New hamster seems stressed

[cosmo2024]

Hello
I got a new Syrian hamster about a week ago but the past couple of days he seems more stressed. He is pacing around the outside of his cage alot like he is trying to find a way out but tonight he is doing alot more bar chewing. Normally he doesn't bite the bars but it has been more recently. I have noticed that he wakes up at around 10pm and goes to sleep at around 10am recently which seems a bit late. I am not sure why he is getting anxious as I have tried to provide him with lots of things to do in his cage like a sand bath, different substrate, toys and more. I have taken a picture but it's not very good as I can't take a better one right now. I have noticed that he is not peeing very much or I cant find his pee. He does pee on the wheel a bit but there isn't much. Maybe he has a UTI but he doesnt have wet tail and hes still active? Any help please!

Cage size is 95x57 cm

20240928_230655.mp4

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[Maz]

Hello and welcome Sorry to hear your hammy seems a bit stressed. He has a nice cage and set up. Sometimes something sets them off, like a clean out or if they can't reach something easily like a water bottle.

One thing that can make them stressed and want to escape is a clean out, especially during the first couple of weeks. So just wondering if you cleaned his cage? Don't worry about not being able to find his pee yet. He will be peeing but it could take a while to find his pee spot. He has lots of lovely bedding in there, so I wouldn't worry about trying to find it until you can smell it! Then it'll become more obvious. Then you can just "spot clean" the pee area (ie take a handful or two of wet substrate out and put a couple of new handfuls in). It's fine to let your nose guide you on this one

10 am does sound quite late to go to bed. But they vary in habits and maybe he's just like that.

It may also be that he's feeling quite settled and interested in having some out of cage time. Do you have a playpen or hamsterproofed part of a room?

 

[cosmo2024]

Hello thanks for the reply.
I haven't gotten him a playpen yet or really let him out of his cage because I've only had him for a week and I was making sure he was settled in his cage before I took him out. Maybe now is the time. He doesn't mind me and he will let me stroke him but he doesn't like being picked up yet. I have had a poke around his bedding to remove some poop but I haven't given his cage a big clean or anything. Just not sure why he is biting the cage recently and he seems to be breathing quickly and unsettled. He can reach his bottle okay and has been drinking water and eating food.

 

[Maz]

It does maybe sound like he wants to come out then Does he start doing it when he sees you? Some hamsters want to come out sooner than others. Other hamsters hide away. He sounds like quite an active boy. Before they're tame, it helps to get them out using something like a tube as a "taxi" - if he'll walk into a tube - I use a rat tube. Pringles tubes are a good size as well (cleaned out obviously). Or have a smelly treat at the far end of the tube to tempt him in. Then have both hands over the ends of the tube and carry him to a secure area. Eg a playpen or you can use the dry bathtub with a blanket or something on the bottom and a hide and just put the tube down in there. If you have to carry him some distance though, it might be better to put the tube down into a box near the cage and carry the box to the playpen/bath because they can sometimes push quite hard against your hand an make you jump, then squeeze past!

Then you can start some general socialising and taming sessions. It's nice he's happy to be stroked - there's an article on taming sessions on the home page

Breathing quickly sounds a bit more concerning - see how he is when he has some time out of the cage.

 

[cosmo2024]

Okay. So he woke up and I had cornered off a little bit of the room with stuff so that he can run about on the floor and I put his wheel in there too. I put him in there and he seemed okay. He spent alot of the time trying to find a way out but maybe I need to put more stuff in with him. I managed to pick him up for the first time as he sat on my hand eating a treat. I put him back in his cage after about 10 minutes where he continued his behaviour of biting his cage. I removed his sand bath and his beech chips box as they were placed in there a few days ago and maybe that was stressing him out even though he likes his new sand bath and will use it alot. (He will sit on his sand bath and chew the cage where it is). However this did not help much as he continues to chew his cage and climb. He shows very little interest in all of the enrichment in the cage or the other chews.

 

[Maz]

Sorry to hear that. It's good he let you pick him up and he sat on your hand I'm looking at your cage set up again and can't see anything that would bother him - as long as the wheel is spinning ok, his water bottle working ok and he can access everything easily.

I think taking things in and out of the cage will stress him yes - they like everything left alone! As much as possible. If he was quite active out of the cage then maybe leave him out for longer next time. An hour or so. Ideally with a spare wheel for out of cage time so you don't have to remove the one from his cage. The 28cm trixie wheel is quite cheap and good for a playpen.

I looked at the video again - he's really going at it - is it the same place every time? For now you could cut strips of cardboard and weave them into the bars where he's chewing - that'll slow him up and he'll mainly be chewing cardboard.

It's unusual for a hamster to bar chew in a 100cm cage - unless something has stressed them out. But he might just be a maverick one and it be a way of saying he wants to come out.

Another thing they really like is a house that's dark inside, like a multiroom house (light doesn't go round corners). They almost always just move straight in because it's dark and has rooms so they have natural behaviours, like sleeping in one room and peeing in a different one - and you can put a potty inside with sand in for peeing - mostly they will use a potty inside a dark house. Or you could just make a shoe box house and see how it goes and if it helps settle him. For that you cut the base out of a shoe box and keep the lid as a lift off roof. Cut a hole for a door. Best place for the door is on one of the longer sides of the shoebox towards one end/corner (so the other end is darker). And put a bendy stick bridge over the door as a tunnel entrance (also makes it darker at the far end). The bridge also makes a ramp onto the roof.

It's hard to tell from the cage photo but it looks like you might not have much at the left hand end, - except the wheel - so that end would be a good place to put it maybe and it fills up some of the space.

Sometimes they can bar chew if they feel a bit exposed - ie not much in the cage and no overhead cover, so a dark house helps them feel secure as well.

 

[cosmo2024]

Okay. What I have done is I have purchased the nightangel 6 chamber hide along with a security camera to see what he is doing while I am asleep. I think he calms down a bit more while I'm asleep and goes on his wheel but I'd like to see how he is during the night. I will put them in his cage when they arrive. Tomorrow I will go to the pet store and try to find more chews and things to provide cover in his cage. If he continues to bite the cage then I think I would just bite the bullet and buy a bucatstate cage which has more room for bedding and acrylic walls. He didn't seem that stressed this morning and he was focusing on ripping the corn from his cob and he said hi. I just don't want him to get into the habit of biting his cage as it can become routine.

 

[Maz]

He sounds so cute and curious Fingers crossed it settles down. The only time I had a minor bar biting issue in a 100cm cage, was when the hamster didn't have a wheel at the time - which is understandable!

A word of caution with the Niteangel house. The roof doesn't fit securely and can be pushed up by the hamster. So the general feeling among owners is it's safer if you don't put anything heavy on top of the house. Which is slightly annoying as it makes a good platform! There were a couple of cases where a hamster got killed pushing the roof up and it falling on them. They had heavy items on top to hold the roof down (as well as just wanting them there) but that meant it came down harder. Providing there is nothing heavy on top it's supposed to be ok.

It's something niteangel really need to sort out - a properly fitting roof rather than one that just sits there and isn't held in place securely.

 

[Maz]

Just to add, the Rodipet and Getzoo multiroom houses don't have that issue. I think they were the first company to make multiroom houses, before Niteangel and others, and there are no issues with the roofs on their houses - and they're very well made. The price is about the same, even with postage. Although it can take a few days to get here from Germany.

You'll need to support it on legs as well. I'm actually using the Happy Henry homes one - they sell legs for it of various different lengths from 10cm up - depending on how much bedding you've got and how much you want the house submerged I think the Rodipet ones are a bit more special though and a toilet fits inside them

 

[cosmo2024]

A new cage and lots of money spent later, he seems to be alot happier. I think that he likes a cage that allowed him deeper bedding to burrow. I still try to get him out into his playpen but he's not the biggest fan of it yet. Only runs around for about 10 mins before scratching the walls to go back to his cage, not much interest in his toys while in the pen. Will work on it though.

 

[Maz]

He's so gorgeous He definitely looks happy there! You're doing well getting him in the playpen at all so keep doing what you're doing as it'll all help towards him getting more used to you and tamer He has a lovely enclosure and that second photo of him is so adorable

 

[Hank]

What a lucky little hamster. He is gorgeous. I think it does take them a little bit of time to get used to the playpen, but he will soon