Hamster Central - View Single Post - Hamster keeps trying to cover his house with wood shavings?

Imogen · 05-25-2021, 12:03 AM

Hi there.

I've had my hamster about a month and a half now, he is a male Syrian hamster called Remy. Not entirely sure how old he is though.

Since about 2 or 3 days ago, I noticed him starting to cover his house with the wood shavings and it's become kind of annoying. I get he likes digging and is probably doing it as "something to do" or he just ... does it.

However, I don't want him doing this for a few reasons

- It becomes kind of hard to clean his house, I have to remove the lid, take out some of the bedding before removing the actual house to remove all the loose faeces and put new bedding

- He makes a big "mountain" which then makes it hard to have a fairly decent space to place lots of different wooden enrichment toys around a fair amount of his enclosure

- Ends up no matter what with flinging alllll the shavings into his sand bath that I want clean as it looks a mess otherwise!

Within the last 2 - 3 days I have attempted to move his hidey house but he's still trying no matter where it is. I've tried placing his wooden tipi tent next to the place he's now re-trying to cover in the new position and he keeps trying to push it out the way or ends up covering the entire tipi in wood shavings.

Even before I moved it to try and see if he would stop when he first did he, he managed to cover up like 4 of his toys and they completely got buried. This little mountain had a hole where he could walk into his hidey house.

I've tried making sure there's enough bedding in the house so it's warm and cozy and it's actually at a point where it's completely almost cram packed (but still enough for him to manoeuvre and have it how he likes inside) so it's warm but he's still trying to do it.

My room does get cold, but I've made sure within the last month it's warmer then it used to be as well as covering his home made bin cage with a blanket with a bit of the top slightly uncovered for enough air but to keep it warmer inside. It's always warm enough to sit without my blankets on and feel fine in temperature when I sit on my bed with my laptop for a few hours before going to bed.

Anyway to get him to stop?

05-25-2021, 12:03 AM
Imogen Hamster Pup Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Essex, England Posts: 215	Hamster keeps trying to cover his house with wood shavings? Hi there. I've had my hamster about a month and a half now, he is a male Syrian hamster called Remy. Not entirely sure how old he is though. Since about 2 or 3 days ago, I noticed him starting to cover his house with the wood shavings and it's become kind of annoying. I get he likes digging and is probably doing it as "something to do" or he just ... does it. However, I don't want him doing this for a few reasons - It becomes kind of hard to clean his house, I have to remove the lid, take out some of the bedding before removing the actual house to remove all the loose faeces and put new bedding - He makes a big "mountain" which then makes it hard to have a fairly decent space to place lots of different wooden enrichment toys around a fair amount of his enclosure - Ends up no matter what with flinging alllll the shavings into his sand bath that I want clean as it looks a mess otherwise! Within the last 2 - 3 days I have attempted to move his hidey house but he's still trying no matter where it is. I've tried placing his wooden tipi tent next to the place he's now re-trying to cover in the new position and he keeps trying to push it out the way or ends up covering the entire tipi in wood shavings. Even before I moved it to try and see if he would stop when he first did he, he managed to cover up like 4 of his toys and they completely got buried. This little mountain had a hole where he could walk into his hidey house. I've tried making sure there's enough bedding in the house so it's warm and cozy and it's actually at a point where it's completely almost cram packed (but still enough for him to manoeuvre and have it how he likes inside) so it's warm but he's still trying to do it. My room does get cold, but I've made sure within the last month it's warmer then it used to be as well as covering his home made bin cage with a blanket with a bit of the top slightly uncovered for enough air but to keep it warmer inside. It's always warm enough to sit without my blankets on and feel fine in temperature when I sit on my bed with my laptop for a few hours before going to bed. Anyway to get him to stop?