New Hamster owner with questions

[Kitty]

Hi guys
We have had ‘Nibbles’ now for a week and it’s our first hamster.
Nibbles likes to eat and sleep in the tubes attached to the cage. He loads up his cheeks with food and bedding and takes it back to the tubes.
He seems really nervous when we try and hold him, poos everywhere and has bitten my son
Some advise when be great as we are all a little nervous with him now and I don’t know if to interfere with his bed in the tubes.

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome This is a common problem with cages with external tubes - it confuses the hamster's natural instincts, and it's usually recommended to not have external tubes for this reason. They start sleeping and peeing in them, then they need cleaning out a lot, and then the hamster gets stressed and upset because their nest and hoard has gone and it can become a catch 22. Which cage is it?

They do best with everything at floor level in a cage, and plenty of substrate, and a large-ish house that's dark inside. If you remove the tubes then, the hamster will nest in or under the house and burrow down

It might be that you've been sold a cage that's a bit small ......... Do you have a photo?

 

[Socks' Mum]

Welcome to the forum ❤ Sorry to hear Nibbles has bitten your son. He should gain confidence in a few weeks. It's best to transport hamsters in a mug, box or tube to begin with so the hamster is secure and you can't get bitten. Syrians usually become quite tame after a while and the risk of being bitten becomes much lower. They don't have great day time vision, so if approaching them during the day, need time to sniff your hand and identify who you are

 

[Maz]

I'm sorry I missed the bit where you said he had bitten your son! It's probably fear as he's likely still a baby and not used to handling yet.

There's an article linked below about taming - it can take time and patience I think the main thing though is he will probably start to have more natural hamster behaviours and instincts in his cage, with plenty of deep bedding, a nice big house that's dark inside (a shoebox house will do - you cut the base out of a shoebox, keep the lid as a lift-off roof, and cut a hole for a door in one of the long sides of the box - near the corner/end - so the other end is dark inside - light doesn't travel round corners ).

And remove the tubes. Cages normally come with tube blockers so you can seal the tubes off. The tubes are also an escape risk and some hamsters can grow quite large and get stuck in the tubes as well!

Many of us have been there! With our first hamster, the cage was ridiculously small (3 levels of smallness) and lots of external tubes. Our boy thought it was cool - the hamster didn't and got cage rage! Within two weeks I had done some research and upgraded him to a different cage and it made a huge difference Depending on which cage you have, and where you got it, some people have taken a cage back for a refund to be able to buy a more suitable one. Even if it's been used. By just saying it's not suitable for a Syrian hamster. Unfortunately pet shops do sometimes give unhelpful advice when buying cages. It's a sale to them!

Syrian hamsters need something about 100cm long by 50cm deep by 50cm tall and about 8" deep bedding (6" bare minimum). It sounds a lot of bedding, but it works out economical in the long run because you clean out much less often and just do "spot" cleaning of the pee area mostly. Or some Syrians will use a litter tray to pee in with sand in, if you provide one It usually has to be in the right place for the hamster to use it or they'll ignore it! A good place is their current chosen pee area. Although baby hamsters can take a few weeks to develop good toiletting habits!

It sounds very early days, and I'm sure it'll all come together soon

How to tame a hamster

Hand taming a hamster can make life with your hamster very rewarding. Suddenly they will sit on you to be stroked or even go to sleep on you, and will be very easy to handle. It can take a bit of time and patience initially.

www.thehamsterforum.com