Is this normal?

PumpkinSpice92 · 08-22-2018, 11:53 PM

Hi,

Just wanting to clarify a few things about behavior. I have had my Syrian girl for a month now and she is hand tame, so will crawl onto my hands from her cage, but once she's out of the cage she doesn't sit still! There's only the odd occasion where I'd describe her behavior as happily exploring, she normally runs to the nearest corner/ledge and tries to escape! When I put her back in the house after playtime, if I'm to open the cage door again she's straight to the door to try get out. She also will take food from you in the cage (normally just pouched) but won't even look at food when out. I'm wondering if this is normal and whether it's just because she's fairly young or whether I've gone wrong with taming?

cypher · 08-23-2018, 12:26 AM

All sounds perfectly normal to me especially for a female as they do tend to be a bit more hyper than males.
Trying to escape is really exploring as far as they're concerned, what kind of out of cage set up do you have? Make it as big as you can manage & put plenty of things in to distract her, if it's large enough you can sit in with her so she can explore you too!
They often won't take food out of the cage as they don't have anywhere safe to put it like they do in the cage.

PumpkinSpice92 · 08-23-2018, 12:42 AM

So I've got the HH cage with lots of stuff to do/chew on and I generally let her have the run of my bedroom during playtime as it's only small and she can't get lost as long as I keep an eye on her. She gets time in a ball too, which she likes but I don't like leaving her in there too long.
Are there any tips you can give me to try get her to take a bit more of an interest in me - I feel sometimes that I'm just a ledge for her to get out of the cage! I'd like to bond with her more as she's such a lovely thing and it's so funny watching her expend her energy in different ways

cypher · 08-23-2018, 12:55 AM

I think it's probably a matter of time as much as anything, a month isn't long & she sounds to be doing really well so far, try getting her to run from hand to hand if you can, maybe just begin by letting her run over your hands as she runs around.
It might even help to make a large playpen so she still has plenty of room to explore but not so much space that she can easily avoid you.
If she's a really active girl you might want to consider upgrading her cage later on, the HH is fine as a starter cage but a bit on the small side for an active Syrian & not really tall enough to allow for much substrate once you have a large enough wheel in there.

PumpkinSpice92 · 08-23-2018, 02:01 AM

She does run from hand to hand, but when she gets too fast I feel like she's frustrated with that so I tend not to do it for too long!
I've got the trixie 11 inch wheel in there but still lots of substrate, just piled away from the wheel

. I was planning on getting a playpen, but was deciding if it's necessary - I think I'll look into them more and get one

I understand your points about the cage but unfortunately I'm not in the position to have anything bigger than the HH. I unfortunately got her before doing any research and brought her home in a much too small pet shop cage. I have since been educated by this website and have been doing things properly (or trying at least!) but I still live with my parents in a room that's pretty much the size of a hamster cage XD, and there's nowhere else her cage could stay. I give her lots of playtime and she does seem happy in the cage. On that note, another question but how often should I change the set-up within her cage, she seems easily bored so I've been making one or two adjustments every week to keep her busy! (addition of toys or swapping toys around/moving them to different places) Is this okay? - she doesn't seem stressed but I've seen mixed opinions on other threads

mangoandmimi · 08-23-2018, 02:29 AM

For a very active Syrian girl like yours switching up the cage more is fine - they actually enjoy it. If you’re concerned about stress just leave the nest in the same place. She’ll enjoy more infrequent full cage setup changes too, it keeps them entertained.

PumpkinSpice92 · 08-23-2018, 02:45 AM

Ah that's good to hear - I was thinking about switching the shelves around at some point. I've got her a lovely house to nest in because the little pods on the HH shelves seem far too small for a syrian, but lo and behold she's sleeping in the pod and not the house I bought for her! Would it be okay to take the house away during a cage change-up or is it best for them to have two places to sleep? If she's not using it then the space could be filled with a fun toy (was thinking about DIYing a digging box of some sort) but if it's best for hams to have a back-up hidey hole then I'll keep it in (for reference it's a Kaytee igloo, the hamster sized one so it's plenty big enough, would fit two of her in!)

BubblesHam · 08-23-2018, 02:49 AM

yes this is normal. I have a female Syrian hamster and when I get her out she doesn't sit still! if yours does try to escape if on the sofa or your bed I recommend taking her into the bath to play with her! but make sure to put a towel and a pillow and a blanket in there (the pillow is for you to sit on)1
! and also don't forget to bring some toys and treats with you!

I hope this helps.

mangoandmimi · 08-23-2018, 03:07 AM

Yes they can be a bit silly lol with cramming herself in the pod. They can be picky with houses - seems like she prefers a smaller house and maybe finds the igloo too big? I can’t really say though as I haven’t seen the HH pods or igloo in person. Or she really might just not like the igloo - being fussy with houses is quite normal unfortunately. You could try with a different house (best try a cardboard box) and see if she takes to it.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking away the only suitable sized house in the cage in case she does change her mind, I’d just replace it with another house. You could take out the green shelf and put something there instead?

PumpkinSpice92 · 08-24-2018, 03:13 AM

Thanks guys for your advice and reassurance. I tried to pique her interest again with the igloo (which I thought she'd love as she really liked the penthouse to sleep in until I took it off because she was weeing and storing food in there) by putting a chew and a treat in there but she just moved the treat to her current stash - which is her food bowl... odd hamster! Haha
Last night she was bar chewing again - it's almost definitely for attention as as soon as I turned the light off she stopped and explored her cage. I also noticed she was going back and forth between the chew I've hung near where she bar chews and the bars themselves so I think she just enjoys chewing them now! I'm worried about her teeth - if she only bar chews sporadically how dangerous is it?