Reggie the wheel obsessed Syrian

[LitMango]

Hi, this is my first time posting here I just need a confirmation for lack of a better term. Tldr at the bottom.

My hamster Reggie is a 4 month old Syrian I got from PetSmart. He didn't have a proper sized wheel there, which I think may be the reason for his current behavior.

I got him a wheel the second day that we got him, as the 11+ inch ones were sold at at the three stores I went to. On day one he was foraging, running around and burrowing on the side with 12 inches of bedding.

The day he was introduced to the wheel he ran for a while and kept coming back, super cute. Now he will not sleep anywhere else except next to his wheel. He doesn't burrow in the deep end. He doesn't show signs of bordem and loves his roaming time but he is "obsessed" with his wheel. Is this normal?

Tldr: Hamster burrowed before he got his wheel (1day after we got him) now he won't sleep anywhere that isn't next to his wheel. Is this normal?

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome He's a gorgeous hamster - and he clearly loves his wheel. One thing you could do is add a large house that's dark inside. A shoebox house is ideal or you can get nice wood multiroom houses, but they can be expensive and need supporting on stilts. A shoebox house is cheaper. You just cut the base out and keep the lid as a lift-off roof and cut a hole for a door. If you make the door on one of the long sides, near one end, then the other end is dark inside. It kind of mimics a burrow as it's dark inside. If you put a bendy bridge over the door it makes a tunnel entrance and makes it even darker inside - and the bridge gives a ramp up to the roof as well.

If there is a large dark house available, they normally move in and build a nest in there (and may burrow under it as well). Putting some food and a smelly treat inside helps tempt them in as well. And a big pile of torn up strips of plain white toilet paper next to the house (but not inside it). He'll probably move in and get some normal behaviours going.

At the moment he's still very young and clearly loves his wheel!

One question though - how often do you clean out his cage? Sometimes big cleans regularly mean they don't settle anywhere as it removes all their scent.

 

[LitMango]

Hello and welcome He's a gorgeous hamster - and he clearly loves his wheel. One thing you could do is add a large house that's dark inside. A shoebox house is ideal or you can get nice wood multiroom houses, but they can be expensive and need supporting on stilts. A shoebox house is cheaper. You just cut the base out and keep the lid as a lift-off roof and cut a hole for a door. If you make the door on one of the long sides, near one end, then the other end is dark inside. It kind of mimics a burrow as it's dark inside. If you put a bendy bridge over the door it makes a tunnel entrance and makes it even darker inside - and the bridge gives a ramp up to the roof as well.

If there is a large dark house available, they normally move in and build a nest in there (and may burrow under it as well). Putting some food and a smelly treat inside helps tempt them in as well. And a big pile of torn up strips of plain white toilet paper next to the house (but not inside it). He'll probably move in and get some normal behaviours going.

At the moment he's still very young and clearly loves his wheel!

One question though - how often do you clean out his cage? Sometimes big cleans regularly mean they don't settle anywhere as it removes all their scent.

Thanks so much! He does have a few different dark cave esque houses and does have a show box burrow with treats inside but he hasn't shown interest since the wheel came about haha.

To answer your question, I haven't done a bedding change yet, everything is still pretty clean. I plan on doing one this weekend or next but not a big one, those I plan on doing monthly. Would that work best?

 

[elusive]

Hello & welcome to the forum.

Reggie is a lovely hamster.
It’s not unusual for them to like being around the wheel & they often burrow under it if there is a platform or deep substrate under it but obviously they can’t do that if the substrate has to be shallow to allow for the hieght of the wheel so maybe this is just a similar behaviour.
I think the multiroom house that Maz suggested may make a difference though, how big are the hides he has? They do like the large multiroom houses & will usually use one room to sleep in, one to hoard in & one to pee in & they like to burrow down underneath it so maybe he does need something like that. I do find that hamsters like to burrow under something more than just burrowing down into an area of open substtate.

If the enclosure is big enough you don’t need to clean often, just spot clean pee as needed but otherwise most of the cage can be left for quite a while, you shouldn’t really need to do a full cage clean but maybe a third to half depending on size every few months but only clean if it needs doing rather than having a set routine & removing any substrate or disturbing things went they don’t need it.

 

[Member ID2]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Reggie is a very handsome boy.
Is that the 12in Kaytee Silent Runner wheel?
One of my foster hamsters had this wheel and loved it.
I wouldn't worry about Reggie running a lot and sleeping near his wheel. He's happy and that's the mainthing. He'll move on to other things as and when he wants to. It's important that house, hides, logs etc are big enough for a Syrian as things sold for hamsters are often dwarf hamster size.
Would you like to show a photo of Reggie's set up?

 

[RainbowBrite]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Reggie is beautiful.

 

[Maz]

I'd also suggest maybe the bedding is a bit deeper. It's hard to tell from the photos but the tank looks a bit narrow maybe. Is it a 40 gallon long tank?

 

[Frida]

Hello and welcome to the forum
Reggie is very cute

 

[LitMango]

Thank you for all your responses! It's hard to get a good picture as it's got a lot going on but here's what I can get for now. Currently he's in a 30 gallon, I'll be getting him a bigger one soon. The toys and hides I get him are meant for guinea pigs and birds, there's three houses in there only one is visible as the others are semi buried and the wheel is a 12 inches!

I just added a tank topper as well for some extra room for him, I think he's enjoying it? He's exploring, snacking and using his sand bath. I added a hide and a multi chamber hammock for him to crawl into. Now I'm concerned and he's doing some bar biting and climbing but from what I've read so far it sounds like he'll stop. I'm not entirely sure though.

I'm not new to owning or caring for hamsters, I'm new to owning syrians however. I have card for them in the past for years but hopefully I'm doing it right!

Please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong! Thank you all again!

 

[elusive]

It’s hard to see what is in there really from the photos but it looks like he has quite a bit of substrate to burrow in.
There’s still a bit of space above the wheel so it might work better if you could get a platform to stand it on, it would be more stable that way & he could burrow under it a bit if he wanted to as well.
If you just added the tank topper he may just be chewing the bars a bit because it’s new & different, just keep an eye on that, hopefully he’ll stop.
Maybe put some more things in there for him to explore, something like a cork tunnel would be nice to climb on & through & to add a bit of different texture to explore.

Is that a fabric multi chamber hammock? It’s not really safe to have fabric items in the cage as they can get chewed & that can be dangerous if they swallow fibres or any longer fibres can get tangled around them so it would be best to remove that for his safety.
If his other hides are guinea pig size then they should be fine for him.

 

[Maz]

Thank you for posting the photos and glad he loves his wheel A 30 gallon tank is not a bad size lengthwise - about 90cm or 3 feet I think. But it looks like it’s one that’s 12” deep (30cm) by 18” tall (45cm). The depth is quite important for the floor area too and the deeper the better. Eg 50cm (20 inches) or more. The height of the tank is fine for deep bedding.

I’m sure you’ve taken great care of your hansters

The depth of the tank is my concern. The tank topper adds extra height but they can fall from a height - although I can see you have lots of deep bedding to land on. Although it is still quite a drop. Presumably why the hammock is there.

If he is bar chewing it could well be a sign that something isn’t quite right for him. Even in a barred cage, hamsters usually don’t bar chew once the cage is big enough - eg at least 40” x 20” floor area - the height is less important- it’s the amount of floor area that gives them the enrichment to have normal behaviours. It’s better to go “out” rather than “up”.

The ideal size for a hamster of any species is a 75 gallon tank (40” x 20” deep or 100 x 50) but some will be fine in a 40 gallon breeder tank (about 36”/90cm by 18”/45cm).

They are not great climbers. They will climb (usually to see if they can get out) but aren’t very good at getting down again! And tend to just let go and drop.

The more enrichment you can give at floor level the more they enjoy having normal behaviours and everything at the same level. Although a platform helps at floor level as well as it’s something to sit under and overhead cover. As a prey species they like overhead cover. So he may be feeling a bit exposed from above as well (also a reason to bar chew if something isn’t quite right).

He is a lovely hamster! And he has lots of bedding to burrow in - but the limited depth of the cage means he can only really go back and forth and not sideways much - if tunnelling. Apologies if I have the tank dimensions wrong!

In the U.K. and Europe pet charities say 100cm x 50cm should be the minimum size for all species of hamster (ie 75 gallon tank size). And ab out 50cm tall (20"). Although appreciate that in the US a 40 gallon breeder is seen as good as well.

So if you can upgrade the tank I am sure he would very much appreciate it and enjoy his environment. Low level climbing like platforms, branches and cork logs give a lot of enrichment and hidey places.

I think petco have dollar per gallon sales sometimes. But without the tank topper you’d then need a well fitting lid. Or some people make large bin cages or diy cages- IKEA hacks etc.

In the meantime if he has plenty of out of cage time it will help.

As elusive says - fabric hammocks are a chew risk - especially with Syrians or bar chewers. In case they swallow any. If he’s not chewing it - keep an eye on it in case he does - he maybe can’t reach it but if he monkey barred across the roof at night he could. You can get grass hammocks though I think

 

[Member ID2]

Thank you for showing the photos. Reggie looks like a lovely and curious boy.

If he's bar chewing he may be asking for out of cage time in a large playpen or hamsterproof freeroaming area.

Maybe i am mistaken but should the bedding on the top level be fluffy or cottonwool type bedding i'd strongly advise you to remove it and replace it with safe bedding.

Fluffy nesting material or bedding is dangerous

Fluffy Nesting material is dangerous and deadly. It looks like innocent cosy fluff but it's deadly to hamsters. It can wrap around limbs leading to cutting off circulation and amputations. It can impact cheek pouches and it can block digestive systems leading to death. Just doing a separate...

thehamsterforum.com

 

[LitMango]

Hello everyone!! Sorry for not updating or responding in a while. Again thank you all so much for your advice! I have revamped his enclosure, it may not be too different but I've really tried to make it better for him

Took out that fluff stuff and replaced it with hay and bedding! I took out that fuzzy hammock tried to get a replacement but it's wayyy too big so I added extra bedding and Hay for him as a cushion in case any accidents happen but so far so good! He's stopped bar biting and climbing!

I've added a bigger sand bath for him, I added a "tub" for moss for him to a different texture. Added more tunnels and homes for him. I've moved the wheel up to the top and made it so the ladder is a smaller slope and not a big drop!

As of right now he is still in his current cage. We are however building him an enclosure that is 4'x 2'x 2'x so only a little longer for him in the 40 gal!

Reggie is loving the "new" set up for far, is exploring and munching away on snack and toys. He's being super social as well! Let's me pick him up and finally gave me a couple test nibbles. I'm overly excited about that since he's never bitten me before but this feels like a milestone haha

He's still chunky as ever! I cleaned out his cage today and found his stash. I unfortunately had to take out almost all of his bedding because apparently he hasn't been eating his mealworms as I thought he was and has been keeping them in his stash.

Sorry about rambling, I'm just so happy and grateful for you all! Thank you so much!

 

[elusive]

You’ve done really well to make things better for Reggie, I’m sure he must be enjoying the changes & having a lot of fun in there, it’s great that he’s being really social too & it’s lovely to see some photos of him.

 

[Maz]

That is great he's no longer bar chewing, and the new cage in progress sounds very good I am sure he will love it. And I'm sure he appreciates the changes you've made meanwhile. It can be such a fiddle getting things set up for hamsters that work - especially when height is involved