What Do I Do?

Chyna_Tuckahoe · 01-16-2016, 11:06 PM

Hi there!
I have a long haired Siberian hamster and I've had her for about 2 years now. I have her in a 10 gallon tank with a top and everything. Her water bottle hangs on the inside of her cage which is held by a metal hook thing and has a plastic "T" shape to it like this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B44...ew?usp=sharing Chyna likes to climb it and knock her bottle down. Then she climbs the holder and chews the plastic part of it and sometimes the metal bar.
It drives me nuts!!

When I put it back up an hour later she's gone a knocked it down again!
What can I do to make her stop??

velma · 01-17-2016, 02:46 PM

Hi, welcome to HC

I'm not sure how you make her stop - she knows it's there now so will probably keep trying. I'm not sure how you could make it hard for to climb. You can get some metal bottle holders that might be harder for her to knock the bottle out of. Aside from that, what is her cage setup like? 10 gallons sounds a little small so I'm not sure what size wheel you have in their or toys? She may be a bit bored? Some hams are also a bit attention seeking in that they learn certain behaviour gets attention so they repeat that as they know they get played with so someone might have a good technique to help with that?

Chyna_Tuckahoe · 01-17-2016, 04:09 PM

She doesn't like her wheel. When I bought her a hiddy hole, it was a tree trunk that came with an attachable food bowl and a little wheel that hooked on the side. She never ran in it so I took it out. Then she decided that she didn't like her food bowl being attached to the trunk and would bump it off every time I put it back so I left it off. She seems to be fine with her living space and the size. She really likes apple wood chews but money is tight and I can't buy them all the time. I have gotten her some regular wooden chews but she didn't chew them. I have thought about getting a metal holder for her water bottle. I sometimes put empty TP rolls in there for her to chew on. And when she knocks down her bottle she climbs her trunk and waits there for me to put it back up. SO I do think that she does like the attention. Chyna Really likes being put in her ball for a while

velma · 01-18-2016, 02:31 AM

They really do need a wheel. As they get older they sometimes use it less but if they get bored they need a wheel to run their frustrations out. Sometimes it seems like they don't like wheels as the one they have may be either too small for them or not turn very easily so they give up. And if she is long haired, they can get their fur tangled in the spindle of certain wheels. I'm wondering if she likes the ball so much as she doesn't have a wheel to run in? Toilet rolls are good to chew on as is some loo roll still left on it for them to tear off for nesting. They seem to like the flavoured wood chews more, don't they? Whimzees for dogs are also good chews for hamsters. They look like a little crocodile or toothbrush. Do they sell those near you?

Can you post a picture of your set up and your hammy?

Chyna_Tuckahoe · 01-18-2016, 01:37 PM

Chyna.JPG
This is Chyna. Her cage looks bigger in person. Her trunk had a wheel and her food dish is attachable but she unhooks it.

Shannonmcn · 01-18-2016, 01:46 PM

Sounds like Chyna is really bored and it's coming out as "destructive" behaviours. Her wheel before was almost certainly too small as you can't fit an appropriate wheel in such a small tank, that can cause them serious back pain.

Please think about getting her a larger space to live, that size of tank is well below any of the welfare minimums no matter how conservative. I think it's Petco that does the dollar/gallon sale a few times per year and $40 for a decent tank isn't a lot to pay to greatly improve her quality of life. You can also get very large storage bins in any Walmart or target to make a bin cage for even less, maybe $20 depending on how you source your materials.

hrl20100 · 01-18-2016, 02:02 PM

I'd definitely say that the tank is too small as well...

Her behaviour is most likely caused by boredom as it doesn't look as if she has a lot to do in that tank...
If you were able to get her a bigger tank or cage, that would be great! I definitely recommend getting her a wheel. If the tank is small, then a wheel is definitely needed as she has no room to exercise.

Rather than putting her food in a bowl, you could try scatter feeding? It will help keep her occupied as she's have to look for the food. Also try proving her with a deeper substrate so she is able to dig and burrow. It might help prevent her boredom, but the main thing is getting her a bigger cage.

You want a cage thats atleast 80cm by 50cm and thats the minimum! Bigger is always better! That way you can fill it with enrichment and she will have a very happy life

I love her name by the way!

Chyna_Tuckahoe · 01-18-2016, 02:37 PM

These are all great pointers! Thanks so much. I will defiantly look into a bigger tank. I want to keep her in a glass tank like the one she's in now but bigger.

I think that I will let her run in her ball more often to tire her out a little and then she won't be so bored.

Who knows, once she gets into a larger space she will stop knocking down her bottle!

Also, Thank you! Her full name is Chyna Tuckahoe. She has a drag name! She got her name by her digging in one corner of her tank for like an hour when I first got her. I kept saying that she was going to dig to China if she kept doing that all night. At the time I was watching RuPaul's Drag Race on TV!

velma · 01-18-2016, 02:57 PM

As the others have said, it is too small, I'm afraid. Like Shannon said, Petco often do the dollar a gallon sale. We have different tank sizes here but I'm pretty sure a lot of people here use the 40gallon breeder tanks. I think they have good dimensions. In the meantime It doesn't look like she has much else in her cage (sorry if she does, small iPad screen!) & as she doesn't seem keen on the trunk, I'd take that out, scatter feed as Hannah suggested and put loo roll tubes and cardboard boxes in that she can hide in & rip up. There are some good DIY toys in the DIY section of the forum and Erin's Animals on YouTube has some good videos too showing how you can make toys from loo rolls that they have to work to get at the treats. And put loads of substrate in, even if it's just up one end so she can dig even more, she'd definitely like the challenge of that!

Chyna_Tuckahoe · 01-18-2016, 04:34 PM

She actually loves her trunk. I took her out for the picture. I just built her a little wooden platform to climb and chew until we can get a bigger cage or an extension to it. She likes to take the majority of her shavings and stuff them in her trunk and sleep. It's quite spacious in there. Sometimes I put cotton balls or rolls in there so she can add to the shavings and make a burrow.

As for the platform, she doesn't really know what it is yet but she has gnawed on it a little and has climbed on top and cleaned herself on it. I made it out of a square hunk of wood and some paint stirrers from Lowe's Hardware. It's not as tall as her trunk, maybe about half the height of it. I'm hoping that this will keep her somewhat entertained until I can go and buy a bigger tank or an extension to her tank.

Once again thank you all for the great advice! I just want to keep her happy and let her live a long life while I go off to college soon!