Hi there! I’m Saffy and I have a year and a half old hamster called Atreus. But I call him Buddy mostly. He has the most beautiful white coat and is the kindest hamster you’d ever meet. I have had this concern lately that he doesn’t like anyone else close to the cage or coming out of the cage.
Me and my sister were moving rooms, and for the time being he was sleeping with her before I moved him over. He bit the bars the whole time, which he hasn’t done since I got him, and he was very active. I have an over 100 x 50 cm wooden and glass tank with metal bars only at the top opening. It’s quite huge and has a huge open floor base, impossible to clean out lol. He sleeps all the time, most of the day and night, comes out on his wheel at 2-3am till 7am and runs around usually with me. I can hear him sniffling so I usually go say hi and give him a little treat. He comes into my hand so I always thought he was very happy.
But he took chunks out of the wood of the cage the entire time with my sister that I had to move him through rather fast in the middle of the night as my sister is pregnant and couldn’t sleep. As soon as he was in my room, he didn’t bite the bars once. Despite it being a new room, it was very strange. He sat at the bottom of his cage shaking and staring at me and it worried me a little. I am meaning to ask if that is normal?
My sister said it’s because he doesn’t get out of his cage much. I was unsure as he is fine with me. I don’t bring him out much as he bites and chews out his playpen, which is a lot bigger than his cage and has more chew toys and activities, but he never is interested in anything I buy no matter how big or so. He doesn’t eat in front of people, he likes to store things. So I decided to make my bedroom floor safe for him and let him run around my room for more open space to play, but he would hide in a corner, store all of his droppings into a huge pile and not come out unless I fished him out. When I catch him he is always sleeping, so I stopped play time as much
I wanted to know a good way to bring him out of his cage more? He sleeps all the time and is only up early hours, but even then, he just likes to sit on his own and eat or make tunnels.
Me and my sister were moving rooms, and for the time being he was sleeping with her before I moved him over. He bit the bars the whole time, which he hasn’t done since I got him, and he was very active. I have an over 100 x 50 cm wooden and glass tank with metal bars only at the top opening. It’s quite huge and has a huge open floor base, impossible to clean out lol. He sleeps all the time, most of the day and night, comes out on his wheel at 2-3am till 7am and runs around usually with me. I can hear him sniffling so I usually go say hi and give him a little treat. He comes into my hand so I always thought he was very happy.
But he took chunks out of the wood of the cage the entire time with my sister that I had to move him through rather fast in the middle of the night as my sister is pregnant and couldn’t sleep. As soon as he was in my room, he didn’t bite the bars once. Despite it being a new room, it was very strange. He sat at the bottom of his cage shaking and staring at me and it worried me a little. I am meaning to ask if that is normal?
My sister said it’s because he doesn’t get out of his cage much. I was unsure as he is fine with me. I don’t bring him out much as he bites and chews out his playpen, which is a lot bigger than his cage and has more chew toys and activities, but he never is interested in anything I buy no matter how big or so. He doesn’t eat in front of people, he likes to store things. So I decided to make my bedroom floor safe for him and let him run around my room for more open space to play, but he would hide in a corner, store all of his droppings into a huge pile and not come out unless I fished him out. When I catch him he is always sleeping, so I stopped play time as much
I wanted to know a good way to bring him out of his cage more? He sleeps all the time and is only up early hours, but even then, he just likes to sit on his own and eat or make tunnels.
Buddy sounds adorable! Any change of environment, eg moving the enclosure to a different room, can stress a hamster out. So that's probably the main issue. Ideally the enclosure just stays in the same place all the time. It will have been different scents and all sorts. They are very sensitive to change of environment. He might have thought you had left him or something if he's used to your presence.