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Toby_Russian

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Not sure if I’m doing this right, I bought my children a Russian hamster, not our first hamster either, went with a cage recommendation for pet shop filled with plenty sawdust for burrowing, house with bedding and it has tubes than run outside. The wee guy has taken to carrying his food along the tube and is sleeping in it but has no bedding! I’m so worried he’ll be cold I’ve never had a hamster not sleep in its house before!
 
Hello Toby. Welcome to the forum. Sadly pet shops are a business that just want to make money rather then promote good hamster care. Do not worry as you have come to the right place.

If you have a look at the resources on here you will find lots of information about choosing the right bedding, cage etc.

Sawdust is not recommended for hamsters at all but paper bedding is lovely. Have a read through the guides and you will soon become up to date with hamster care.😀
 
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RainbowBrite said:
Hello Toby. Welcome to the forum. Sadly pet shops are a business that just want to make money rather then promote good hamster care. Do not worry as you have come to the right place.

If you have a look at the resources on here you will find lots of information about choosing the right bedding, cage etc.

Sawdust is not recommended for hamsters at all but paper bedding is lovely. Have a read through the guides and you will soon become up to date with hamster care.😀
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Thank you, I have carefresh paper bedding in his little house, would that be a better option to fill his cage with instead of the sawdust? Just feel so sad he’s got this lovely big cage and is sleeping in a tube with no bedding
 
Toby_Russian said:
Thank you, I have carefresh paper bedding in his little house, would that be a better option to fill his cage with instead of the sawdust? Just feel so sad he’s got this lovely big cage and is sleeping in a tube with no bedding
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Yes. Paper bedding is great. As he is a dwarf do you have a sand bath? They use the sand to keep their fur clean. Which cage do you have?
 
Yes I do have a sand bath, I was recommended not to leave it in the cage all the time though? This is the cage, it’s quite large but will be looking into other option after reading a few posts on here
 

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Sand is best left in the cage all the time so your hamster can bathe or play in it whenever they like.😀

There are also threads with pictures of cage set ups. I have found those really helpful.
 
Toby_Russian said:
Not sure if I’m doing this right, I bought my children a Russian hamster, not our first hamster either, went with a cage recommendation for pet shop filled with plenty sawdust for burrowing, house with bedding and it has tubes than run outside. The wee guy has taken to carrying his food along the tube and is sleeping in it but has no bedding! I’m so worried he’ll be cold I’ve never had a hamster not sleep in its house before!
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My hamster had the same cage at her previous home and would always sleep in the tubes too. I guess it felt more like being in a burrow to her than her little house did. Once I put her in a cage with 6" of suitable bedding she made herself a burrow and always sleeps there. I'd also be worried about the cold, they do rely on their burrows being well insulated when the temperature drops.
 
A_J said:
My hamster had the same cage at her previous home and would always sleep in the tubes too. I guess it felt more like being in a burrow to her than her little house did. Once I put her in a cage with 6" of suitable bedding she made herself a burrow and always sleeps there. I'd also be worried about the cold, they do rely on their burrows being well insulated when the temperature drops.
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Thanks for your reply, I’m thinking I might put some bedding in the tube where he seems to like to hang out, I’m hoping once he’s settle he’ll explore his cage more we just picked him up yesterday so it’s all a bit new to him
 
Hello & welcome to the forum.
You’ve had plenty of great advice already & you’ll find lots more info around the forum too. I guess you meant wood shavings when you said saw dust? Some wood shavings are ok but as the others said paper based bedding is better.
Can you remove the tubes from that cage? With some there are stoppers to block the holes.
Tubes can be a real problem, they may feel safer in the tubes or it may feel like a burrow but they often sleep, stash food & pee in them & it quickly becomes unhygienic & unsafe so they’re best avoided.
What kind of house does he have? Somewhere dark, preferably not plastic (wood painted with plastikote is best) with lots of bedding & some additional plain white toilet tissue torn into strips should tempt him in.
Take not to clean other than just spot cleaning any pee for a couple of weeks so he feels safe & undisturbed while he settles too.
 
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Toby_Russian said:
Thanks for your reply, I’m thinking I might put some bedding in the tube where he seems to like to hang out, I’m hoping once he’s settle he’ll explore his cage more we just picked him up yesterday so it’s all a bit new to him
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I'd recommend against that, they can easily get stuck in plastic tubes and not get enough ventilation if there is bedding in them. That cage is only 300 square inches anyway so your hamster would really benefit from an upgrade.

Multi-chamber hides are great for hamsters, you could make a temporary one from cardboard for him with plenty of paper bedding inside and he might prefer to sleep in that rather than the tubes.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum!

I also listened to that pet shop and bought an unsuitable cage then had to start allover again with a bigger cage, wheel, house and hides etc.

For a dwarf, i'd recommend the Hamster Heaven or Metro with the tubes and penthouse removed. Good ones are available second hand for around £30.
All mine were bought off the small ads.

Have a look at the thread "Show us your cages" and you'll see different cages and set ups to get ideas.
 
Beryl said:
Hello and welcome to the forum!

I also listened to that pet shop and bought an unsuitable cage then had to start allover again with a bigger cage, wheel, house and hides etc.

For a dwarf, i'd recommend the Hamster Heaven or Metro with the tubes and penthouse removed. Good ones are available second hand for around £30.
All mine were bought off the small ads.

Have a look at the thread "Show us your cages" and you'll see different cages and set ups to get ideas.
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Thanks, will look into these cage options, just want him to be happy and content! Since my original post he seems to have made his way out of the tube and into the house…which is plastic but have a wooden one being delivered from Amazon, we have plenty other bits in the cage to entertain him too
 
That sounds great. I am sure he will be happy with you. It is lovely you care and want to make him happy.😀
 
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Hello and welcome :-). Don’t panic! It takes then a good few days to adjust to a new cage and environment and decide where to nest. The cage is fine for now and it would be best to let him have at least 2 to 3 weeks to adjust and settle in before considering any upgrades. However I would think about removing the tubes. Assume it came with end caps for the tube holes? Not right now maybe as it sounds like he’s taken an interest in the house after all. It can take them a day or so to decide where to build a nest and he’ll also be scent marking to find his way around. I can understand your concern about him getting cold though.

While he’s settling in it’s quite important not to change things around too much or it’ll set him back again and could stress him. He’ll be fine with the wood shavings for now but maybe you could add a bit of carefresh to them. Adding something new is usually accepted fine but moving things around or taking things away can stress them. Replacing a house should be fine. You can leave the sand bath in.
 
It’s common for hamsters to nest and pee in external tubes. Because it skews their natural instincts. They like tunnels and can dig their own - or a short run like a toilet roll tune on the cage floor is popular. Their natural instinct is to nest, bury hoards under the nest and have a toilet area. If they do all that in a plastic tube it gets messy and smelly and needs cleaning out a lot. That then stresses the hamster - being cleaned out too much and all their nest hoard and familiar scent removed.

So best way is a house, plenty of substrate and just spot clean the substrate as and when needed. You can do that for quite a long time if there’s enough substrate in. Ideally at least 4” but 6” is better. It makes them happy too and means less mess and no need to do big clean outs. You can go a couple of months or more before needing to change the substrate with spot cleaning and even then I keep back the clean half and mix it in with the new, so it still has their scent. If all their scent is removed they feel lost and get stresssed again.

It sounds like you’ve had hamsters before - but their personalities vary a lot :-)
 
thanks for all the comments, I had hamsters growing up and have had 2 since moving out, Toby is the 3rd, never had a Russian dwarf before though!! He seems to be settling in, he is defo preferring the tube to sleep/eat which makes me unsure about removing it, and also for cleaning as it will remove all his hard work as he’s taken the bedding to the tube and his scent will be there, so any advice on that would be great! 😂 but looking into cage upgrades already but will wait a few more weeks,

The new house is doing down better and put my mind at ease compared the plastic one!
We have added other things to entertain him into the cage and have already ordered a play pen for him and other toys so he can get a good play outside the cage when he is awake,

He doesn’t seem interested in his wheel though, I replaced the one it came with as the wood shavings/bedding made it hard to move and I thought that was the issue but not sure, all my others loved a wheel!
 
Good to know he's settling in. You could maybe try a flying saucer? Most dwarf hamsters like those. Could it be the wheel isn't quite big enough? Or hard to push? It should spin freely and needs to be at least 6.5" diameter, and they do better with something bigger than that - like an 8" wheel. The trixie 20cm one is usually popular (linked below).

I would bite the bullet with the tubes :) . I'd remove them and block them off and your hammy will make a new nest in cosy substrate in the house and get into some normal behaviours. He might be quite miffed for a day or two but he'll settle again quickly.


Although - that's only available in the Uk I think. Are you in the Uk?
 
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The problem with nesting, hoarding and possibly peeing in tubes is that it can lead to health issues, especially respiratory problems.
It's the combination of lack of ventilation, body warmth and moisture that creates an ideal breeding ground for harmful bacteria. Food can go mouldy as well in this conditions.

Some of my hamsters have internal tubes in their cages to run through them and they love them. If they'd nest in them, i'd take them out because i'd be too worried about them getting ill.

Mine don't nest in them because they have a lot of paperbased substrate (Kaytee clean and cozy) to burrow in and build nests with.
I haven't met a dwarf yet who isn't a burrower.

I use wood shavings in play areas, around wheels and sand baths to stop the wheels from getting jammed. It's handy for that.

If you don't have paperbased substrate you can give your hamster a big heap of torn into strips, unscented, white toilet paper. They love that for nesting material.

Did the cage come with end caps for the tubes, should you decide to remove them?
 
I meant to add. It's best if a house is on the floor of the cage on the substrate, rather than on a shelf. That way it's open underneath to the substrate, stays better ventilated and they can do normal behaviours like burrow down to get cosy or bury hoards under the nest :)
 
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