Tips for High Energy Hams?

[GreySyrian]

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to keep high energy hamster entertained!

Alice seems to want to escape and get out a lot and I want to ensure she's not getting bored. She's scatter fed, has gnaws and cardboard boxes for destruction and a 28cm Trixie Wheel. She gets out every night from between 20-60 minutes, although spends the majority of time just putting holes in the towel!

Is there something I'm missing?

[SKB_Hamsters]

I found it was a lot of trying different thing out when entertaining my Syrian Sherbet when she was younger as she was very high energy. But I found a few things worked well for her:

• She used to have normally two 30 to 60 minute playtimes a day, this gave her a way to get some of her energy out and to run around her playpen which I used to corner off a hamster safe part of my room. I found that she liked it if I sat in the playpen with her otherwise she would try to escape or chew my carpet.
• Sherbet would get easily bored of her cage layouts after a week in which caused her to bar chew and tried to escape her cage, so I found it worked well rearranging her toys in her cage after a week but left her nest/house, substrate, hoard and wheel the same/in the same place.
• Sherbet also had a trixie wheel, but she didn't like the front panel which she used to chew at - so I made her a DIY bucket wheel she really enjoyed.
• I did try hiding treats inside small cardboard boxes and folded cardboard tubes but Sherbet had no interest at all however my past high energy hamster Cookie used to love these and would spend ages trying to get the treats out from inside, Cookie also enjoyed a treat ball which is designed for rabbits in which she loved trying to work out how to get the treats out by twisting the ball around to allow the treats to fall out - whereas Sherbet tried the easier option of trying to make the hole that the treats come out bigger and would get bored at left it alone even with the treats still inside.

Where does Alice get her playtimes?
Is Alice food motivated? As you could hide treats in carboard boxes or tubes for her to find
What sorts of things does Alice enjoy doing? I.e. Digging, searching for food, chewing wood/cardboard - does she have any favourite toys? - As this might help find the best ways to keep her entertained as I found what used to work with Cookie didn't work well with Sherbet as they enjoyed doing slightly different things to one another.

[Pebbles82]

You could try setting up a playpen round the cage and leaving the cage door open in the evenings (with some kind of access tube if the door is too high from the ground or something). I did this for a while, but you still need to be there to supervise in case they try and chew their way out! (Which is not very relaxing having to be there all the time) I have one of the home-made correx playpens and leave it partly set up behind the cage, and pull the front pieces out and clip them together when I want to have it fully round the cage. Having said that, when Charlie is in the playpen his main activity is trying to get out of it, by chewing at the base, and he used to climb up the outside of his cage to see if he could get over the top - which doesn't seem much fun (although maybe it is fun, who knows!)

What cage is she in? It sounds like she needs a lot of space. When I moved Charlie up from an 80cm to a 100cm cage he seemed to be happy being in it most of the time.

Or do you have a room she can free roam a bit, that is hamsterproof? eg no gas fires, solid floors rather than wood ones, no holes in the skirting board, no toilet or other pipes going down through a hole in the floor, no bathtub, no fridge lol! In other words a downstairs room with a concrete floor or something, and not too many hazardous things in it?

Hoovering up is important before free-roaming though as they'll pouch anything!

[GreySyrian]

Originally Posted by SKB_Hamsters

I found it was a lot of trying different thing out when entertaining my Syrian Sherbet when she was younger as she was very high energy. But I found a few things worked well for her:

• She used to have normally two 30 to 60 minute playtimes a day, this gave her a way to get some of her energy out and to run around her playpen which I used to corner off a hamster safe part of my room. I found that she liked it if I sat in the playpen with her otherwise she would try to escape or chew my carpet.
• Sherbet would get easily bored of her cage layouts after a week in which caused her to bar chew and tried to escape her cage, so I found it worked well rearranging her toys in her cage after a week but left her nest/house, substrate, hoard and wheel the same/in the same place.
• Sherbet also had a trixie wheel, but she didn't like the front panel which she used to chew at - so I made her a DIY bucket wheel she really enjoyed.
• I did try hiding treats inside small cardboard boxes and folded cardboard tubes but Sherbet had no interest at all however my past high energy hamster Cookie used to love these and would spend ages trying to get the treats out from inside, Cookie also enjoyed a treat ball which is designed for rabbits in which she loved trying to work out how to get the treats out by twisting the ball around to allow the treats to fall out - whereas Sherbet tried the easier option of trying to make the hole that the treats come out bigger and would get bored at left it alone even with the treats still inside.

Where does Alice get her playtimes?
Is Alice food motivated? As you could hide treats in carboard boxes or tubes for her to find
What sorts of things does Alice enjoy doing? I.e. Digging, searching for food, chewing wood/cardboard - does she have any favourite toys? - As this might help find the best ways to keep her entertained as I found what used to work with Cookie didn't work well with Sherbet as they enjoyed doing slightly different things to one another.

She does like digging! She has her playtime at around 9pm-10pm usually, now you mention it she does chew less when I'm in there (mainly because she's figured out humans are good for climbing to peer over the edge of the playpen!). She usually wakes up when I go in the room so would it be an option to give her a day time play session or would this mess with her nocturnal nature?

I'll try switching up her layout more as I usually keep it the same for 2-3 weeks and change the odd toy, maybe I should start doing cage themes to keep her busy.

Thank you for your reply! Will definitely work on changing her layout about more regularly and hiding food Thank You

[GreySyrian]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

You could try setting up a playpen round the cage and leaving the cage door open in the evenings (with some kind of access tube if the door is too high from the ground or something). I did this for a while, but you still need to be there to supervise in case they try and chew their way out! (Which is not very relaxing having to be there all the time) I have one of the home-made correx playpens and leave it partly set up behind the cage, and pull the front pieces out and clip them together when I want to have it fully round the cage. Having said that, when Charlie is in the playpen his main activity is trying to get out of it, by chewing at the base, and he used to climb up the outside of his cage to see if he could get over the top - which doesn't seem much fun (although maybe it is fun, who knows!)

What cage is she in? It sounds like she needs a lot of space. When I moved Charlie up from an 80cm to a 100cm cage he seemed to be happy being in it most of the time.

Or do you have a room she can free roam a bit, that is hamsterproof? eg no gas fires, solid floors rather than wood ones, no holes in the skirting board, no toilet or other pipes going down through a hole in the floor, no bathtub, no fridge lol! In other words a downstairs room with a concrete floor or something, and not too many hazardous things in it?

Hoovering up is important before free-roaming though as they'll pouch anything!

She's in a zoozone 2(100x51x37cm),I'm not sure how i'd go about setting a playpen around it as the lid's on top and it's raised on boxes but I'll have a look and see if there's anyway around this! Unfortunately the only room closest to hamster proof would be the bathroom but I know where all the gaps are so could block these off, maybe even use the existing playpen to keep her away (It's the playpen made from those plastic cubes that Winnie did a thread on). Thank you for your reply!

[SKB_Hamsters]

Originally Posted by GreySyrian

She does like digging! She has her playtime at around 9pm-10pm usually, now you mention it she does chew less when I'm in there (mainly because she's figured out humans are good for climbing to peer over the edge of the playpen!). She usually wakes up when I go in the room so would it be an option to give her a day time play session or would this mess with her nocturnal nature?

I'll try switching up her layout more as I usually keep it the same for 2-3 weeks and change the odd toy, maybe I should start doing cage themes to keep her busy.

Thank you for your reply! Will definitely work on changing her layout about more regularly and hiding food Thank You

I used to give Sherbet one playtime during the day and one late at night, so I don't see a problem with a day time playtime if she is awake. That's what Sherbet used me for as a look out place and when I was on the other side of the playpen she used to climb over and sit on my lap. When I had my Toffee she used to like to dig so I used to mix some food into the substrate so she could dig for it, instead of picking it up from the surface. When you change her layout in between cleans just ensure you re arrange the toys instead of give a complete new layout, that will stop her from getting stressed out.

[Pebbles82]

It's an expensive option but I'd look at getting something like the Alexander cage (or Barney) which has the extra height and levels as well as the floorspace Then she could have a lot more activity in the cage and you could do all kinds of things with levels and tunnels. A zoozone 2 would always sell although maybe wouldn't go much towards the cost of an Alexander.

Or a detolf, if you have the space. That playpen is great! I'd be too nervous about using the bathroom for free-ranging. I remember someone's hammy getting under the bath panel and there are all sorts of holes and pipes and so on under baths.

Another options is to block off a section of landing?

[AmityvilleHams]

Honestly if you want to get a different cage I wouldn't suggest buying a storebought one.You can make a huge DIY or Ikea hack for far less than most comparable storebought cages,and they can be even bigger for a similar cost or less than that of a cage which is only half the size!

LACK Side table - black - IKEA 4 of these flipped over with the top on the floor or solid surfaces would make a square meter cage.They don't have to all be in a rectangular/square formation,you can make an L shaped cage or some formation to make it fit in the space you have.They're the best Ikea hack on a budget though,even better value than a Samla bin.If you have mesh already or can get mesh cheaply it makes it even more of a budget cage,and there are ways to make it stay cheap like cardboard substrate borders so money definitely is no problem at all with this option

[CMB]

If she doesn't like a day time play session, she may get used to starting play time earlier, so she has a longer evening play session.

[GreySyrian]

Will try a day time session and see how she feels about it! If not longer evening session it is.

I do like the look of the barney/alexander and I think your right in that she will enjoy the extra height and platforms but she is a chewer and I have a feeling she would still bar chew as anything I have ever put her in is chewed! For a while she used a hamster heaven for when her cage was being cleaned and she was straight at the bars despite having stuff to keep her occupied! She's definitely the most demanding and pain of the 4!

Looks like I'm going to be busy making some new toys this evening

Thanks everyone for replies