[Pebbles82]

It’s something I believe breeders sometimes do - start them off in a smaller cage for taming and until they’re less skitty, then upgrade them. Not too small obviously. Something like a hamster heaven. It has pros and cons. Baby hamsters are very skitty and scared usually and might just hide away and feel nervous in a big cage with a lot of space above. So could settle in easier on a smaller one then appreciate the space later. On the other hand, a cage change is always stressful for hamsters and they generally don’t like change. They may have just adjusted to a particular style of cage and way of going in and out and struggle with the changes for some time.

A compromise can be starting them in the larger cage but block off one end of it initially (eg a deep substrate end) do the floor space is smaller initially - and not have too deep substrate on the main area - eg 5 to 6”. So they don’t just disappear permanently. Although I find if you have a labyrinth house they take to that straight away and that can take up a fair bit of floor area. But also set it up so they have things to hide under. That’s easier with barred cages as you can hang things from the roof - so they have overhead cover. With a tank style cage I think it’s really important to have platforms and plenty of floor tunnels etc. So they can get to one end of the cage to the other and still feel secure. If they don’t feel secure with the set up you can sometimes see them creeping round the edges of the cage. Even just putting a blanket over the lid can help initially with feeling secure. But the labyrinth house offers a lot of security too.

German tank style cages actually have a kind of “racetrack” which looks great - it’s like one long shelf along the back and extends round the sides so there is shelving/platform on three sides or the labyrinth house roof forming the shelf on the third side. Sometimes with a gap along the back for the wheel. Or sometimes with the wheel on the shelf. So they still have lots of floor area but a good chunk is under cover and the rest doesn’t seem such a large open area.

A lot depends on the personality of the hamster though - our current Syrian is so gregarious nothing bothers him and he’s out every evening and not seeking shelter at all. Most of our other male Syrians have been a bit more shy/lazy and love their labyrinth houses and take time to venture out more. Although if you get a night cam/baby monitor you’ll probably find them out every night using every bit of the cage.

Once they’re hand time they gain in confidence too. That can be slow progress with some.

Even with breeder hamsters you can’t guarantee the personality. Within one litter you’ll have shy ones and more gregarious ones and I sometimes think colour affects personality. If you want a lively one get a cream or yellow! If you want a less lively one then possibly a golden or black hamster. That’s not scientific by the way - just my observation. Behaviour can also be affected by early life experiences.

But I think any Syrian would be happy in that cage - maybe put the labyrinth house in the middle as a kind of divider so there are two smaller floor areas either side - and a platform at one end and it should be fine.

If you have a platform at both ends though you can run a large rat tube between them along the back which gives some overhead cover under it and means they have an extra run T platform level.