bar chewing caused by stress??

[jmlxy]

I adopted a teddy bear hamster a week ago and her name is Cleo. She finally settled down after a whole week of hiding, which is normal to all hamsters when they try to adapt to a new place. She seems happy now as she allows me to touch and handle her. She never chews on bars and likes to chew wood sticks.

However, when I brought back two Syrian hamsters home today, Cleo started to run around inside her cage and chewed on bars making loud noises. She just did not stop! When I opened the gate, she immediately wanted to jump out. I let her run in the exercise ball for a while and she seemed fine. After that, I put her back in the cage and she started running around and bar chewing again. The bars where she mostly chewed on were those that were close to two new hamster cages (which were put relatively nearby). I wonder if her unusual behavior was due to the stress from new hamsters. What should I do? Will this harm any hamsters I have?

[Pebbles82]

Are they male Syrians? She might be desperate to get to them if she's on heat! Or as you say it could be stress due to the new hamster smells.

It might be an idea to have the new ones further away or in a different room for a week or so - I believe Nancy always suggests this as a kind of quarantine anyway, in case any new ones are sick.

It could just be she is on heat

[Scargirl]

I think female Syrians go into heat every 4 days? You can kind of tell because they stink

[aly]

I had a similar thing happen when Ben and Ginger's bar cages were next to each other. When I moved Ben across the room he mellowed out. Ginger was still doing it. Maybe because she was pregnant and that was stressing her? I got her a huge class tank to have the babies in, so that solved it. I suspect that ben began doing it because Ginger was doing it. He rarely does it now (he still has bars). I did buy more fun stuff for his cage too, and the distractions likely helped as well. The whole thing stressed me out, as I've read that it's not good for them to chew on the bars. I hope you find a solution. I was so relieved when everything became calm again. I guess my hamsters' moods rub off on me, LOL.

[jmlxy]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Are they male Syrians? She might be desperate to get to them if she's on heat! Or as you say it could be stress due to the new hamster smells.

It might be an idea to have the new ones further away or in a different room for a week or so - I believe Nancy always suggests this as a kind of quarantine anyway, in case any new ones are sick.

It could just be she is on heat

One is male Syrian and another is Female. This is my first time (as I am new hamster owner).