New environment, new behaviour?

[SiriusBlack]

Sirius moved into his new viv yesterday & has developed a habit of launching himself at my hand and biting! I'm not sure whether this is because he's a little over excited at having a new home? That & lack of sleep! I can't slide the glass doors open without him trying to jump out so I'm probably annoying him by picking him up and moving him around all the time. I am having to re-arrange some stuff though as it either knocks on the glass or he's knocked something over.

[SilverLainey]

Aww poor sleep deprived hammie! Hope he settles down soon.

[dave123791]

I think it might be just stress of moving cages. And you moving stuff around and grabbing him all the time doesn't really help. I would leave him for a day or two to let him relax.

[SiriusBlack]

I think it might be just stress of moving cages. And you moving stuff around and grabbing him all the time doesn't really help. I would leave him for a day or two to let him relax.

I know, it doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist, so I'm constantly changing my mind of where things look best. I am going to leave it now :)

[dave123791]

I know, it doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist, so I'm constantly changing my mind of where things look best. I am going to leave it now :)

We all want to get things perfectly setup for our hammies :)

Thats good :D Keep us posted

[Thin Lizzy]

He's definitely excited and stressed at the same time! Like you I'm a perfectionist, and like moving things about but because it's new he's probably just wants to lay down his scent everywhere and settle in. A little alone time will see him adjust,

[cypher]

It can take them anything up to a couple of weeks to settle after a major cage change so hopefully if you just try to leave him to sort himself out a bit & don't move/change anything more than you have to he'll be fine & happy once he gets to know his new territory.

[SiriusBlack]

I'm hoping he has a good sleep through today. How many hours sleep should hamsters be getting a day?

[cypher]

I really don't think there's any "should" about it! They all vary so much some being much more active than others but I would think he will rest when he needs too even if he's still a bit stressed & over excited.

[Skeever]

I'm such a perfectionist that I figure the perfect choice to design a hamsters cage is a hamster.....so I leave them to it. If anyone knows what makes a hamster happy, its a hamster. Don't know what kind of perfectionism y'all are talking about? :p

[SiriusBlack]

Sirius is still occasionally launching and biting my hand.

[cypher]

How's he doing otherwise? If he seems to be settling in to his new home & enjoying the space hopefully he should settle soon & stop doing that.

[SiriusBlack]

Fine :) The issue I have cypher is that he has a free-standing wheel. The wheel is a little too heavy for the stand and so if Sirius pushes past it, it becomes unbalanced. Every time I enter his viv to sort it out he tries to escape, so I'm constantly picking him up from the edge and moving him. Obviously he gets frustrated with this and launches at my hand :( I understand now that I have to put him into his carrier or ball so I don't annoy him but it seems a little silly for something that should take 2 seconds. Anyway, his new big wooden wheel should arrive shortly and that will solve the problem of me having to go in and out of his viv so much.

The sooner it arrives the better! He loves his wheel.

[cypher]

That explains the attitude then lol! I hope his new wheel gets there really soon :D

[Pebbles82]

He is guarding his territory I think. Charlie used to do this too, and particularly after a change). You might find he is better when out of the cage.

[SiriusBlack]

He is such a cheeky little bear! I had a territorial rabbit (before she was spayed) so I'm quite used to this kind of behaviour. She used to launch at my hands too!