Hamster Central - View Single Post - Advice on new Syrian hamster, am i doing ok?

Pebbles82 · 03-28-2019, 08:00 AM

It sounds like you are doing really well

You are right to leave things well alone for a couple of weeks - they need that two weeks without much disturbance, so they can adjust, scent mark their cage and feel at home and develop some habits.

I wouldn't worry about her running on the wheel a lot - they do get excited about a wheel when they first have one, then they start using it less or mainly at night after a while. Can she easily get up to the next level? If there isn't good/easy access to it then that might also be why she is climbing the bars. But yes they also climb to see if they can find a way out - so the main thing there is making sure that if she fell she can't hurt herself - so plenty of deep substrate helps - at least 4" deep if possible.

Adding the odd new thing tends to be accepted by hammies, providing it doesn't mean moving existing things in the cage. So if you needed to add a ramp to the second level that should be ok.

However fall risks can be an issue, so if you have a photo of your cage it would help imagine how high the second level and cage is.

I agree that if she has a flying saucer it needs to be a 12" diameter one - or they can run in an awkward bent way.

Her large house sounds nice and I am sure she appreciates that - room to build a nice big nest.

Main things to check are safety issues. Any holes or entrances need to be big enough or they can get stuck - 5cm diameter absolute minimum - 6cm for a large syrian. If they are too small you can block them off - sticking a small piece of wood over eg or some small wood dowels. Also ramps that can't fall over and wood items can have nails, plus height if they can fall more than 30cm or land on anything pointed.

03-28-2019, 08:00 AM
Pebbles82 Hamster Antics Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 23,533	Re: Advice on new Syrian hamster, am i doing ok? It sounds like you are doing really well You are right to leave things well alone for a couple of weeks - they need that two weeks without much disturbance, so they can adjust, scent mark their cage and feel at home and develop some habits. I wouldn't worry about her running on the wheel a lot - they do get excited about a wheel when they first have one, then they start using it less or mainly at night after a while. Can she easily get up to the next level? If there isn't good/easy access to it then that might also be why she is climbing the bars. But yes they also climb to see if they can find a way out - so the main thing there is making sure that if she fell she can't hurt herself - so plenty of deep substrate helps - at least 4" deep if possible. Adding the odd new thing tends to be accepted by hammies, providing it doesn't mean moving existing things in the cage. So if you needed to add a ramp to the second level that should be ok. However fall risks can be an issue, so if you have a photo of your cage it would help imagine how high the second level and cage is. I agree that if she has a flying saucer it needs to be a 12" diameter one - or they can run in an awkward bent way. Her large house sounds nice and I am sure she appreciates that - room to build a nice big nest. Main things to check are safety issues. Any holes or entrances need to be big enough or they can get stuck - 5cm diameter absolute minimum - 6cm for a large syrian. If they are too small you can block them off - sticking a small piece of wood over eg or some small wood dowels. Also ramps that can't fall over and wood items can have nails, plus height if they can fall more than 30cm or land on anything pointed.