Chumlee 🐹

[Hammy Chum]

Hello! Still quite new here but thought I'd do a thread for Chum our family's new Syrian bestie.



He arrived with us on 15th Jan, he was around 6 weeks old we think. He's about to get a cage upgrade to the Savic 100 this week, he's currently in a PAH Habitat 2 (with lots more bedding than pictured!)

He's very funny, picky and curious, he likes things just so (I tried enrichment by hiding food around his cage and he went around and put it all back in his bowl!)
His fave things are his coconut shell, his sand bath (in a big china dog bowl - he HATED the previous two incarnations haha) and his saucer - that's about to be replaced for a new big wheel though - we know now (thanks to advice here!) thats not right for him but he does love it! He comes out to play around 8.30 pm and is up most of the night - if we're lucky we catch him rather sleepy around 7am but then sleeps all day.

He was VERY nervous when he arrived (much squeaking, we tried to pick him up gently and he tried to fly!) so we have gone right back to basics - he's now taking sunflower seed from my fingers in cage and we have managed to stroke his back the last three nights while he's been distracted with food (this is a big step!) Hoping his new cage with wider door will help the taming process further.

 

[Hammy Chum]

Also a wider Q - he doesn't seem to be hoarding much?? Have cleaned nest out 3 times and there's barely anything? He's fed a tablespoon of mixed selective science pellets and hamster museli (can see in pic above!) plus a side dish of a small piece of veg or protein. Dishes always empty in morning when he's in bed... he eats well, fresh things first then back to food bowl throughout the night.

 

[Socks Mum]

Socks eats his veggies first and come back later for his dry food too. I'm not sure how much gets eaten though. Some people put a cushion on the floor under the front door of the cage in case the hammy jumps out while you are talking to him with the door open. Socks used to wash himself very thoroughly after I had touched him when I first got him

 

[Hammy Chum]

Socks eats his veggies first and come back later for his dry food too. I'm not sure how much gets eaten though. Some people put a cushion on the floor under the front door of the cage in case the hammy jumps out while you are talking to him with the door open. Socks used to wash himself very thoroughly after I had touched him when I first got him

Haha so cute 'the human has touched me' hahaha

Yes I'm paranoid re the drop so we'll be super careful with the door!! We don't have any space for the new cage nearer the floor though - it wont fit where the old one was. Hoping will be ok a bit higher up and wont freak him out, although he might not notice I guess as he cant see over edge currently anyway.

 

[Maz]

Lovely Chumlee has his own thread - really looking forward to following his progress.

It’ll be fine . He can’t jump out unless you have left the door open and aren’t there near the cage. Even then most of mine haven’t even attempted to! I once left the door open all night by mistake (a scary thing never to be repeated!) and the hamster was still in the cage in the morning! That was Raffy and he used to want to come out every single night but he was also scared of heights - he wouldn’t even jump off the sofa.

When they really want to come out, they will sometimes try and climb the door as you open it and then you can just gently lift it closed again and then open it and offer him something to walk into eg a tube.

Assuming you have the door the right way up! I’ve seen some people have it the other way round so it opens at the bottom rather than the top. And then they might try and jump out.

I do have a large floor cushion thing on the floor in front of mine but mine is quite high up. Your unit doesn’t look too high. If you have solid floors rather than carpet though it could be an idea to have a floor cushion under it

Only one of my hansters has ever jumped out and that was Tino who was ultra nervous and ultra sneaky! He escaped once before! He only did it once and it was straight after a cage change - once they’re settled in they’re usually fine

If they’re scared and skitty they can be like lemmings! But once settled and used to you they’re not silly.

 

[Socks Mum]

I think they like to be able to see what's going on. If I let Socks look through the window at night, he looks and looks

 

[Maz]

I talk to Higgins with the door open. He pokes his head out of his house abd listens to me but won’t come out of the house until I’ve closed the door and gone again . If he wants to come out he sits next to the door.

 

[Hammy Chum]

Lovely Chumlee has his own thread - really looking forward to following his progress.

It’ll be fine . He can’t jump out unless you have left the door open and aren’t there near the cage. Even then most of mine haven’t even attempted to! I once left the door open all night by mistake (a scary thing never to be repeated!) and the hamster was still in the cage in the morning! That was Raffy and he used to want to come out every single night but he was also scared of heights - he wouldn’t even jump off the sofa.

When they really want to come out, they will sometimes try and climb the door as you open it and then you can just gently lift it closed again and then open it and offer him something to walk into eg a tube.

Assuming you have the door the right way up! I’ve seen some people have it the other way round so it opens at the bottom rather than the top. And then they might try and jump out.

I do have a large floor cushion thing on the floor in front of mine but mine is quite high up. Your unit doesn’t look too high. If you have solid floors rather than carpet though it could be an idea to have a floor cushion under it

Only one of my hansters has ever jumped out and that was Tino who was ultra nervous and ultra sneaky! He escaped once before! He only did it once and it was straight after a cage change - once they’re settled in they’re usually fine

If they’re scared and skitty they can be like lemmings! But once settled and used to you they’re not silly.

We have the door so it opens from the top. The example at PAH was set up the other way around though! But prefer it our way as it seems safer!!

The unit isnt too high - I'm 5.4 and comes to my hip I guess? We have solid floors though! He does have a lemming tendency, but he's also a bit scared so I think he'd more avoid it than jump if you see what I mean.

Chum is fine with the current door open in terms of contact etc (doesnt seem that bothered!)

 

[Maz]

I can't believe PAH had it on display with the door the wrong way round! It's clearly meant to close at the top, from the photos on the Savic site. It is an option to reverse the panel and have it open/close at the bottom I guess but I would worry the door would fall on the hamster! It would be hard to keep the door open without holding it.

 

[Hammy Chum]

I can't believe PAH had it on display with the door the wrong way round! It's clearly meant to close at the top, from the photos on the Savic site. It is an option to reverse the panel and have it open/close at the bottom I guess but I would worry the door would fall on the hamster! It would be hard to keep the door open without holding it.

I know!! I was like erm I'm pretty sure thats not right haha.

 

[clacombe]

Hello! Still quite new here but thought I'd do a thread for Chum our family's new Syrian bestie.

View attachment 9596

He arrived with us on 15th Jan, he was around 6 weeks old we think. He's about to get a cage upgrade to the Savic 100 this week, he's currently in a PAH Habitat 2 (with lots more bedding than pictured!)

He's very funny, picky and curious, he likes things just so (I tried enrichment by hiding food around his cage and he went around and put it all back in his bowl!)
His fave things are his coconut shell, his sand bath (in a big china dog bowl - he HATED the previous two incarnations haha) and his saucer - that's about to be replaced for a new big wheel though - we know now (thanks to advice here!) thats not right for him but he does love it! He comes out to play around 8.30 pm and is up most of the night - if we're lucky we catch him rather sleepy around 7am but then sleeps all day.

He was VERY nervous when he arrived (much squeaking, we tried to pick him up gently and he tried to fly!) so we have gone right back to basics - he's now taking sunflower seed from my fingers in cage and we have managed to stroke his back the last three nights while he's been distracted with food (this is a big step!) Hoping his new cage with wider door will help the taming process further.

That is hilarious that he moves the food back to bowl rather than a hoard! Oaky, our current Syrian, hoards food at the end of the night, though I haven't done a deep clean yet to see how much is eaten vs hoarded. Her sleeping area is WAY under ground so I'm putting that if a long as possible. Her toilet seems to be in an upper level, so I've just been cleaning that. She will leave food in her bowl until the end of the night though, whereas or last hamster would immediately hoard it.

 

[Hammy Chum]

That is hilarious that he moves the food back to bowl rather than a hoard! Oaky, our current Syrian, hoards food at the end of the night, though I haven't done a deep clean yet to see how much is eaten vs hoarded. Her sleeping area is WAY under ground so I'm putting that if a long as possible. Her toilet seems to be in an upper level, so I've just been cleaning that. She will leave food in her bowl until the end of the night though, whereas or last hamster would immediately hoard it.

He did it really pointedly as well, dropped them all in the bowl, looked at me in disgust then went off into his coconut (probably to check god forbid I'd not dared add anything to there!)

 

[Maz]

Some hamsters are very tidy Maybe he thought you messed up his cage and he was tidying it up

 

[Hammy Chum]

ADVICE PLEASE!

So - Chum moved into his new cage last night.



Seemed ok, spread all the old bedding on top, moved his nest into new 3 chamber hut, he went in for 'final' time fine, played lots on his wheel, generally explored, dug where we didnt want him too, ate, drank, was a hamster. The cage is in a new place, but after a little climbing etc he seemed ok, pretty calm.

Put lots of bedding outside the chamber house for him to pull in - which when I came down this morning looks like it has been pulled in, and entrance sealed, etc so we thought great, he likes it and his asleep!



However - just heard some digging and realise he's NOT in his new chamber house, but has dug down BEHIND it (we left a run around as couldnt get the house close to the cage bars) with his tubes he loves.

He's ACTUALLY down here:



(Basically at other the end of that tube pictured, in a hole hes dug). Saw a little nose peeping up. He's still digging and sniffing around (its 9am - he's usually asleep by now)

What do we do?? Does he hate the nest?? Is he just settling in and trying stuff out? I dont think he's gone in the nest and down under it if you see what I mean, I think hes gone through tube and dug.

His tiny old nest hut was right in a corner...

Or am I worrying unnecessarily and hes just experimenting??

Just want him to be ok!

 

[Socks Mum]

Socks made lots of secret tunnels around the main house with hidden entrances. I think it's instinctive, you can't have too many tunnels

 

[Socks Mum]

Lovely set up, he is a lucky hammy

 

[Hammy Chum]

Thank you! You think he's ok? Was just worried he hated the chamber hut!! He's 'disappeared' now - so he MIGHT have gone under the hut and up I guess now.

Also happy to take any more advice on set up!! We couldn't get the chamber hut close to the corners of cage due to the stilts (only way was without the stilts) so we went for that option.

He has sand bath in the corner.. obviously he usually has food haha took pics in morning with empty bowl!

 

[Socks Mum]

I found Socks likes that space between the house and the side of the cage for his top secret tunnels and surreptitious tip toeing behind buildings (ninja hamster) but it just depends on the hamster. Yes, he's normal Their tunnels can take unexpected turns. In his youth, Socks would travel underground all the way down the side of his cage to a buried underground tube which had a satellite stash in it. These days his tunnelling is a bit more conservative

 

[Maz]

It looks great It sounds like he's settled in really well And yes sometimes they do what we don't expect! I suspect he saw the tunnel there in a secluded area and it tempted him to go down it and start digging. He has maybe just "enlarged" the house slightly by making a new back door with an underground entrance!

He'll probably decide what's what in a few days time. They usually do move into a house if there's no other alternative, but he might have decided the house made a good roof for an underground burrow instead - time will tell! They do like to build a big nest and sometimes if they think a room in a house isn't big enough they won't see it as a nest building room. But sometimes they just like to dig!

My previous Syrian used to use the house entrance but had tunnelled under one of the rooms and made a burrow and hoard -but he used the inside of the house as a toilet

Re the legs - there are ways round it! So you can get the house to the back of the cage. I put two legs at the front, one leg at one side but about half way along one side, and one leg in the middle (eg fixed to an inside wall between two rooms but not near the back. ie you don't need to have the legs at both sides or near the back - it still stands up! That way you can have the house against the back edge of the cage and/or in a corner of the cage.

I think that might help Because it's not great when they choose somewhere totally inaccessible to spot clean! But maybe leave it a few days.

I don't have a photo of house I attach the HHH legs, but I do have one from a previous house (before they made legs for houses) where I glued dowels to it so you can see what I mean - at least for one side.

So if you want it in one corner/up to the edge of the cage on two sides, you have two legs at the front and one leg on the side that isn't in the corner, but about half way along - nearer the front, so it clears the curved base.

The other leg somewhere inside the house (or maybe with that corner house, in the right angle bit at the front). Not only will it still stand up, but once you have bedding under and around it, it won't move anyway.

The other thing is, you could try having a trail of treats to the house entrance and a couple of smelly treats inside the rooms - eg cucumber or cheese - to tempt him in to explore it. He will feel a bit strange for the first night or two.

 

[Hammy Chum]

Thank you! I'm not too bothered - was just worried a) he hated nest and b) its going to be a pain to clean! But obviously ham is gonna ham I guess haha.

I will leave set up as it is for now.. and just keep an eye. hoping to spot where he pops out of later!

Do you guys think we need anything else? I might get a mini corner platform at some point for over the sand bath perhaps but didnt want too many 'new' things as he had a new wheel, tube and chamber house.

Few better pics below:








He took to the new wheel well especially as he's only ever seen a saucer! He just kind of got in and ran! It was closer to the bars but we had to move it straight away as he climbed and managed to wedge himself between the bars and the wheel. Hopefully he'll stop climbing soon - he only did that for first couple of days in old cage and that was much smaller.