Is my hamster ok?

[Kirsti]

Hi, I got my campbell dwarf hamster two weeks ago. The first week, I thought everything was going very well, she would wake up at night, and was quite eager to let me hold her, and seemed to enjoy her time out of the cage where I give her access to toys and a wheel. She's almost two months old, and I was told to not let her have a wheel in her cage til she's four months old, so I'm keeping it to the playpen for now.

Since then I added some things to the cage, like a bit more bedding hoping she would start burrowing, I added a cork log, which she really seems to like, and a sand bath. Lately she's showing less interest in coming out to play, and she takes longer and longer to wake up, at one point I stayed up til 3am in order to make sure she got some exercise outside the cage. But I can't always stay up that late, so I've skipped playtime a couple times, which she seems to be fine with. She comes out during the day to eat and drink, so I do see her, but I feel like she's sleeping a lot. I may just be overthinking this.

When I do take her out she seems very happy to be held, and she runs a ton in her wheel, she honestly seems a bit hyper active when she does come out, but then goes back to her bed when I put her back in her cage. Basically what I'm wondering is if I should be concerned with her lack of interest to come out of her cage, and also her seemingly hyperactivity when she does come out. Should I push her to make sure she gets time out of her cage daily? Or should I let her decide in her own time?

I appreciate any tips/advice! I'm just really trying to be the best hamster owner I can be, and ironically I've become insecure because of it, I'm worried I'm not doing a good enough job. At the same time I think I'm overthinking it. Hope you guys have some answers for me! :)

[Imogen]

I recommend around 7-12 weeks you should give your hamster at least 3 hours on the wheel each day.

She's probably hyperactive on her wheel which really tires her out and so she sleeps a lot since she's used up all her energy whilst playing. For the lack of interest over time though, do you only put the same toys in? Try putting different ones in each time or if you only have so many, limit them each time so use half for 2-3 days and use the other half of the toys the next 2-3 days and mix them up in to different categories each time to give "different" varities.

She's probably predicted the toys you've put in a she's got bored of them. I only have a handful of toys myself and I only own about 8 or 10 different toy pieces. To change this I sometimes add them all, remove a few, swap some for others etc. and my hamster then decides to visit each toy each time I change them around and play with them. When I notice he gets bored of it I remove it or swap it for another toy he hasn't had for awhile.

I also recommend some fun treats if you can give her any, I have these treats from Pets at Home which are small round honey and nut balls and my hamster spends ages knocking it about to try and nibble off some bits. I swap the treats each time between a hanging honey and oats treat and the honey and nuts treat.

Also, the room being cold can also very easily affect hamsters, hamsters come from warm climates and when it's too cold they stay in their warm bed to stay warm. Too cold of a room can send a hamster into torpor. (search it up if you're unsure of what torpor is).

[Ria P]

Hello and welcome to HC!

I've never heard of waiting until a hamster is four months old to have a wheel in their cage.

Mine always had a wheel in their cage as soon as they moved in at two months old the youngest.

[Soheil]

my hamster has alot of toys & stuff but some days he doesn't even wake up at nights, which means he sleeps 2 full days(he wakes up to drink and eat)his cage is huge too but,he's 9 months now and he isn't over weight or anything, just put some new toys, if she came out more often then its the lack of interest, if she didn't, she could just be a sleepy one and enjoys sleeping xD don't worry about their weight as far as i've exprienced they know what they're doing, they take a good care of themselves, sry for my bad eng, good luck