Hello I have gotten a Syrian hamster recently :)

[Em_]

Hi I got a Syrian hamster last week she is 6 months old and I got her from the pet store. She is a shy little girl, but will take food from your fingers if you hold it in front of her. I have given her the Slavic plaza £80 cage, its around 5000 square inches of floor space. I really want to give her a happy life, and I wanted to ask if the PetsAtHome plain wood shaving bedding is safe? It isn’t very dusty but it doesn’t say what type of wood it is on the pack. Thank you and `I’m very excited to care for my hammy!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Hello and welcome. I would not use any wood shavings. The only safe shavings are Aspen and I find them best to use in a dig box rather then the whole cage. Paper bedding is great and holds burrows well. Have a browse on here as there is all sorts of advice on suitable bedding and other hamster items.

Your new hamster is so cute. What is her name?

 

[Em_]

Hello and welcome. I would not use any wood shavings. The only safe shavings are Aspen and I find them best to use in a dig box rather then the whole cage. Paper bedding is great and holds burrows well. Have a browse on here as there is all sorts of advice on suitable bedding and other hamster items.

Your new hamster is so cute. What is her name?

Her name is Cleo and also thank you, I will probably buy the kaytee clean and cosy bedding soon if that’s safe?

 

[RainbowBrite]

Her name is Cleo and also thank you, I will probably buy the kaytee clean and cosy bedding soon if that’s safe?

That is lovely bedding. I use it myself. Just to let you know, it is on offer on Amazon at the moment.

Cleo is beautiful and she really suits her name.

 

[elusive]

Hello & welcome
Congrats on getting Cleo.
The plaza is a lovely cage, I use the kaytree bedding & it’s really nice, with a big cage you don’t need to do too much cleaning so the big bags do last a while.
You will need to fill he base up completely so she can dig & burrow in the bedding.
I’m not sure if you plan to add more to your set up? She will need a larger house & you can add hides, tunnels & a sand bath for her. I don’t have Syrians so I’ll leave it to the others who do to suggest the best things to use.
Look forward to seeing more of Cleo when she’s settled in.

 

[Em_]

Hello & welcome
Congrats on getting Cleo.
The plaza is a lovely cage, I use the kaytree bedding & it’s really nice, with a big cage you don’t need to do too much cleaning so the big bags do last a while.
You will need to fill he base up completely so she can dig & burrow in the bedding.
I’m not sure if you plan to add more to your set up? She will need a larger house & you can add hides, tunnels & a sand bath for her. I don’t have Syrians so I’ll leave it to the others who do to suggest the best things to use.
Look forward to seeing more of Cleo when she’s settled in.

Yes we are ordering sand from amazon and I am planning to get her different things like hides and tunnnels. I am also starting to tame her and it’s going fairly well Thank you so much

 

[Em_]

That is lovely bedding. I use it myself. Just to let you know, it is on offer on Amazon at the moment.

Cleo is beautiful and she really suits her name.

Okay, thank you very much I am going to be ordering it soon

 

[Member ID2]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Love the name Cleo which really suits your beautiful girl.
One of my Syrians also lives in a Plaza with deep Kaytee clean and cozy substrate. I buy the 85l bags which works out cheaper than the smaller bags.

 

[Coco61]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Cleo looks a lovely girl and it sounds as though she will have a loving and caring home with you.

 

[Em_]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Love the name Cleo which really suits your beautiful girl.
One of my Syrians also lives in a Plaza with deep Kaytee clean and cozy substrate. I buy the 85l bags which works out cheaper than the smaller bags

thank you yes

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome She looks absolutely gorgeous. Glad the taming is going well. Agree with the others - adding more substrate and a larger house would be good. For the first two weeks though, it's best not to make any changes while she's settling in and scent marking, or it could get her stressed and might set taming back or might make her bar chew. So I'd wait a couple of weeks before adding things and changing things and then maybe try and do it so you put most things back in the same place as before.

 

[Em_]

Hello and welcome She looks absolutely gorgeous. Glad the taming is going well. Agree with the others - adding more substrate and a larger house would be good. For the first two weeks though, it's best not to make any changes while she's settling in and scent marking, or it could get her stressed and might set taming back or might make her bar chew. So I'd wait a couple of weeks before adding things and changing things and then maybe try and do it so you put most things back in the same place as before.

thank you yes i will wait a little while becuase i have started to try and pet her and she is running away i will give her some time to adjust

 

[Em_]

Hello and welcome She looks absolutely gorgeous. Glad the taming is going well. Agree with the others - adding more substrate and a larger house would be good. For the first two weeks though, it's best not to make any changes while she's settling in and scent marking, or it could get her stressed and might set taming back or might make her bar chew. So I'd wait a couple of weeks before adding things and changing things and then maybe try and do it so you put most things back in the same place as

Thanks for letting me know, I have been changing her cage so much over the past few days wth the excitement of getting her, that she's been bar chewing. She is chewing a lot less now though which is good As I explained in my other thread, I am going to be buying her a sand bath, toys and tunnels as well as a bigger house and levels in hope that she will be happy

 

[Maz]

I hope the bar chewing settles down Female Syrians can be very active. Is her wheel big enough? The only time I had a Syrian bar chew on a 100cm cage was when there was no wheel at first. 10” diameter or larger is fine. 8” is fine initially if that is what is there but she will outgrow. Female Syrians are notoriously active! But it’s a lovely big cage and I’m sure it’ll settle down.

 

[Em_]

Okay thank you the cage is around 9” but she is 6 months old so probably will outgrow it. I’ll make sure to get her a new one once her back isn’t straight when running on it.

 

[Maz]

It’ll be fine for now I know you meant wheel!

 

[Em_]

Yes thank you i do hope it will

 

[Maz]

Female Syrians sometimes like ripping up cardboard - probably to create nesting material - instinctive maybe . So some people find giving them things like a cardboard egg box carton on the cage can keep them occupied and distracted from bar chewing. You can make it into a kind of hide by cutting a hole at one end as an entrance. She may enjoy shredding it!

 

[Em_]

Female Syrians sometimes like ripping up cardboard - probably to create nesting material - instinctive maybe . So some people find giving them things like a cardboard egg box carton on the cage can keep them occupied and distracted from bar chewing. You can make it into a kind of hide by cutting a hole at one end as an entrance. She may enjoy shredding it!

Thank you that’s a great idea , I have been giving her bits of ripped up toilet paper for nesting material but will definetly give her the carton aswell

 

[Em_]

Hello & welcome
Congrats on getting Cleo.
The plaza is a lovely cage, I use the kaytree bedding & it’s really nice, with a big cage you don’t need to do too much cleaning so the big bags do last a while.
You will need to fill he base up completely so she can dig & burrow in the bedding.
I’m not sure if you plan to add more to your set up? She will need a larger house & you can add hides, tunnels & a sand bath for her. I don’t have Syrians so I’ll leave it to the others who do to suggest the best things to use.
Look forward to seeing more of Cleo when she’s settled in.

just got a sand bath for her thought I’d let you know is this one safe?