My hamster is chewing on the top of his bin cage…

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Sittinghammy

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Hello.
I’m really worried about my hamster. He has the biggest vin cage I can provide, a sand bath, and lots of new chews and toys. However, he’s been climbing on whatever he can in order to chew on the mesh on top of his cage. I can’t afford to give him a bigger cage right now, or a new toy every day. He’s a long haired male Syrian hamster that I adopted from another person. I believe he’s about a year and a half old. He’s been in a bin cage all his life, and I don’t know where they got him from. My previous male Syrian did this as well. I’m feeding him a tablespoon of (expensive) food a day that I got from Etsy. When he’s chewing on the wire, he hangs from it, which makes me worried for his health, and I can’t tell if his teeth are healthy or if he’s hurting them. Please help!
 

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It is difficult without being able to upgrade because it sounds like needs more space. You said your previous hamster also did this. Do you know what size this bin is? The minimum size for hamsters is 40 inches by 20 inches. How deep is the bedding? Deep bedding of at least 10 inches can help with boredom too.
 
This bin is the largest I can find in America, 21” by 39” by 17”. His bedding is about 8 inches high at its most but when I put things on top of it, it smushes it down. So at its shallowest, maybe 4”.
 

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When you put the bedding in, do you compress it? This helps hamsters make burrows. Is Wally able to go in a playpen or free roam in a safe room? That will really help to keep him occupied. :)

How about trying some cardboard boredom breakers for Wally? This is a link with different kinds.

thehamsterforum.com

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.
thehamsterforum.com thehamsterforum.com
 
I’ve made a few, but I’ll try to do more. I didn’t know compressing the bedding was better for him- thank you! I think I’ll add some more today. I know he burrows in his hideout, but not much. Would a 60 gallon aquarium be an upgrade perhaps?
 
You are most welcome. Bedding needs to be pressed down in order for it to hold burrows so you may find you need more bedding then you think.

I would not go smaller then a 75 gallon aquarium because that will give you the minimum size recommended. :)
 
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I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with this. Your bin sounds to be a good size, although some of them do slope in quite a bit at the bottom. I think it's normal for hamsters to want to show when they want to come out, even when they're in a really large cage and if the roof mesh is the only thing he can chew at to let you know that's maybe why he's doing it. As Rainbow mentioned, giving him regular out of cage time might help.

The other thing that can make them a bit frantic sometimes, is if you've done a full cage clean. They can feel stressed if all their familiar scent is removed. You probably know about that already - but spot cleaning mostly is better rather than full cage cleans.

I sometimes think with a bin cage as well, if there is no side mesh, the hamster can't see/smell what's going on so they head for the roof.

New boredom breakers will help but I'd suggest he has lots of out of cage time :-) Do you have an area where he can free roam safely, or a playpen?

I think there are actually some bigger bins in the US now from Home Mart I think - sterilite 160 litre and larger. ilguy on here knows about them :) So as he could live for another year maybe, it could be good to try and think about an upgrade. Bin cages can work out quite cheap. I can't link the Home Mart bins because I'm in the Uk and for some bizarre reason it won't let you open their web page if you're in the Uk!
 
Thank you, I’ll start letting him out occasionally, I don’t know why I never thought about doing that again. I do only spot clean, never even half of it, so that shouldn’t be stressing him out. I never even change all the sand, only the soiled kind. And my dad just suggested we make a homemade cage out of plexiglass, which will be a huge upgrade! So that’s going to be my summer project.
 
(Also my bin cage is 190 liters, 200 quarts. So it’s the largest that I’ve found.)
 
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Oh, and sorry for another post, but I do have a safe playpen I’ve just never used. It’s made out of the plastic squares that you can clip together to make furniture. They’re zip tied together, and the holes are really small in the corner, even for a hamster, they’re smaller than an inch. I’ve got a blanket I free roamed on. I’ve just never known they actually enjoyed it, thank you!
 
Sittinghammy said:
(Also my bin cage is 190 liters, 200 quarts. So it’s the largest that I’ve found.)
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Sorry! I'm not very good converting litres to square inches :-) The plexiglass enclosure sounds fantastic! With out of cage time, it can help to do it at a certain time each night, depending when he wakes up. My Syrian varies depending what time of year it is, as to how early or late he gets up, but despite having a large cage, and not being a bar chewer, he used to sometimes start chewing in one corner if he saw me and he decided it was his time to come out! Once they get in a routine of playpen time or free roaming, they look forward to it I think. Obviously you need plenty of clutter in the playpen - things to do - but cardboard is your friend there - tubes and cardboard boxes and maybe a dig box. And a spare wheel. But don't have anything too close to the edges or they use them to climb out!
 
I made these very makeshift tunnels from brown paper along with two 75cm plastic tunnels sold for rats. They concertina smaller and bend completely. They are not chew proof though so I don't leave them in Socks' cage. Paper bags are also fun for hamsters. If your hamster poops in his tunnels, it's a sign he's enjoying them! It's a bit cluttered, but I think he likes exploring them and scent marking by rolling around in them 😄
 

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