My new Syrian's cage is too small

linneissen · 02-02-2016, 06:32 AM

Hello guys, I'm new at this forum. So I've had a syrian now for 3 days. She is pretty shy and scared and I found out that her cage is too small for s syrian. I have a dwarf hamster that had that cage in the beginning but now have a IKEA detolf. I want to move my syrian to the detolf and move my dwarf to the other cage. But I am scared that the syrian will freak out. She is sooo scared. Should I wait maybe a week until she is a litte bit more calm? I thought that big space could make her a little bit more calm. Well of course with a lot of toys, because space with no stuff in it apparently causes stress. Hope anyone can answer as soon as possible.

souffle · 02-02-2016, 07:59 AM

I would definitely keep her in the smaller cage till you get her more tame. Too much space when they are scared can make them jittery and insecure so they tend to hide away a lot. It is also stressful with a large glass cage as they feel very exposed.
Remember though that the dwarf will also be stressed by a cage move esepcially if he is used to his spacious quarters. He needs as much space as the Syrian. I would suggest when she is tame, settled and grown a little that you move her to a new larger cage of her own and not do a swap.

hrl20100 · 02-06-2016, 08:11 AM

I agree with souffle.
Have you looked at hamster cages on zooplus?
Such as the Alaska, Barney or Alaxander? These are all very popular cages on this forum. I have the Alaska and I love it! I'm going to be getting another one for my new boy. Nice and spacious, and not too expensive! I got mine for £34. Many cages that are waaaayyy too small are normally double that price! So its worth the money for sure!

Pebbles82 · 02-06-2016, 10:49 AM

I would also leave the dwarf in the detolf

They need lots of space too and it's easier to find an alternative habitat for a syrian than a dwarf I reckon. And as hrl says there are some good large cages on zooplus (I just got the Barney cage

How small is the current small cage? Three days is no time at all really. They need 2 or 3 days to be left alone to settle in and can take a couple of weeks before fully settled. What you can do during that couple of weeks is talking gently to her through the bars and offer her the odd treat through the bars. You could also do the tissue trick - put some sheets of white toilet paper up your sleeve or down your bra, leave them there for a few hours, then tear them into strips and put them in the cage for nesting material, in a heap somewhere, and she will pouch them and take them to line her nest, and will be getting used to your scent that way.

If the cage is so small she is clamouring to come out or bar chewing, then you might need to get her out every day until you get another cage sorted. The bathtub can be a good place to let them run around safely, and is also a good place to help tame them.

I did a short video on taming our hamster in the bathtub, I'll add it below.

We did the same thing - had a cage that was too small - and more than that, not well ventilated. I moved our syrian to a new cage after we'd had him 3 weeks and it took him another 10 days to stop being freaked out after the move, so giving her another 2 or 3 weeks to settle in and get used to being handled a bit would be a good idea. Also when you move her, I would suggest doing a bit of a gradual move over 2 or 3 days, so it's not such a big traumatic change again! I felt terribly when I moved ours to his new cage overnight and I think he was in shock! This time I let him have a play and explore the new cage with some substrate and a few toys in, then set it up and moved him over a couple of days later and he was fine.

Do you have a hamster ball? Before he was tame, I would let our Syrian hop into the ball straight from his cage, let him run for 5 minutes (no more than 10 minutes is about the limit), and then carry him up to the bathtub in his ball, put the ball in the bathtub and take the lid off. Dry bathtub of course, and with the plug in and a few towels down so it isn't so hard if she jumps. You can put a few toys in there too - a toilet roll tube or two, a ceramic mug, would do. When she's less nervy you could get in as well, before you let her out of the ball and she can run over you and get used to you.

For now - leave her for another day or so, and don't clean anything for the next two weeks - that will really stress her out if you clean or change anything in the first two weeks

Let us know what cage she is in now. It might be too small, but probably not teeny tiny and might do until she is tamer as Souffle says.

This is the Zooplus link - the Barney and Alexander cage are a good size for a Syrian. I would definitely recommend a 100cm cage like those two, for a Syrian - I've just upgraded ours from an 80cm cage and it wasn't really big enough once you have a wheel and other stuff in there.

Hamster Cages | great selection at zooplus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyEme2xcq4

linneissen · 02-08-2016, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

I would also leave the dwarf in the detolf

They need lots of space too and it's easier to find an alternative habitat for a syrian than a dwarf I reckon. And as hrl says there are some good large cages on zooplus (I just got the Barney cage

How small is the current small cage? Three days is no time at all really. They need 2 or 3 days to be left alone to settle in and can take a couple of weeks before fully settled. What you can do during that couple of weeks is talking gently to her through the bars and offer her the odd treat through the bars. You could also do the tissue trick - put some sheets of white toilet paper up your sleeve or down your bra, leave them there for a few hours, then tear them into strips and put them in the cage for nesting material, in a heap somewhere, and she will pouch them and take them to line her nest, and will be getting used to your scent that way.

If the cage is so small she is clamouring to come out or bar chewing, then you might need to get her out every day until you get another cage sorted. The bathtub can be a good place to let them run around safely, and is also a good place to help tame them.

I did a short video on taming our hamster in the bathtub, I'll add it below.

We did the same thing - had a cage that was too small - and more than that, not well ventilated. I moved our syrian to a new cage after we'd had him 3 weeks and it took him another 10 days to stop being freaked out after the move, so giving her another 2 or 3 weeks to settle in and get used to being handled a bit would be a good idea. Also when you move her, I would suggest doing a bit of a gradual move over 2 or 3 days, so it's not such a big traumatic change again! I felt terribly when I moved ours to his new cage overnight and I think he was in shock! This time I let him have a play and explore the new cage with some substrate and a few toys in, then set it up and moved him over a couple of days later and he was fine.

Do you have a hamster ball? Before he was tame, I would let our Syrian hop into the ball straight from his cage, let him run for 5 minutes (no more than 10 minutes is about the limit), and then carry him up to the bathtub in his ball, put the ball in the bathtub and take the lid off. Dry bathtub of course, and with the plug in and a few towels down so it isn't so hard if she jumps. You can put a few toys in there too - a toilet roll tube or two, a ceramic mug, would do. When she's less nervy you could get in as well, before you let her out of the ball and she can run over you and get used to you.

For now - leave her for another day or so, and don't clean anything for the next two weeks - that will really stress her out if you clean or change anything in the first two weeks

Let us know what cage she is in now. It might be too small, but probably not teeny tiny and might do until she is tamer as Souffle says.

This is the Zooplus link - the Barney and Alexander cage are a good size for a Syrian. I would definitely recommend a 100cm cage like those two, for a Syrian - I've just upgraded ours from an 80cm cage and it wasn't really big enough once you have a wheel and other stuff in there.

Hamster Cages | great selection at zooplus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyEme2xcq4

We actually bought that cage on zooplus, it is the savic hamster cage bristol.

Savic Hamster Cage Bristol | Free P&P on orders

I do have a hamster ball but I think it is too small, I bought it before I had my syrian. It was originally to my dwarf.

I think I might buy that Barney Cage.

Also, about taming, it has gone a week now and it feels like Coco (my syrian) is goinh to bite me when I try hand feeding. I have been giving her a sunflower seed from my hand everyday. On day 4, she was awake, and I noticed that her water bottle was still full. I knew it was normal but I lightly said to her "Dont you wanna drink?" And I put some water on my finger and showed her. She bite me and it started to bleed a lot. Yesterday for the first time I tried to put a sunflower in my hand so that she could maybe walk on it and take it. But she looked at my fingers where she bite me more than the treat. And I saw that she was going to bite. What should I do? Does she thinks I am food?😂 Please help. I really want her to be able to eat from my hand. I really want her to be comforable with me. And how shoulf I stop her from thinking I am food? I never feed her if I just ate snacks. I wash hands. I dont know what to do.

Pebbles82 · 02-08-2016, 11:11 AM

Hi again. Yes she'd be much better with a Barney or Alexander cage than the Bristol, but the Bristol could make a good play cage or travel cage if you go on holiday.

A week isn't very long for taming. I wouldn't try to rush her. It took 2 months to tame our Syrian lol! We couldn't even touch him, never mind pick him up. Maybe just feed treats through the bars for now and do the tissue trick (put some sheets of toilet paper up your sleeve, leave them there for a few hours, then tear them into strips and put the pile of paper somewhere in the cage. She will pouch some and take it to her nest and it will help her get used to your scent).

I did read some advice to make sure soap you wash your hands with isn't flowery or honey scented!

The ball might be too small for her to run in, but they are a good way of transporting a hamster from cage to bathtub for taming! She might hop into it if you put it by the cage door, then pop the lid on, carry her carefully in it up to the dry bathtub, put the ball in the bathtub, take the lid off and let her run around in there. It's a good idea to put some towels on the bottom of the bath and a few hidey toys like a tube or ceramic cup. We tamed ours in the bathtub - this little video has a few tips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyEme2xcq4

linneissen · 02-21-2016, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Hi again. Yes she'd be much better with a Barney or Alexander cage than the Bristol, but the Bristol could make a good play cage or travel cage if you go on holiday.

A week isn't very long for taming. I wouldn't try to rush her. It took 2 months to tame our Syrian lol! We couldn't even touch him, never mind pick him up. Maybe just feed treats through the bars for now and do the tissue trick (put some sheets of toilet paper up your sleeve, leave them there for a few hours, then tear them into strips and put the pile of paper somewhere in the cage. She will pouch some and take it to her nest and it will help her get used to your scent).

I did read some advice to make sure soap you wash your hands with isn't flowery or honey scented!

The ball might be too small for her to run in, but they are a good way of transporting a hamster from cage to bathtub for taming! She might hop into it if you put it by the cage door, then pop the lid on, carry her carefully in it up to the dry bathtub, put the ball in the bathtub, take the lid off and let her run around in there. It's a good idea to put some towels on the bottom of the bath and a few hidey toys like a tube or ceramic cup. We tamed ours in the bathtub - this little video has a few tips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyEme2xcq4

Hello again, now it has been soon 1 month since I bought my syrian. I've heard that I can split the detolf. Can I do that maybe? It would be 80 cm wide instead of 60, and 40 cm on lenght instead of 30/35 cm. Do you know how I can split it. Should I use a wooden piece to part it and should I glue it?

CMB · 02-21-2016, 08:30 AM

Use aquarium sealant to seal the bottom edge and sides of the wood to the Detolf.

FreddyAndMe · 02-21-2016, 09:21 AM

Linneisen, is you hamster any tamer yet? I've just started the bathtub method with my Freddy and I am curious to see your progress (providing you did it of course lol).

linneissen · 02-21-2016, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreddyAndMe

Linneisen, is you hamster any tamer yet? I've just started the bathtub method with my Freddy and I am curious to see your progress (providing you did it of course lol).

Well, Coco (my syrian) has been trying to bite me even though I think she is comfortable around me. I can stroke her and hand her treat and she seem to be pretty comfortable and not afraid of my hands. But she might think that I am food. Because my skin is pretty soft and not dry. When I had her in her ball and was taking her back to her cage I opened the way to the ball and put my hand in front of it so she could stand there when I lift her down in her cage. That was a really good way to make her stand on me. I didn't rush her but she was going over to my hand really easily without stress and that was a big progress. She become more and more comfortable and easygoing. If you would like to you can share your progress with Freddy, I would like to know. And if you need any help just ask anything.