Hamster is monkey barring?

[Wakers5]

Hello!
Before I got my hamster I did a lot of research, so my sirian male hamster lives in an ikea detolf cage, with in total 4 substrates: Megazorb, Sand, Coco fibre and Kaytee's clean and cozy. I take my hamster, Sweep, out almost every night. I made him 3 different cardboard boredom breakers last night, but I was awoken in the night by the sound of him monkey barring. When I hear this it makes me upset, so I put the light on and slowly tried to pick him up incase he wanted to come out. He then ran off. Since he was spooked, I scatter fed some food in his coco fibre to try and calm him down, but any tips? He burrows, runs on his wheel, forages, everything but he still climbs the lid of his cage. So yes, I would really appreciate any tips!

[Ria P]

Hello and welcome to HC!

Have you done routine checks like wheel and water bottle working ok in case he's trying to tell you something?

Sometimes hamsters do things simply because they can, especially when they are young.

A friend had the same issue with her Syrian who lived in a very well set up detolf and was given daily out of cage time. She ended up moving him into a Linnmon where he couldn't reach the lid.

Your hamster may grow out of it but if not a raised lid would resolve the issue.

[Lilafernim]

I’m not sure if a setup of a detolf but is it possible to attach cardboard to the areas he’s monkey barring on? As Ria said sometimes they do things just because they can, also it may be an attention thing as he knows this means he gets let out or additional treats.

[Ria P]

I’m not sure if a setup of a detolf but is it possible to attach cardboard to the areas he’s monkey barring on? As Ria said sometimes they do things just because they can, also it may be an attention thing as he knows this means he gets let out or additional treats.


I covered the ceiling in Rodney's Alaska with boredom breaker mats to stop him from monkey barring when he was a youngster but he grew out of it.

To attach cardboard in the areas where he monkey bars is a good idea as long as there's enough uncovered mesh for sufficient airflow.

[Wakers5]

Hi
Thank you for replying. I feel reassured and I will always keep my eye out for even bigger cages!

[Pebbles82]

Hello. He’s probably looking for a way out. At night they are highly active and I think it’s fairly instinctive for them to want to try and find a way out to go foraging. Main thing is to make sure that if he drops from the lid area he can’t land in anything hard or sharp and hurt himself. So anything like that you could either move under a shelf or stick a bit of hemp mat on top.

No space is big enough for a hamster! If they were out in a whole room they would still try abd find a way out and scrabble at the door or try and get under it. He will have sussed that the sides are all solid but there is air coming through the roof.

Do you have a photo of your set up? Maybe adding some things will give him more things to do in the cage and him develop habits. But I think it’s a hanster’s instinct to want to escape the cage at night and go for a roam. However they do this when they think no one is around so yes he’d be startled if you woke up and took him out. Part of it is the challenge to escape independently! Some good suggestions above but I wouldn’t worry about it as long as he can’t hurt himself - he’ll probably get bored if distracted into a new routine.

Could you add a 12” flying saucer as well as a wheel? Something else to do.