New hamster advice please

[Sutty]

Hi, we got a hamster on Sunday which is about 6 weeks old. First two days he was out lots playing, exploring etc and my boys were really excited but left him be, now he has found his bed which is a loft type bed at the top of the cage he won’t come out when anyone is around.

He has been out as he has taken food and moved stuff about , I know he needs time to settle but how long do we leave him? Also I’m not sure how much water they should drink and I have a feeling he might be urinating in his bed as the wood-shaving at the base of the cage don’t really look wet. Any advice please?

[cypher]

This kind of behaviour isn't unusual, they can get very excited by all the new things & they get very curious & inquisitive the first few days then can get a bit reclusive as they settle down & make a home for themselves.
Unfortunately your cage isn't suitable & that may be part of the problem, hamsters are ground dwellers & need a large floor space in the cage with a large house (about the size of a shoebox) with no base sat on a deep (30cm at least preferably more) layer of substrate so they can burrow down & make a proper nest,
He's probably feeling nervous having to hide out high up & not being able to dig his way out of his house in the normal way!
They need lots of space but not too much open space so they feel safe. If you have a look in the housing section of the forum you'll find lots of discussions on & suggestions for suitable housing.
In the meantime just keep talking to him, even when he's hiding so he gets used to you being around, don't try to rush taming, it's still very early days for him & he needs time to settle.
Ideally I would suggest changing the cage as soon as you can. For now you could try making him a house out of a cardboard box, no base & door cut in one side, maybe put a bendy bridge over the door to make it dark inside & put that on the substrate in the base of the cage.
Don't clean much for at least the first month, just spot clean pee so he can get his scent on everything.

[Sutty]

Hi thank you for your comments. I spent ages looking for a cage that seemed big enough and interesting , reading leaflets , talking to the shops etc and thought the cage we got would be more than enough and was told that hamsters like climbing so got one he can climb up etc - the pico XL. The first day he seemed so happy and slept out on a shelf without any bedding so I thought that a good sign that he wasn’t worried. Although there was bedding in the bottom of the cage.

Part of the clip that holds the wheel on unfortunately broke yesterday so I’ve asked for a replacement but from since reading comments on this forum that I’ve seen advice on size and styles of cages. Seems wrong that so many cages, toys etc are available if they are not suitable

I’ve been trying to search for a different cage and send this one back , balance what is good for the hamster, what size cage we can fit in a suitable location and also price, I’ve found the Savic heaven on offer which seems to have good comments on here with suggestions to remove the top house and tubes, do you think this would be better suited?

In the mean time do I open the roof of the bed he is in to check he is ok or just try and tempt him out with a treat we haven’t seen him for 3 days also if he won’t come out what is the best way to get him settled in another cage? Even if I take a wood toy tunnel/bridge out I don’t think there is really space to fit a box in

[cypher]

It's really unfortunate that most pet shops give very poor advice on cages & it's rare to find suitable cages in shops so many people find themselves in this kind of situation, you're definitely not alone there!

The hamster heaven would be better but is still small for a syrian hamster, you would have trouble fitting in a suitable wheel, house etc. A fully grown syrian can need a 11-12" wheel so the cage needs to be large enough to allow for that.
Zooplus is about the best place to look at cages, the Barney cage is a good option & a good size for a syrian, if you really don't have space for a cage that large then the alaska is another worth looking at, it is smaller but still a good size with enough height to allow for a large wheel & everything else you would need.
If you haven't seen him for that long then it would be a good idea to check on him at least briefly & you may need to take him out if he's been peeing in his nest so you can spot clean in there, if you do need to do that try not to remove all the nest & leave some of his scent in there for now. If you can tempt him with a treat that would be best if not then you will have to take the top off & have a look.
If you change cages it's best to put everything including all the substrate from the old cage & put that in the new & not clean for quite a while (other than spot cleaning pee) before or after.
You would really just need to go back to the beginning with taming giving him time to settle into the cage before moving on with interacting & taming. It may be stressful for him to begin with but far better in the long term.