and has been jumping on the corners of her bin cage whenever I enter the room since shes been tame. She is now tame and climbs on my hands. I notice when she jumps on the side and I put my hand in she climbs straight on. That is why I am confused, is she bored and showing a sign of stress or does she just want to climb on my hands?

[Ria P]

Hi and welcome to HC!

I think that your hamster wants to come out to play and tries to tell you by jumping up the corners. What does she do once she's been out and you put her back in her cage? Does she still jump up the corners?

My hamster Edwina lives in a bin cage too and when she wants out she'll run to the front window and paws the mesh.

Trying to get out, jumping up the sides etc can be a sign that a hamster is not happy with their habitat of course and you have to ask yourself the following questions:

Is her bin cage big enough? Female Syrians can grow into big hamsters.
Does the bin cage have enough ventilation through a meshed lid and a meshed front window she can look out from?
Does she have deep enough substrate, a big enough wheel of at least 10in and a bottomless house that sits on top of the substrate?
Does she have a water bottle that works well and plenty of enrichment like bendy bridges, a cork or other tunnel, a coconut hut, a sandbath, hides, millet sprays to nibble, a Whimzee dog chew etc, these are all suggestions of what hamsters like and i'm sure there are plenty more. Cardboard toys can be made to entertain our little furry friends.

You may well know all this and Willow may not be your first hamster but providing she's happy with her habitat it sounds like you are lucky to have a hamster who is happy to see you and wants to spend time with you.

Could we see a photo of Willow please, that would be lovely.

[izzyshams]

Hi thank you so much for responding and I'm very sorry for the late reply I'm having some struggles with uploading a photo but the answer to your questions first. Willows cage is 660 sq inches of floorspace however in exactly 1 month I am upgrading her into an Ikea detolf because I don't believe that her cage has enough space for me to put toys in and for her to express herself. she has a water bowl and I've seen her drinking out of it. When we built the bin cage (2-3) years ago we only cut out two large windows on each side of the lid however I have had a previous hamster live in the bin cage with no problems.
Yesterday I got my new cork log and I wanted to put it in her cage and I did so, however, cork logs are large and she managed to sit on top of it and chew on the bars which is an OBVIOUS sign of stress I am currently buying lots of new toys and changing up her setups such as using herbs and giving her different border breakers and tunnels. She has an 11'' Trixie rodent wheel and she enjoys running on that and she has a sand bath that she loves rolling in.

I am now taking her out for bathtime bonding every day so she can get excess energy out but i dont see much improvement in her behaviour so i am just going to have to wait till ikea opens ad i can get her DETOLF.
I am also going to have another attempt at adding a photo.
Thank you for replying!
PS. i also added a picture of her enclosure if you have any enrichment ideas