Hamster wants live under my bed instead of her cage?

[Adiva]

Hi, this is my first time posting about my hamster here. I have a female Syrian hamster who is turning 2 this summer! I haven't had any major issues with her, and she has been to the vet a few times for checkups. She seems to be of good health and is pretty active for her age.

Her living conditions seem well, her cage measures to be 89 x 48 x 33 cm. She free roams every day in my room (in the basement), and gets a lot of socialization and attention.

The past week however I noticed that she has been stuffing bedding and food in her mouth, waiting for me to bring her out, and then dumping the contents in a secluded area under my bed. When I put her back in the cage, she stuffs her mouth again, and further waits for me to let her out by trying to get my attention. The first day I wanted to see how long she would keep it up for, and it was about 4-5 runs of this.

I've returned all the content from under my bed back into her cage. But she immediately returns to stuffing it in her mouth. The moment I let her free roam, she tries again. She usually attempts this closer to when she wakes up. By the time she gets sleepier and is about to sleep soon, she stops stuffing her cheeks and then I let her out so she can still spend time outside.

I feel like she needs more room maybe? Or am I possibly letting her free roam for too long? Because it's almost like she wants to move and live under my bed. I'm looking for a bigger, more affordable cage and I will appreciate suggestions. But does anyone have any idea why she could be doing this, and how I can handle this situation?

Thank you so much.

[cloudy]

Hello Adiva and welcome to the forum. I would increase your hamsters enclosure as it sounds like she would enjoy having more space. If you put your country then it would help people suggest a suitable cage for you. I know in America they have huge tubs which people use as bin cages for example. She sounds adorable.

[Ria P]

Originally Posted by Adiva

She usually attempts this closer to when she wakes up. By the time she gets sleepier and is about to sleep soon, she stops stuffing her cheeks and then I let her out so she can still spend time outside.

Hello and welcome to HC!

I'm a little confused by this.
So, you let her out when she gets sleepy?

Usually, hamsters have a routine. They wake up and have a pee, wash, snack and maybe a drink before they are ready for human interaction and out of cage time.

I can usually tell when they want to go back home because they either come back to me or sit in a corner somewhere washing or snoozing.

How long is your hamster out to freeroam?

I think that her behaviour may be caused by a timing issue.

[Adiva]

Originally Posted by cloudy

Hello Adiva and welcome to the forum. I would increase your hamsters enclosure as it sounds like she would enjoy having more space. If you put your country then it would help people suggest a suitable cage for you. I know in America they have huge tubs which people use as bin cages for example. She sounds adorable.

Hi! Thank you for your response. I have to figure out how to put the country near my info. But as for now I live in Ontario, Canada. I have an Ikea nearby and was considering getting the famous detolf cabinet. As of now she lives in a larger plastic bin by Canadian Tire. However, if you find more affordable spaces for her please let me know!

I have gotten her a new hide and a bunch of toys, I will see if it distracts her enough for now! Thank you so much

[Adiva]

Originally Posted by Ria P

Hello and welcome to HC!

I'm a little confused by this.
So, you let her out when she gets sleepy?

Usually, hamsters have a routine. They wake up and have a pee, wash, snack and maybe a drink before they are ready for human interaction and out of cage time.

I can usually tell when they want to go back home because they either come back to me or sit in a corner somewhere washing or snoozing.

How long is your hamster out to freeroam?

I think that her behaviour may be caused by a timing issue.

Hi! Thank you for your response.

She is usually up for around 4-6 hours. What I meant is her behaviour of wanting out of the cage is usually more persistent closer to the first 2 hours of her waking up. This is when I let her out, and she is usually out for about 20-30 minutes. But only recently she was less interested in the free roam, more interest in emptying contents of the cage under my bed. Because of that I let her out near the end of her awake time, once she has stopped stuffing her cheeks.

I attempted this because earlier, she was only focused on transferring as much material as possible when she woke up. Do you suggest for me to try to do something different, like only let her out at a set time regardless of when she wants out or not?

[cloudy]

Originally Posted by Adiva

Hi! Thank you for your response. I have to figure out how to put the country near my info. But as for now I live in Ontario, Canada. I have an Ikea nearby and was considering getting the famous detolf cabinet. As of now she lives in a larger plastic bin by Canadian Tire. However, if you find more affordable spaces for her please let me know!

I have gotten her a new hide and a bunch of toys, I will see if it distracts her enough for now! Thank you so much

I hear the Ikea cabinets are very popular. I read that some say the delfof is shallow and they prefer the pax. I have no experience of either though.

I am sure she will love the new hide and toys.

[Ria P]

Originally Posted by Adiva

Do you suggest for me to try to do something different, like only let her out at a set time regardless of when she wants out or not?

I would only let her out when she asks to come out.

What happens when you only let her out only once instead of putting her back and letting her out again a few times?

Or block the area under your bed off to take her focus away from trying to buil a nest under your bed?

Two of my Syrians got into another room because i had forgotten to close the door. Now they try to dig under the door to get in and they jump up the door. I blocked the door with toys and eventually the stopped trying to push the toys out of the way and went off to do something else.

Maybe blocking access will refocus her mind onto doing something else.

I don't know why your hamster does it because i can't always figure out hamsters but get the impression that sometimes they do things simply because they can.

I have come across various hoards outside of our hamsters cages, usually inside my shoes, but not nests.

[Pebbles82]

Hi. Agree with Ria. Sometimes they do funny things and maybe only get her out when she shows she wants to be out. Personally I wouldn't upgrade her cage at this stage if she's been in it all this time and happy with it. It's a good size and she's nearly two years old. I would think it's something that needs observing more. I don't think building a nest under your bed is anything to do with needing a bigger cage. Even if their cage is on the small side they always home back to their nest and love their nest.

When you say she's stuffing bedding in her pouches - do you mean substrate or her actual nest? I am just wondering if this is an ageing or health issue. They sometimes abandon their nest when they feel their time is limited (sorry - it may not be that). When they "go" they often prefer to go somewhere that is not their nest - somewhere else in the cage.

But as you say she seems healthy it may be some other behavioural thing. How often do you clean her out? Have you changed substrate recently? She could actually be dumping something out of the cage! Either cleaning out her nest herself or not liking something you've put in.

I've had a couple of hamsters who cleaned out their nest. I'd come down in the morning and find a huge pile of old nesting material piled up in front of the cage door and a big "hole" in the substrate down to the bottom of the cage - with substrate missing - which had been taken into the house to refurbish the nest.

Is the stuff she is dumping stinky?

Do you have a cosy hide for out of cage time at all? I have a fleece snooze cube and our hamsters like to dive into that and sit in it when they're out of the cage. For a while - then they emerge again, then go back again. Just thinking if you had something like that to put under the bed that she liked to go into, she might stop the behaviour - kind of distract her out of it,

I asked about cleanign as cleaning them out too much does affect their normal behaviours and I usually never clean out the nest unless it's pee'd in - they get very upset about that. And only do partial substrate changes infrequently.

[Pebbles82]

One thing I will say is - they are contrary! If you put the stuff back in the cage she will take it out again! It's a game! Like Ria mentioned about stopping them get out of a door. I've had that too. The more you try and block the door, the more they try and get past the blockage! It could be she just wants a second nest for out of cage time and a hoard to snack on while she's away from her nest. She might actually feel a bit insecure if away from her nest and hoard.