Concerned about both of my hammys

[Biscuitythehammy]

Hi!
My syrian hamster is in an ikea detolf with numerous hides, tunnels, sprays and chew toys. There’s so much in it for her to explore and play with but she recently started chewing at the chicken wire on her lid and climbing on it. i know this is often a sign of stress and them wanting to get out. I’m not sure why she feels this way? I let her out every night into her play pen. Whenever she hears me come near her enclosure she tries to go on the wire and have me pick her up. i’m not sure if it’s because she wants to come out and see me or if she’s seriously stressed. I would really appreciate some tips on how to get her to stop doing this.

Another concern is I just recently adopted a dwarf hamster who is approximately 8 months old. When i first seen his picture he was a normal weight but when i picked him up he was very fat. The foster parent said he’s gained weight. I’ve noticed all he does is eat, he’s eaten all of his flax seeds and is always hiding and eating. I’ve rarely noticed him use his wheel. How could I aid in his weight loss?

Thank you so much, i’m just really concerned about both of them.

 

[elusive]

Sorry to hear about your concerns for both your hams.

Female Syrians are notorious for needing lots of space, lots to do & lots of time out of the cage, they can be a real challenge!
She may need a bigger enclosure possibly but also it’s a case of giving them enough to do to keep them occupied.
If you could post a photo of your set up that would help as there may be things we could suggest to improve things for her.
Meanwhile do you scatter feed & hide food or treats in things like little cardboard boxes or treat tubes (you can make a lot of things out of toilet roll tubes) so she has to work to find them.
There are some good ideas in this thread.

Cardboard creations

This is a thread to show how many things you can make for your hamster or enclosure, out of cardboard :-) Cardboard is your friend.

www.thehamsterforum.com

I’m sure some of the Syrian owners will have more suggestions for you.

Have you weighed your dwarf? It is quite rare for them to get overweight if they are fed a good hamster mix & don’t have too much in the way of faty treats. They don’t generally overeat.
What are you feeding him & how much?
Is he drinking normally?
Do you know how much of a hoard he has, some hams hoard a lot more than others & he may not be eating all the food but stashing lots of it away.
As with your Syrian it might help to make him work a bit for food & treats, scatter feeding & hiding food around the cage.
What wheel does he have, is he able to use it ok, some wheels don’t spin well, some hamsters just seem to prefer different wheels & you might need to try something with that to see what works for him.
It would help to know his weight before suggesting anything else really. Hybrid hamster weight varies a lot & some do weigh quite a bit more than others.

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

Sorry to hear about your concerns for both your hams.

Female Syrians are notorious for needing lots of space, lots to do & lots of time out of the cage, they can be a real challenge!
She may need a bigger enclosure possibly but also it’s a case of giving them enough to do to keep them occupied.
If you could post a photo of your set up that would help as there may be things we could suggest to improve things for her.
Meanwhile do you scatter feed & hide food or treats in things like little cardboard boxes or treat tubes (you can make a lot of things out of toilet roll tubes) so she has to work to find them.
There are some good ideas in this thread.

Cardboard creations

This is a thread to show how many things you can make for your hamster or enclosure, out of cardboard :-) Cardboard is your friend.

www.thehamsterforum.com

I’m sure some of the Syrian owners will have more suggestions for you.

Have you weighed your dwarf? It is quite rare for them to get overweight if they are fed a good hamster mix & don’t have too much in the way of faty treats. They don’t generally overeat.
What are you feeding him & how much?
Is he drinking normally?
Do you know how much of a hoard he has, some hams hoard a lot more than others & he may not be eating all the food but stashing lots of it away.
As with your Syrian it might help to make him work a bit for food & treats, scatter feeding & hiding food around the cage.
What wheel does he have, is he able to use it ok, some wheels don’t spin well, some hamsters just seem to prefer different wheels & you might need to try something with that to see what works for him.
It would help to know his weight before suggesting anything else really. Hybrid hamster weight varies a lot & some do weigh quite a bit more than others.

Thank you so much for your response! I just got my dwarf 2 days ago, he’s on versa lega nature and has different spray mix plus flower forage and i’ve given him a small amount of cucumber which he liked. I’m not sure how much he weighs although I’ll weigh him tomorrow and get back to you on that. (it’s 3am here where i live currently) It could just be me but he seems very round even the foster parent said that.

As for my syrian, I’ve always scatter fed her, she isn’t really into forage toys. She has different textures in her cage as well as sprays, toys, tunnels. She has 10 inches of bedding in part of her cage (6 inches throughout the rest) her wheel is a 10 inch i just ordered an 11 inch for her today actually which is coming tomorrow . But yeah i’ve had her for months and she’s never done this it’s only started the last 2 days.

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

Sorry to hear about your concerns for both your hams.

Female Syrians are notorious for needing lots of space, lots to do & lots of time out of the cage, they can be a real challenge!
She may need a bigger enclosure possibly but also it’s a case of giving them enough to do to keep them occupied.
If you could post a photo of your set up that would help as there may be things we could suggest to improve things for her.
Meanwhile do you scatter feed & hide food or treats in things like little cardboard boxes or treat tubes (you can make a lot of things out of toilet roll tubes) so she has to work to find them.
There are some good ideas in this thread.

Cardboard creations

This is a thread to show how many things you can make for your hamster or enclosure, out of cardboard :-) Cardboard is your friend.

www.thehamsterforum.com

I’m sure some of the Syrian owners will have more suggestions for you.

Have you weighed your dwarf? It is quite rare for them to get overweight if they are fed a good hamster mix & don’t have too much in the way of faty treats. They don’t generally overeat.
What are you feeding him & how much?
Is he drinking normally?
Do you know how much of a hoard he has, some hams hoard a lot more than others & he may not be eating all the food but stashing lots of it away.
As with your Syrian it might help to make him work a bit for food & treats, scatter feeding & hiding food around the cage.
What wheel does he have, is he able to use it ok, some wheels don’t spin well, some hamsters just seem to prefer different wheels & you might need to try something with that to see what works for him.
It would help to know his weight before suggesting anything else really. Hybrid hamster weight varies a lot & some do weigh quite a bit more than others.

I’m wondering if it’s possible because of the dwarf hamster being in the room. Because she never acted this way until 2 days ago which is when i picked up my dwarf? Maybe she’s smelling him?

 

[elusive]

If you’ve only had your dwarf 2 days then he’s probably building up a good hoard so he will need plenty of food for that & he probably isn’t eating too much of it, he will also need to time to settle into his new environment so that may be why he hasn’t used the wheel much yet, he needs a couple of weeks to settle in properly.
Russian hybrids are quite round! Much more so than other species so I suspect he’s probably not actually overweight, but do try to weigh him just to see. Other than that just leave him to settle without doing anything in his cage other than changing food & water & a little spot cleaning if need be & see how he goes.

It could be having another hamster in the room that has caused your Syrian’s behaviour to change, they’re usually fine with other hamsters in the room but it may take her a while to get used to it & settle down a bit, the new scent is probably quite intriguing for her.

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

If you’ve only had your dwarf 2 days then he’s probably building up a good hoard so he will need plenty of food for that & he probably isn’t eating too much of it, he will also need to time to settle into his new environment so that may be why he hasn’t used the wheel much yet, he needs a couple of weeks to settle in properly.
Russian hybrids are quite round! Much more so than other species so I suspect he’s probably not actually overweight, but do try to weigh him just to see. Other than that just leave him to settle without doing anything in his cage other than changing food & water & a little spot cleaning if need be & see how he goes.

It could be having another hamster in the room that has caused your Syrian’s behaviour to change, they’re usually fine with other hamsters in the room but it may take her a while to get used to it & settle down a bit, the new scent is probably quite intriguing for her.

Yes, i’ve had hybrids in the past but they’ve never been as round as him. But i will weigh him tomorrow and let you know what he weighs!
Thanks again.

 

[Maz]

Hi. We do worry about our hammies sometimes Elusive has about covered things.

With the Syrian - if it’s only been in the last couple of days then something has set her off. It may well be the fact there’s another hamster in the room. She may also be a bit jealous! Hence trying to get your attention. If it is that, it should settle down. My Syrian gets massively jealous if he hears me talking to the Robo! I find him giving me a furious stare when I turn round to his cage

Another thing it could be is if you recently had to do a clean out of the detolf. If a lot has been cleaned at once, that can stress them and make them want to escape etc - especially if the nest and hoard have to be removed. But you probably know about keeping some familiar smelling bedding back and cleaning items at different times.

If it is after a clean out that should settle down as well.

Are they both in your room? It’s harder for them to avoid seeing you if they are.

I suspect her chewing the lid bars is to pester for wanting out. But there is a limit to how much yuu can let them out. And then she’d be chewing at the door to try and get out of the room!

Is it driving you mad and keeping you awake? Or are you mainly worried about her. I don’t think a bigger enclosure is the issue - it’s a good size. But a clean out might have set her off (if there’s been one) or a change of layout or the new dwarf or a combination. But good move sending for an 11” wheel - that may well distract her out of it.

With the dwarf hamster it all sounds normal to me. As Elusive says - he’s settling into his new home and building a hoard. It’s maybe a bit too soon to try and weigh him or it could stress him out. I’d give him at least 10 days without any disturbance in the cage - to fully settle in - unless he shows signs of wanting to come out before that. But dwarf hamsters can vary in size quite a bit - some are bigger, some are smaller and as elusive says - they do look quite round.

Personally I wouldn’t worry about him being overweight. They tend to only eat what they need and hoard the rest. His diet sounds ok (I think it’s sugar free isn’t it?). I also sometimes think it helps if they’re a good weight as they can lose weight rapidly if they get an illness.

What wheel does he have? Maybe try putting a smelly treat in it to tempt him in. Assume it’s spinning ok and not stuck?

Try not to worry

 

[Daisy]

I find dwarfs often get overweight when kept in a very small cage without a proper sized wheel but the weight tends to drop off naturally once they are moved to a better environment. There's rarely any need to ration their food.

I adopted a dwarf named Athena who had lived in a tiny cage with a tiny wheel. Here she was originally:


And a few weeks later:

 

[Maz]

I agree it's best not to do any kind of diet, but just let things adjust naturally. What kind of wheel does the dwarf hamster have?

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

I agree it's best not to do any kind of diet, but just let things adjust naturally. What kind of wheel does the dwarf hamster have?

He has an 8 inch wheel. The wheel isn’t the problem as he can easily run on it!

As for his weight, like i stated when i first seen his picture just over a week ago he was a normal size, when i went to pick him up he was much rounder and bigger and the foster parent said “yeah he’s gained a lot this last week haha”.
It’s fine though. thank you both.

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

I find dwarfs often get overweight when kept in a very small cage without a proper sized wheel but the weight tends to drop off naturally once they are moved to a better environment. There's rarely any need to ration their food.

I adopted a dwarf named Athena who had lived in a tiny cage with a tiny wheel. Here she was originally:
View attachment 3195

And a few weeks later:
View attachment 3196

aww so cute! yeah he looks like the top picture.

 

[Member ID2]

Silly question i know but you are certain that he's male and had not been in contact with other hamsters?

Only asking because i once took in an unknown to me pregnant adult dwarf hamster.

 

[Maz]

That is a good point!

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

Silly question i know but you are certain that he's male and had not been in contact with other hamsters?

Only asking because i once took in an unknown to me pregnant adult dwarf hamster.

yes, the rescue i got him from is all creatures rescue and they’re a well known and respectable place! Also the lady that was watching him has lots of experience with hammys, she’s even worked along side one of the only breeders we have here where i live (strong brew hamsters) which is where victoria raechel gets her hamsters from. so i 100% trust her. I haven’t checked for myself as i haven’t tried picking him up or touching him in anyway because he is still getting used to his new home!

 

[Maz]

That's good you have such a good rescue and breeder nearby I'm aware of Strong Brew Hamstery.

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

That's good you have such a good rescue and breeder nearby I'm aware of Strong Brew Hamstery.

oh nice! i wasn’t sure if it was common knowledge to people outside of canada !! but yeah they’re located really close by

 

[Maz]

I think they have been fairly well known in the Hamster Community for some time. They're listed on the California Hamster Breeders Association as an ethical breeder.

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

I think they have been fairly well known in the Hamster Community for some time. They're listed on the California Hamster Breeders Association as an ethical breeder.

oh wow no way! that’s so cool

 

[Maz]

So he probably is a boy, and as you say you can't check right now. If you don't hear any squeaks in the next three weeks then it's not a pregnant female!

 

[Biscuitythehammy]

So he probably is a boy, and as you say you can't check right now. If you don't hear any squeaks in the next three weeks then it's not a pregnant female!

haha oh gosh hopefully not. i definitely don’t know if i’d be able to take that on.
But thank you again, for responding and offering your knowledge. I’ll check back in, in a few weeks to let you guys know about his weight and if biscuits still climbing on the chicken wire.