Hamster Central - View Single Post - Nervous, stressed, escaping, unhappy hamster

mangoandmimi · 07-16-2019, 12:49 PM

Hi welcome. Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your new hamster. It does sound as though she isn’t settled, what cage is she in? She certainly shouldn’t be bar chewing and definitely shouldn’t be able to chew out of any tubes. Imo the cage does need to be a bare minimum of 100x50cm unbroken floorspace for a female Syrian really as any less and they very often get destructive as you are witnessing. For now - id stop with the handling until she is settled in a proper cage that she cannot escape from. Maybe one without bars since she is a chewer. If you are good at DIY a Linnmon Ikea hack would work, the eco habitat, or a fish tank maybe. Potentially an Ikea detolf if you have plans to build a raised lid. With a suitably large cage you can then add enrichment in the form of natural items and provide a 12” wheel if you haven’t already. If you need to transport her out of the cage maybe use a container for now if hands scare her.

07-16-2019, 12:49 PM
mangoandmimi Little Miss Tinytoes Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: UK Posts: 7,036	Re: Nervous, stressed, escaping, unhappy hamster Hi welcome. Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your new hamster. It does sound as though she isn’t settled, what cage is she in? She certainly shouldn’t be bar chewing and definitely shouldn’t be able to chew out of any tubes. Imo the cage does need to be a bare minimum of 100x50cm unbroken floorspace for a female Syrian really as any less and they very often get destructive as you are witnessing. For now - id stop with the handling until she is settled in a proper cage that she cannot escape from. Maybe one without bars since she is a chewer. If you are good at DIY a Linnmon Ikea hack would work, the eco habitat, or a fish tank maybe. Potentially an Ikea detolf if you have plans to build a raised lid. With a suitably large cage you can then add enrichment in the form of natural items and provide a 12” wheel if you haven’t already. If you need to transport her out of the cage maybe use a container for now if hands scare her.