Help me tame my Russian dwarf!

Maz said:
That is great news! Yes maybe midday is not his best time :) . It would be lovely to see photos when you get chance.
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Lovely to hear how much progress you’ve made with little Edmond, he sounds really happy & your bond is growing. They do tend to have times or even places they sit in the cage when or where they would rather be left alone so best not to try to interact then especially as you are doing so well with your evening routine.
I wouldn’t worry about him not wanting to be held for long, young hams have far too much energy to sit still for very long & are often happier to just climb on you than sit still in a hand.
That’s a really lovely photo of him 😍
 
Sticking to one thread is great as it keeps all your information together. Do not worry your thread will not get missed.😀

What a photogenic hamster Edmond is.😍
 
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It's a lovely photo - he looks really curious! And such a sweet face.
 
Ok another update...a setback, rather. Edmond has begun biting again, rather aggressively. I'm not really sure what happened :( He had stopped for several weeks but now he's back at it. According to a Victoria Rachael video I saw on Youtube, if the hamster only bites when you put your hands in the bin, she said that might mean he's cage territorial and needs a bigger cage. Edmond is in a bin enclosure with 597 sq inches of floor space. Do you think it's worth upgrading his space and seeing if he'll stop? Or should I give him more time?
 
It does sometimes happen that you have setbacks like this so don’t worry too much.
Has anything else changed, like a cage clean, something that can upset them if you clean too much at once or clean too often. Anything else you can think of that might be a bit different for him?
It may be that he needs a larger cage but for that I would go on behaviour in general rather than just the biting. What are the dimensions of his bin? That’s generally more helpful than sq inches.
Try to avoid putting your hand in the cage any more than you have to, just doing food & water is ok, if you need to spot clean then maybe take him out & put him in a carrier or something safe while you do it. Keeping interaction for out of cage time & see if he stops biting again.
 
I just looked back & saw you did post a photo of your bin cage, the size looks ok I think.
He could probably do with more hides & things in there as it is a bit empty.
Just a thought but maybe put the wheel on a shelf, it looks as though there is a bit of space above so it could go slightly higher, then you could put deeper substrate throughout the bin.
Things like cork tunnels & coconut hides are great for them & might make the cage better for him without having to upgrade to something bigger.
 
elusive said:
It does sometimes happen that you have setbacks like this so don’t worry too much.
Has anything else changed, like a cage clean, something that can upset them if you clean too much at once or clean too often. Anything else you can think of that might be a bit different for him?
It may be that he needs a larger cage but for that I would go on behaviour in general rather than just the biting. What are the dimensions of his bin? That’s generally more helpful than sq inches.
Try to avoid putting your hand in the cage any more than you have to, just doing food & water is ok, if you need to spot clean then maybe take him out & put him in a carrier or something safe while you do it. Keeping interaction for out of cage time & see if he stops biting again.
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The bin dimensions are 35.87 Inches (L), 13.79 Inches (H) x 16.65 Inches (W). The only thing I can think of that might have upset him is I made a DIY playpen using some cardboard so he could have more room to free-roam and and he managed to escape a couple of times so I had to run after him and make sure he didn't get into any trouble. Maybe that spooked him? I've added more to the bin. I'll include a photo. If I try to raise the wheel then I can't get the lid on :(
 
If you had to chase after him that could well have stressed him out & be the reason for his biting again, I’d just give it a little while keeping your hand out of the cage unless necessary & he should soon settle again.
The bin is a little on the smal side, just a bit under what I would consider the minimum size so you may want to think about an upgrade up some point but I wouldn’t do it just yet if he’s been a bit stressed as even a move to a better cage with lots of enrichment can be a bit stressful at first.
 
The cage looks very nice and I cant see particularly any reason why he wouldn’t be happy in there. It isn’t tiny and is a good length. Maybe a bit narrow but the length helps. It does sound like something has stressed him but also he does sound to be being a bit territorial about his cage. Some hamsters just don’t like a hand coming from above (maybe like a claw as they are prey animals) but there aren’t many options for front opening access with tanks and bins unless you have a door from a cage to add to a bin cage.

An upgrade can help but see if he settles a bit first as it may be other things as well.

Maybe give him a few days to a week to settle down if something stressed him and as Elusive says - just put out food and water out for now and maybe talk to him gently through the cage and tell him it’s ok! I swear they listen!

When you get him out - how do you get him out? They often don’t like being picked up in the cage so lowering a tube or hide in for him to walk into (with a treat inside) is a good way to get them out without stressing them until they get used to hopping on your hand (some will, some may never do that). A hamster ball is good for that too- just as a way of carrying them out. You just pop your hands over the end to lift them out so he can’t jump out. You can wear gloves to do that if you think he might bite your hand and make you jump. So you don’t drop it!

It may be the dimensions of the bin as depth is quite important too so they can have a fair bit of movement and not just run back and forth.

Hope you managed to get the playpen fixed!

I hope he settles down again. Maybe try scatter feeding a bit of food each day as well as putting it in his food bowl. Foraging for it will distract him and give him some normal hamstery behaviours.
 
elusive said:
If you had to chase after him that could well have stressed him out & be the reason for his biting again, I’d just give it a little while keeping your hand out of the cage unless necessary & he should soon settle again.
The bin is a little on the smal side, just a bit under what I would consider the minimum size so you may want to think about an upgrade up some point but I wouldn’t do it just yet if he’s been a bit stressed as even a move to a better cage with lots of enrichment can be a bit stressful at first.
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Thanks for your input. I’ll give him some time and then I think I might upgrade him. I found a bin that’s 55 gallons (45.43 in. L x 21.13 in. W x 19.52 in. H).
 
Maz said:
The cage looks very nice and I cant see particularly any reason why he wouldn’t be happy in there. It isn’t tiny and is a good length. Maybe a bit narrow but the length helps. It does sound like something has stressed him but also he does sound to be being a bit territorial about his cage. Some hamsters just don’t like a hand coming from above (maybe like a claw as they are prey animals) but there aren’t many options for front opening access with tanks and bins unless you have a door from a cage to add to a bin cage.

An upgrade can help but see if he settles a bit first as it may be other things as well.

Maybe give him a few days to a week to settle down if something stressed him and as Elusive says - just put out food and water out for now and maybe talk to him gently through the cage and tell him it’s ok! I swear they listen!

When you get him out - how do you get him out? They often don’t like being picked up in the cage so lowering a tube or hide in for him to walk into (with a treat inside) is a good way to get them out without stressing them until they get used to hopping on your hand (some will, some may never do that). A hamster ball is good for that too- just as a way of carrying them out. You just pop your hands over the end to lift them out so he can’t jump out. You can wear gloves to do that if you think he might bite your hand and make you jump. So you don’t drop it!

It may be the dimensions of the bin as depth is quite important too so they can have a fair bit of movement and not just run back and forth.

Hope you managed to get the playpen fixed!

I hope he settles down again. Maybe try scatter feeding a bit of food each day as well as putting it in his food bowl. Foraging for it will distract him and give him some normal hamstery behaviours.
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Thank you Maz. I will give him a little space and time. Yesterday he was biting and launching himself at me just when I was sitting next to him in the bin. He’s so full of rage 😂!

I was picking him up with a mug but then we made progress and he was crawling onto my arm so I stopped using a hamster taxi. But based on his current behavior we might need to return to the mug method.

thank you for the compliment on my cage. I’m always trying to add to it but sometimes I wish I had a bit more space so I could give him deeper bedding and raise his wheel. I think he’s got about 6 inches of bedding right now. So I am tempted to upgrade him.
 
That 55 gallon bin sounds like a great size. If he was coming on nicely and then got like this then maybe he did get stressed when he got out of the playpen and had to be caught.
 
Maz said:
That 55 gallon bin sounds like a great size. If he was coming on nicely and then got like this then maybe he did get stressed when he got out of the playpen and had to be caught.
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When I upgrade him to the new bin, do I need to follow the protocol of when you first bring a hamster home? That is, don’t touch him for several days?
 
I would just see how he goes if you upgrade, some settle quicker than others but it may be best to give him a little time before interacting with him.
As long as you don’t do a cage clean for a while before the move & use all the old substrate in the new bin wo it smells familiar & maybe keep the set up as similar to the old as possible they usually settle in pretty quick.
 
As Elusive says, the main thing is to keep everything smelling familiar. However tempting it is to start the new bin off all clean and new, it's better to just move everything across uncleaned - even if it's slightly whiffy - it'll be ok for a couple weeks :)

When a new cage is bigger you'll need more substrate, you can put the new substrate in to a good depth, then take all the old substrate out of the old cage and spread it on top and press it down a bit maybe.

If you can have things in a similar layout it helps them settle too - eg house and wheel in the same position as before. With a bigger bin you might be adding new things as well so it's bound to be a bit different and some things not be in exactly the same places as before, to fit other things in, but as long as they're vaguely the same orientation.

I usually let them play in the new cage a day before moving - with some substrate and the odd toy - so it's less of a culture shock when they do move in and have scent marked it a bit already. This isn't essential though and if he's skitty at the moment - well it's a thought anyway.

I'm sure he'll really enjoy exploring a bigger environment and you can fit more enrichment in - hidey places like cardboard box hides and tunnels etc so there's lots to do.

I find they can be a bit skitty for the first few days and it can be an idea to let them familiarise in the new cage and scent mark etc for the first few days, Then take it from there :-)
 
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