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Do you recommed I change my hamster's bedding right now?

The bedding in Socks' cage ranges between 6" and 12".
 
Here’s a sequence of pictures which show the changes I made to Blossom’s cage to meet her needs over time. The most helpful things for Blossom were the addition of a lot more chews and also her dig box made from an old too-small wheel which she loved. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. One of Blossom’s favourite things to chew on was a bit of egg box! Blossom’s nest was under the grey platform where she was safe and sheltered. Tunnels made from cardboard tubes also gave her plenty of cover in her cage. I made a little house for her play box from a cardboard box.

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Hi you have nothing to worry about :-) He is doing it because he doesn't have a wheel to run in (the temporary one probably feels too small and if it's less the 6" diameter it really is too small to even try and run in! But also because he probably feels exposed - quite a bit of open space in there and no deep bedding to dive under. Good he has the tube :)

It's normal they don't have a wheel at the pet shop as they are babies, but once sold they are 6 weeks are over and are definitely read for a wheel! I had this with one of mine. No wheel for the first two weeks and he was bar biting and climbing. Once he had a wheel he was happy as larry! It will do him no harm to not have his wheel at first, but he will need a bit more enrichment and and distraction to stop him going a bit stir crazy! It is pent up energy.

You could even try a bit of out of cage time although it's maybe a bit soon for that and it would need to be in a hamster safe area. I think that might be too much change right now perhaps and waiting another week would be better.

So rip up lots of sheets of toilet paper (the soft stuff - white is best) - a pile in one corner would help - he'll love that. Also as socks Mum says a shoebox house is great :-) If you have a cardboard shoe box, cut the base out, keep the lid for a lift off roof and cut a hole for a door. The best place for a door is one of the long sides, near one corner - that means the other end is dark inside as light doesn't go round corners. So yes if you can rip up enough toilet paper for it, then having that all under the shoebox house across one end would be good but you also want some outside the shoebox house in a pile because then he can do his natural foraging instinct and pouch some of that and take it inside the house and build a nest. That'll keep him busy :-) They like to put it in the house themselves :-) Sometimes if you put it inside a house, they take it all out again and then put it back again :LOL:

This will help him feel less exposed and he'll be happy in his dark house sleeping - he'll love that too. They need a large, dark space to retreat to. If there isn't one they usually burrow under bedding but if there isn't either he won't know what to do so will just climb the bars to try and get out.
 
Here’s a sequence of pictures which show the changes I made to Blossom’s cage to meet her needs over time. The most helpful things for Blossom were the addition of a lot more chews and also her dig box made from an old too-small wheel which she loved. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. One of Blossom’s favourite things to chew on was a bit of egg box! Blossom’s nest was under the grey platform where she was safe and sheltered. Tunnels made from cardboard tubes also gave her plenty of cover in her cage. I made a little house for her play box from a cardboard box.

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I had the same platform and ladder that came with the cage, but Topaç would not climb up it, so we took it out and put the wheel lower. Does your hamster use it with no issue?
 
Blossom always enjoyed using the platform and ladder, so I left them in for her. I know that some hamster owners do take out the platforms tho. I did set the platform at its lowest height so that the angle of the ladder wasn’t too steep. Later, I raised it, but set the ladder on a raised platform so that, again, it wasn’t too steep.
 
It might be taking the platform and ladder out that has stressed him :-) Even if he wasn't using it, they can get stressed by changes in the early days, and also they like having something to sit under.

So - I would put the platform and ladder back - low enough that the ladder isn't too steep. And have a shoe box house at the opposite end of the cage to the platform. That will make it a lot cosier especially with some ripped up toilet paper. He will start using the ladder when he's ready - they can be a bit cautious at first. You could put another little hide on the platform (maybe a small cardboard one like a square tissue box hide).

When his wheel comes that could go on the back bars so it's between the house and platform :-)
 
Blossom made her nest herself under the platform, and it's where she kept it for the rest of her days 🌸
 
And then when the week is up you can put all your new bedding in :-) Now a complete bedding change can stress them as well but you don't really want to add the new to the old because the old bedding is pine and in your country it's likely the pine bedding hasn't been kiln dried (unless it says it has been kiln dried on the packet). If it has been kiln dried, then you don't need to remove it all, you can just spot clean the pee out and clean that little area, and add the new bedding on top and mix it all in a bit. If it doesn't say kiln dried on the packet then it's best to remove all of it and put the new bedding in instead - but even then I would save a tiny bit of the old bedding and sprinkle it on top of the new - because it will have his familiar scent and a little bit won't do any harm when the majority of the bedding is the new good stuff :-) Eventually that top layer will get spot cleaned out.

They still need some torn up strips of plain white toilet paper as well :-) I just keep topping that up when the pile goes down.

Just to add though you don't have to put the shelf back if you don't want to - eg if you were planning to fill the cage with lots of large natural items and make that kind of habitat for him. And the shoebox house would probably do the job. But it can get expensive buying lots of large items to fill a cage, and some kind of platform is always good to have (they do like sitting under one). So it could be a good idea to put the platform back. In the future you could maybe replace the ladder with a large cork log instead if the ladder takes up too much space. That's what I tend to do. I have a large cork log either next to or partly going under a platform so they can climb up the side of it onto the platform or run through it as well - they make a nice big dark tunnel.
 
Yes, Socks has two Happy Henry platforms with bedding over the deck. He has the option of going under or over them and they add to his cage space. They are on long legs so nice and safe.
 
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