Meet me and Ollie

[Nins]

Hello,

I am a new hamster owner. I have a Russian Dwarf hamster named Ollie. He is 2 months old at the moment. Before getting him, I did a lot of research about his enclosure, enrichment, ... (I based a lot of my knowledge on Victoria Raechel).

I have him for 5 days now, he is super sweet and crawls on my hand and takes food. He is really active and absolutely loves his sand bath and his tunnels.

Is there some advice for a new owner? He eats really well, except he leaves his mealworms and some pellets behind every day. I have the Little One mix for Dwarfs. Today i found him biting his bars, this is strange in my opinion because he has a cage within the right measurements. He has enough chew toys (4 and sprays). He has a lot of bedding... I went up to him and gave him some of his food on my hands, then he stopped and took it and went back to his burrows. It is day time now, so he went back to sleep. He follows a strict sleeping schedule, he will wake up in a couple hours to gather food and will go back to sleep later today.

Advice is welcome! Thank you x
(Excuse my english, i am Belgian)

 

[Socks Mum]

Welcome to the forum! Ollie is extremely cute, with his wooden toadstools and big carrot!

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome Ollie is gorgeous! He sounds quite confident. When he did the bar chewing, had you just changed anything in his cage or cleaned out anything? That can stress them in the early days. It's usually recommended not to change or clean anything for the first two weeks.

If it's not that, he's maybe just an active little boy and wanting to come out. Do you have a playpen or an area you can hamsterproof for some out of cage time? A few toys or tunnels and a spare wheel in it can help. Although don't use the wheel from the cage - to him, it belongs in his cage and would bother him if it was elsewhere. (Transferring scent from his cage to the playpen). Things like pringles tubes and tissue boxes are good for hides or tunnels.

 

[Nins]

I'm waiting for my big playpen at the moment. I did spend some time with him in the bathtub, there he was super social and walked all over me and was very relaxed. So i might keep using that until his playpen comes in. I did transfer some tunnels and stuff to the bathtub when i had him in there, but he didn't really go in there. He crawled on top of me and started to clean his face and eat his food. But i didn't want to overstimulate him, it is early days. He seems social and very confident and relaxed with me, but i do want to give him his time. I did not change or clean anything.

He might just want attention, because when i interacted with him he was satisfied and went right back to his normal behavior. It was early in the morning when i heard him, it was the first time i noticed he was chewing his cage. I did look around and checked his enclosure if he chewed anywhere else but didn't notice anything. He has been calm ever since.

Thanks for the advice with his playpen!

 

[Maz]

He sounds a very active little hamster and it's great that he crawled on top of you. He sounds quite tame. I wouldn't worry about over stimulating him at all. You can stroke him and talk to him when he climbs on you. If you have a treat in the palm of your hand they will often climb onto and sit on your hand to eat it. It all builds trust

How early in the morning? Were you up and could he smell breakfast by any chance?

 

[Zara]

Hi and welcome to the forum, Ollie is very cute, look forward to hearing more about him. Maybe he was just trying to attract your attention with the bar biting. Were you in the room when he started? If he persists you could try weaving some cardboard in and out the bars.

 

[Cherri_Bea]

Welcome! Ollie is so adorable! he looks similar to my Merlin you're very lucky he doesn't mind your hands already! As already said above he possibly wanted your attention or a treat this forum is great for advice so I hope you enjoy it here.

 

[Riven]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Lie is a little cutie and can't wait to hear more about him as his personality shines through more.

Bar biting can happen for a lot of different reasons. I've had hamsters do it because they want my attention. I've tried to put cardboard over the bars and place chew toys in the area to encourage them to chew on that rather than the bars, may be worth a try if it becomes excessive.