New hamster blocking up tubes!

[VickiM]

We've had our hamster for about a week now. He stays in a 2-tier imac fantasy cage. On the first night, he brought up all the wood shavings from the ground floor and used them to block of the tubes leading into the 'attic' part where he sleeps. I was worried that he couldn't access his water as the tube was packed so tightly, so I emptied it in the morning. I think this upset him as he was very nervous coming down to his wheel that night (the first night he was very active, playing on his wheel and such).

Anyway, he didn't do it again until last night (yesterday, I cleaned out his cage for the first time so I think this freaked him out a lot!). Anyway I ended up emptying his tubes again this afternoon as he was up and about and I was afraid he needed water. I was right because as soon as I emptied it he was straight down to his water, so must have been really thirsty. But he's just spent the last hour trying to block it up again and seems stressed. It's sad because I thought he was starting to settle in and become a bit tame

I'm tempted to take his tubes out but I think this might upset him even more, especially as he does like to hide in them if he's nervous. I'm really not sure what to do, has anyone else ever had this problem?

[kyrilliondaemon]

We've had it.
There're three choices, either remove the tubes, make sure he has water and food avaliable in all parts of the cage (even if the tubes are blocked) or trust him. Our syrian Scamp used to block tubes off, in the end we trusted her and it turns out she happily unblocked them to get to things like her water when she needed them. She just felt more secure having the tubes blocked while she slept.

[njmpk14]

Hiya, My syrian did that after the first time I cleaned him out, and then a few times afterwards. i did some researched and it said they tend to nest and make their beds somewhere that they know is safe and familiar. Because I made the mistake of emptying out most of his little house and its contents it unnerved him and he changed bedrooms. Whenever there are any changes he tends to change where he sleeps but he has settled in the tubes now, he drags the bedding and woodshavings and snacks in there as its the place where he is least disturbed. If he is happy in there dont worry about it. If he put it in there he can take it out, and he could probably squeeze through too. If you are worried put a little bit of food and water in the bit you know he can access but leave a few treats in the bottom bit (where you think is blocked off) and see if they disappear, if they do you know he can get through xx

[p_anda]

It's common, Princess did do this for a while,just after I got her. When you first clean the cage out they can get very confused about things, and think that there's a predator of some sort disturbing their nest. I recommend you don't do full cleans for the first month, just remove any soiled bedding, and never take all the bedding out at the same time. Try not to disturb the nest too much, just leave the shaving in the tube, hamsters are perfectly capable of unblocking them themselves. Hamsters would normally barricade their entrance holes to their burrows in the wild, so that's basically what he's doing now. He's probably a bit scared to unblock them in your presence when you're up and about, so he waits until the lights go off.

[psl]

Ditto with panda comments......
I had this prob with our first hamster snowflake and learnt that mistake i just left the shaving in the tubes they do remarkably get through.

[VickiM]

Thanks everyone! I think he seems okay now and has been out and about playing, so not too traumatised lol. Yeah, I did completely clean out his cage so that maybe wasn't the best idea, I'll try just to pick out the dirty bits next time and leave some of his nest in tact. I've put a small bowl of water in his attic too, so I can relax knowing that if he is ever actually stuck he can still get a drink and wait and see if he can get himself out

[BrittanyCaple]

My syrian always blocks the tubes up with wood shavings and I often take them all out.. and he fills them back up again.

[Lougarry]

My Dinah has blocked the door to her wooden house permanently and blocks up the window behind her when she goes to sleep. As everyone else has said, I think it's pretty normal ham behaviour