Cage Flooding

MyGurlJune · 09-01-2018, 02:46 PM

Hi all,

Long story short... Last week my hamster began obsessively pushing the little balls in her water bottle's nozzle so much that she is flooding her cage with water. As I type, she has leaked about 6 ounces of water in to her cage in the last 24 hours. I've never seen this before.

Short story long... I've had this hamster for about a month and a half. She's is a female Teddy Bear hamster. As far as I know she was young when I got her. Everything is going great. She was the victim in a hamster fight at the pet store so she's very tame since the vets handled her quite a bit. She has not given any indication of illness or anything.

Last week I was out of town for 2 nights and when I returned I was shocked to see that her water bottle was almost empty and there was wet bedding all under the water bottle. I cleaned it out and replaced everything only to find the next day that there was more water in her bedding. I've been watching her more closely and last night she woke me up because she was continuously pushing the balls in the nozzle of the bottle. I found this to be odd since she hasn't done this before. I have had hamsters who will gnaw on the side of the nozzle a little bit and then push the balls once or twice and lick the water, but in the last week, this hamster gnaws on the side and then pushes the balls over and over for 20 minutes or so at a time. I tested the nozzle myself and it did appear possible that the ball inside the nozzle could get stuck open a little bit so it's possible some of this could be a faulty water bottle, but her obsessively pushing the balls in the nozzle to release water is something I've never seen before. I'm not really sure what to do here considering that it makes a mess in her cage. Until I find a better solution, I think I'm just going to put just a tiny amount of water in there so she can drink, but can't flood the cage. I've also thought about putting a dish under the nozzle so if she does flood it, it would get all the bedding soggy and I can just dump the dish.

Anyone ever seen this? Anyone have any tips on things I can try to prevent her from doing this?

mangoandmimi · 09-01-2018, 06:27 PM

I’ve read a couple of similar cases before but unfortunately not a lot in the way of preventions. Most seemed to change to a heavy bowl for drinking (which is absolutely fine). At least for now I would definitely remove the bottle and try re introducing it at a later stage.
I would put it down to some kind of obsessive behaviour which some of them do seem to get but it could definitely be to do with stress or boredom so I would also try a full cage setup change - including moving the water bottle if possible, and seeing if anything changes. Full changes can help calm hamsters down.
The ferplast sippy bottles don’t use the same method and although they’re not the best bottles, it might be worth a try if you don’t want to use a water bowl.

Sasha04 · 09-01-2018, 08:49 PM

I would try what mangoandmimi said. Switching to a water bowl may be better just keep in mind it should be shallow. Also what size cage is she in? I have a theory (other member correct me if this is crazy) that this may be caused by boredom or not enough stimulation. Maybe like another form of bar chewing? Tell us how she dose on a water bowl!

cypher · 09-01-2018, 11:24 PM

As the others said switching to a bowl is the best answer, some hams do just get a bit obsessed with the bottle & as well as making the cage wet they can end up ingesting too much water too which isn't good for them.

flowerfairy · 09-02-2018, 11:45 AM

Both my hamsters have water bowls.

MyGurlJune · 09-02-2018, 04:21 PM

This is her home. The bottle used to be in the bottom right corner and it was flooding that area of the cage. Since yesterday, I moved it to the top left where it is over the plastic shelf. I don't have much water in it. If she drains it, it will be easier to clean up on the shelf. I think this will do until I get a water dish.

Thank you flowerfairy for posting the pictures. I've never seen a hamster setup with a dish so it's good to get an idea of what kind of dish we are talking about.

MyGurlJune · 09-02-2018, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mehrfarbig

I think I know the issue here, she's bored and stressed. The cage and the wheel in that photo are tiny, you need to get her a cage of 50x80cm and a wheel...for a female Syrian I got a 12inch I think.

Plus you shouldn't leave your hamster for 2 nights in my opinion.

It's 64cm x 31cm which is larger than the recommended cage size of The Humane Society of the United States of America. This cage is new, but I've had previous hamsters in identical cages in the past. This cage is marketed as a rat cage and it's the biggest wire cage I can find that has bars small enough that a hamster can't fit through them.

Though she can and does run in this wheel, I would prefer a bigger one. I get this brand because it is specially designed to be silent.

I don't think she is bored or stressed, but I would like to find some toys that she would play with more. So far she chews on a wood block I have in there, but she prefers to run in her wheel and climb and gnaw on the bars.... and unfortunately hit the water nozzle.

Since I moved the nozzle last night, she hasn't tried to flood the cage.

mangoandmimi · 09-03-2018, 12:01 AM

Bar chewing and bottle chewing are both signs that a hamster is bored and stressed. Excessive bar chewing is dangerous and very bad for the teeth as well. I wouldn’t go by any ‘minimum cage sizes’ organisations go by either as these are just what is considered borderline humane - not a good sized cage or to be recommended!
I know good cages are difficult to find in the states - most people seem to go with tanks (40 gallon breeder sized and up) and there’s some decent sized bin cages.
The wheel is most important at the minute though, that is much too small for a Syrian and can damage their backs from running on it. They need an 8 inch diameter wheel as a bare minimum but preferably 10-12”. The Carolina storm wheel is silent and a good size although I can’t see it fitting in that cage (another sign that the cage is too small).

cypher · 09-03-2018, 12:12 AM

As has been said the cage is on the small side & chewing the bars is a sign of boredom, the cage is also very empty, while you're using this cage I would start by ditching the shelf & that plastic ladder, completely fill the base with substrate so she can dig, burrow & do natural hamster things, Give her a good size house, if you don't have one then a cardboard box with no base & a small door cut out would work just fine.
You could get her some whimzee dog chews, the toothbrush is probably best, hams love those & that will distract her from bar chewing to some extent.
Try scatter feeding rather than just using the bowl so she can forage & maybe make her some treat toys out of folded cardboard or toilet roll tubes.
It's hard to tell what size wheel you have but it does look as though it may be too small.
The wheel mangoandmimi mentioned would be a good option or you could go for a silent runner which is a great wheel & really is silent.

Hammy992 · 09-03-2018, 01:14 AM

You've already gotten some great advice from mangoandmimi and cypher, but just to add to what you were saying about wanting to find some more toys for your syrian. The issue you'll run into quite quickly with a cage of this size is that you won't be able to fit a whole lot in there. As has been mentioned above both the Carolina storm wheel and silent runner are great choices and very quiet, but they are large and will take up a lot of room. A lot of the toys marketed for syrians are actually too small and more suited to dwarf species of hamster; you'll find that rat sized toys are more appropriate and fun for them to play with.
As there are a lot of forum members on here from the US we understand how difficult it can be to find cages that are large enough which is why so many of them make DIY bin cages, as storage tubs are easy to get a hold of and come in a range of different sizes. There are lots of tutorials online that can show you how to make them. Another option would be to try ordering online from a website such as zooplus, although the shipping may become expensive with the products coming from Germany. Still, a great cage can be reused many times if properly looked after so if you plan on keeping more hamsters in future it may be a worthwhile investment.