Syrian hamster biting cage

[ktb48]

Hi everyone,

I have a male Syrian hamster who is allowed to free roam during the day but at night he gets put away in his cage to prevent injury while me and my partner cannot watch. However, he has started gnawing at the bars every night, wanting his freedom back.
His set-up: 2 connected cages (80x50x50 and 100x50x50cm), 12.5inch wheel which he barely uses, plenty of hides, lots of food and forage.
We give him loads of boredom busters too but he doesn't seem to be interested. He's breaking my heart so any suggestions or if people have dealt with this before please let me know! Thanks so much!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear this is happening. Did you know hamsters are crespular? So at night they are most active.

Just an idea, is there a way he could have time outside in the evening for a bit when he is most active? Of course, you cannot stay up all night.

Would you like to post a picture of his set up? This can be really helpful for members to offer suggestions.

It is lovely you care so much about him.

 

[Member ID2]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

When your hamster is out freeroaming during the day, does he have access to food, water and a nest or his cage set up? Do you let him out when he is wide awake and asking to come out?

I have two male Syrians and they sleep all day (they may come out of their nests or houses briefly for a drink) because that is part of their natural behaviour.

In the evening they want out to freeroam and will chew the bars to let me know when they are ready to come out. Once they've been out for an hour or two or more, they will settle back in their cages, have a nap, spend time on their wheels and generally hamster about while i'm asleep.

That really is the natural rythm of most hamsters but there are always exceptions of course.

You may not be aware of your hamster's natural rythm because you may be trying to adjust his to yours which may not work and could lead to stress behaviours like bar chewing.

 

[Maz]

It's unusual for a hamster to be up and out during the day. I would leave him in his cage until late afternoon/early evening at least - he should be asleep! Some Syrians will be early morning hamsters and want to come out in the morning, and probably would keep going if out of the cage - or would find somewhere to go to sleep.

Maybe you could let him out in the morning. Then put him back after half an hour or so. He should sleep. Then get him out in the evening. Night time is the time they usually want to be out, but can't because we're asleep.

Getting him into a routine may help prevent the bar chewing. It sounds like he may have got more used to the house than his cage!

Do you have a photo of his set ups and we can maybe suggest something that might encourage him to enjoy the cage more. He certainly has plenty of space. I usually find a large nesting box that's dark inside encourages them into good habits.

 

[Maz]

Could you be more specific about daytime and night time in case we have got the wrong end of the stick? ie is it all day from early morning he's out, right up to say 11pm if you go to bed? Or from about 3pm until 11pm?

As a point of interest - my first hamster (who wasn't actually mine - he came with a boyfriend) used to free roam every evening after waking and we left him free roaming with the cage open. (I cringe thinking about that now). He would go back to his cage on his own and run on his wheel most of the night and was always back in it in the morning. It was horrible tiny cage though.

If your hamster is lucky enough to be able to free roam a lot, maybe you could have his cages on the floor - if there's a safe place to put them. Then when he's out during the day he can just go back in there if he wants. Actually Beryl has probably suggested something like that already.

Usually their familiar nest is the most important thing and where all their hoards are.

Another option, if you have space and can set up a secure playpen area - is to have the cage inside that on the floor and leave the cage door open at night. It would need to be a very secure playpen though!

 

[Riven]

Can we see the set up so we can see what's in there to keep him occupied?

 

[ktb48]

Not sure how these pictures will show up, but it's two cages, the left has her wheel, multihide chamber, and some other bits. On the right side is 3 hides, including the one she Burrows under, 2 sand baths and some forage zones.

 

[Maz]

That looks like a Hamster Heaven and something else - not sure what the other cage. It looks like he has loads to do in those cages. And I hate to say it but one bigger cage is better than two connected ones due to the unbroken floor area. The difficulty there is, about the biggest you can get for hamsters is 100cm cage. Apart from a very expansive large tank style one (the eco habitat) which is about 115cm x 55cm.

I do think one 100cm cage like the Ritz or Savic Plaza would be better than the two connected ones. But that wouldn't guarantee he wouldn't still bar chew.

He will probably see the Hamster Heaven as his cage/habitat - and the adjoining one as somewhere else to go. One bigger area allows for more natural behaviours and everything in one place. But - for some hamsters no cage is big enough!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Is it possible for you to DIY a cage? If you made a cage which was the space of both the cages combined it would be wonderful. A lot of people use Ikea furniture to make cages. Another option is to buy a second hand aquarium.

 

[Maz]

This is my Savic Plaza set up (100cm). Same idea but all in one cage. It would maybe give him more useable space and enrichment but there's no guarantee it would stop the bar biting. You can actually get perspex bar biting panels (or full replacement panels) for this cage, but with full bar replacement with perspex it makes it a very expensive cage. However it does make a nice big perspex tank with a front opening door! But for the price you could get a bigger tank.

 

[elusive]

It does look as though he has plenty of toys, house, wheel etc but the first thing I noticed was that neither cage has much substrate in, he needs at least one of these filled with as much as you can cram in so he can dig & burrow.This will alow more natural behaviour.
As the others said one large cage is better than two smaller ones.

 

[Member ID2]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the cages (Hamster Heaven and petsathome xl by the looks of it) but i would connect them differently.
I'd connect with a short tube side by side and use a rat tube.
I've connected bin cages before and one of my hamsters has an extension on her Hamster Heaven. It can be set up to work for some hamsters.

I still think it's down to timing.Your hamster bar chews in the evening because that's the time hamsters get active and want out. During the day he needs to sleep.

 

[Maz]

With Syrians though, one larger space does work better. They can't have normal behaviours if going through a tube to the wheel. It's like having to climb through a tunnel to get to your bed instead of walking across from the bathroom to the bedroom (in human terms).

Their habits improve with one larger space. They move around better and go straight from house to wheel usually. A bit more freedom. They can get confused habits if half their habitat is one place and half in the other.

There is nothing wrong with your set up, and I take Beryl's point about the connection, but Syrians do need something larger than the Hamster heaven usually - as their main cage. Upgrading the Hamster Heaven would be good. They sell well second hand usually!

 

[Member ID2]

Yes, that's true, he would need to have a main cage with the essentials in one place. House, wheel, food, water and some hides.
I'd see the other cage more as an additional space for extra enrichment.