My hamster has bad behaviors, Please Help!

[MrLeon]

My hamster likes to chew bars and monkey climbing even after changing the cage to a bigger one and getting her mineral chews, wooden toys and a big wheel.

Hamster Heaven Metro extra-large hamster cage - Savic​

https://www.savic.be/product/hamster-heaven-metro/
I tried to free her every day for 15 min out of the cage and let her run through the hallway, but she always will start to pee everywhere, like she was not happy to be free.
So I'm really frustrated with what kind of reason she has for acting like this.

What should I do?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome How long have you had the hamster? She might still be a baby and very young and sometimes they pee when they're a bit scared, but they grow out of that quite quickly.

The Hamster Heaven is a good cage. However, female Syrians are notorious for needing a lot of space. But there are other reasons for bar chewing - it's usually stress and one thing that can cause it is cleaning out too often. You have lots of nice substrate in there for her so it doesn't need cleaning out very often - you can just spot clean the area where she pees (usually a corner of the cage) every 2 or 3 days.

It looks like you might have the tubes and penthouse in place in the cage and that can lead to issues as if they nest in the tubes or penthouse, then they get all pee soaked. Most people remove those and blank off the holes and just use the cage without them. The hamster's instinct is to have their toilet not far from, or close to where they nest - on the same level - so if they nest in the penthouse and try to pee in the corner of it, the whole thing becomes a soggy smelly mess - which then needs cleaning out more, which then leads to stress behaviours.

So the first thing to do probably would be give her a large house at substrate level (a shoebox or other cardboard house is ideal, but big enough to build a large nest in). And remove the tubes and penthouse and cap off the holes. To make a shoebox house you cut the base out of the shoebox so the house is open underneath, and keep the lid as a lift off roof. And cut a hole for an entrance door (at one end of one of the long sides ideally so the other end is darker inside).

The idea being, if they have a large house that's open underneath and sat on the substrate, they can have more normal behaviours. She'll build a big cosy nest in it and bury her hoards underneath it, buried down in the substrate. The hoards can be left for quite a long time unless pee'd on.

I'd do that for starters and hopefully you can fit a large house in. I'm not sure what the long green thing is on the right of the photo at floor level but maybe that could be replaced and the house go there?

The other thing is to weave some cardboard round the bars in the area where she's chewing. It'll distract her a bit and she'll have something else to chew on.

Female Syrians are notoriously energetic and can destroy cardboard or an egg box in minutes! So putting cardboard floor toys in can help too - eg toilet roll tubes (slit them down one side so they expand or she could get stuck in them).

One day at a time!

 

[Maz]

Basically the hamster doesn't have bad behaviours exactly - but something isn't right for them and they're stressed. The trouble is, if we get stressed as well they pick up on our stress too! So it's important to talk to them calmly and gently.

If you've only just got the hamster she will be a baby still probably and may not be tame or be a bit scared. When you get her out for some out of cage time next time, maybe do it in a smaller area - eg dry bathtub with the plug in - and put a couple of toys in there - a mug on it's side eg and a cardboard tube. It's a place she can run around and get used to gradually being stroked and handled. Once they're tame and used to hands they can calm down a bit and be less scared.

They often don't like a hand in the cage or to be picked up from the cage either - that's their territory - so to get her out it can be good to let her walk into a "taxi" - something like a hamster ball with a treat in - and carry her in that to the place you're going to set her down to let her out. Or a large tube would do the same - but you'd need a box or something next to the cage to put the tube down in and then carry her in the box. If you try and carry them in the tube they push at your hand so that's a bit risky as it can make you jump and you might drop the tube.

The other thing that does cause them stress in the cage is changing things or moving things around, but that goes along with cleaning out too much. Cleaning out really stresses them and they want to escape. There are ways of doing it without stressing them out though. But maybe you already know that If you don't - have a look at the cleaning tips article on the home page.

 

[Maz]

A few questions that might help us help out a bit more.

1) How old is she?
2) How long have you had her?
3) You mentioned upgrading her cage - how long has she been in the Hamster Heaven now?

Number 3 I ask because a cage change can also be stressful! Even if it's for the better. It can take them a good two weeks to settle into a new cage and it's best not to disturb much in the cage in that two weeks. It's usually recommended to move all the old bedding across from the old cage and spread it on top of the new bedding in the new cage, so it smells familiar - to help them settle in. If that didn't happen - she may still be a bit stressed about the change.

So you could try all these things and if nothing much has changed in the next couple of weeks it could just be she needs a bigger cage. I hate to say that when you've just bought this one, but Hamster Heaven's do sell very well second hand!

 

[MrLeon]

Hi,
thank you very much for the reply!!

1) Pipi is an 8 months old Russian dwarf hamster and I got her when she was 2 months old.
2) I upgraded the cage because she was biting the old cage so I thought that changing the cage could help her to be less stressed.
3) When I got the cage I moved immediately the old bedding into the heaven cage and now she lived in it for 1 month.

She likes to bite everyone who wants to touch her, but with time passing and with some treats, she stopped, but this behavior of biting the cage and climbing is still very common daily.
Initially, when I got there, I have been "tricked" by the vendor as I already know that hamsters cannot live together because they are territorial animals, but he strongly affirmed that these two sisters can live together.
I believed him and let them live together for a while until I notice that another hamster sometimes will attack her, so I separated them into two cages.

 

[Maz]

Oh she's gorgeous I didn't realise she was a dwarf hamster. I assumed it was a Syrian when I said you may need to think about upgrading. As she's a dwarf hamster, they are usually fine in the Hamster Heaven. You may just need to add more items and enrichment to the cage. What cage is the sister in? And is she ok?

Does she have much out of cage time? Beryl might be able to answer this one as she has a few dwarf hamsters in hamster heavens!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Pipi is so cute! Sadly many shops do have outdated hamster information and you are not alone in being tricked by them. How is your other hamster?

Would you feel comfortable in saying which country you are in? It can help when it comes to members giving you advice.

 

[elusive]

She really is lovely!
It does sound as though she may need more enrichment in her cage to keep her busy. Lots of hides, scatter feeding, things like millet and flax sprays can help along with hiding treats & food around the cage.
Have a look at this thread for some ideas of things you could make.

Cardboard creations

This is a thread to show how many things you can make for your hamster or enclosure, out of cardboard :-) Cardboard is your friend.

www.thehamsterforum.com

Females are more prone to wanting extra out of cage time & bar climbing or biting can be attention seeking behaviour.
How much out of cage time does she have at the moment?

 

[Frida]

Pipi is beautiful I have a male russian hamster called Albert. He lives in a hamster heaven cage. I think male hamsters are a bit more laid back than females. Hopefully Beryl will be online later and maybe able to offer some advice.

 

[Member ID2]

Pipi is very cute!

I have a female and a male dwarf hamster. Lilly, the female needs a lot of attention and out of cage time. I had to attach acrylic panels to the inside of the front of her cage to stop her from climbing and falling.

 

[Member ID2]

My male dwarf likes to spend a lot of time on his wheel but will also climb to let me know when he wants out.

Could you please post a photo of your whole cage so people could have a look?

There are a few photos of Hamster Heaven set ups on here to have a look for ideas. I don't know how to link but they would be under Housing.

I think it is important to make things save for Pipi by adding shelves for example so she can't climb to high and make sure that she can't fall on top of something hard.

I attached tubes to the roof of Lilly's cage she can run through but it also stops her from monkey barring.

 

[Maz]

Is it this one?

My Hamster Heaven setups

Hamster Heaven without external tubes and shelves set up for a Roborovski hamster.

www.thehamsterforum.com

 

[Maz]

It's good she has gradually stopped biting. That is usually fear or stress but it sounds like it's settled down. It can be an idea to have a routine of feeding time and out of cage time at set times each evening. Once they know that out of cage time is say an hour before (or after) feeding time then they get into a routine and she may only start bar climbing when it's time to come out.

Does she actually get as far as the roof and monkey bar? (Or just climb the sides a bit). Main thing is to make sure she can't land on anything hard or pointy from a height.

As Bery says it might help to see a photo of the whole cage and what's in it and where, to maybe suggest some tweaks.

 

[MrLeon]

t might help to see a photo of the whole cage and what's in it and wher

I'm from Italy, so a lot of things such as paper bedding are available only through Amazon, and the same for toys.
Pi Pi usually monkey climbing for a long distance, maybe I should get rid of the tubes and make the cage like Beryl's one,
Unlike Pi Pi, her sister Pan Pan is very calm and friendly, but when she gets too close to Pi Pi she starts to be very aggressive, but her cage is smaller, but as she doesn't act very stressed, I think it's okay.
Just for curiosity, it's better to cover the cage with accessories or leave spaces for a hamster?
In any case, I'm going to modify some parts of the cage to see if it's better for her.

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions!!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Monkey climbing is actually dangerous for hamsters as they can fall. Perhaps some extra bedding would help as hamsters love to burrow in it. I think getting rid of the tubes is a good idea. Hamsters enjoy a more cluttered cage as it helps them to feel safe.

Just to say, we have a thread here called Cardboard Creations. It has some tips on how to make things out of cardboard for hamsters. I have found my hamster loves it when I make things out of cardboard for him.

 

[Maz]

Yes I think if you have the tubes and penthouse in, the cage won't work for a dwarf hamster. It gives them a reason to want to get to the top of the cage and they do much better with a large-ish house at floor level, open underneath and sat on the substrate - so they can bury hoards and dig.

I'd just take the tubes and penthouse out (you should have had hole blockers came with the cage) and add a large-ish house at floor level (if you don't have one already. They like to nest somewhere where it's dark inside so putting a bendy bridge over the door helps.

They do need floor space to roam around as well but not too much open space or it can make them feel anxious (being prey items) so floor toys like cardboard tunnels and other small hides are good so they can always dive into something to feel secure.

I think those changes will make a big difference. However making a lot of changes to a hamster's cage can also cause them stress and them get frantic if it happens regularly - so it's probably best to do them all in one go, rather than one bit one day and one bit another day eg. To do that you'd need her out of the cage and in a secure place like a pet carrier, while you make the changes - then when she goes back in, it's all done and you've managed to sort the things that need sorting. It can be an idea to hide treats around the cage floor after a change and scatter a bit of food - it distracts them from feeling stressed about change - she will probably even approve of some changes and explore a bit and investigate any new items.

Final thing - you said "Unlike Pi Pi, her sister Pan Pan is very calm and friendly, but when she gets too close to Pi Pi she starts to be very aggressive,"

Maybe I misunderstood but it sounds like they are maybe close together when playing even though in different cages now? If so then that mustn't happen unfortunately. Once they have been separated they can never mix again. It could be dangerous and it's also stressful for both hamsters as they've become solitary and territorial.