Is It Possible To Keep These Entertained

[Jade107]

Okay, as most of you probably know (Maybe not actually) hamsters are nocturnal. So, my hamster is up all night clawing at the bars of her cage. I don't get any sleep. I always feel bad because I think she's lonely but, don't syrian hamsters not get along with their own kind very well? I've tried giving her chew sticks and she has a wheel. When I gave her the chew stick, she used it for about three seconds, and then chucked it across the cage and started climbing all over the cage again. I'm afraid she might hurt herself one day. She uses the top of the cage as monkey bars, and often, she falls. I was wondering if anyone knew of anything that could keep this monster entertained, or if it would be safe to get her a friend?

Here is a pic

Lily:
http/i177.photobucket.com/albums/w229/kittysrule55/159.jpg

 

[Truck]

Okay, as most of you probably know (Maybe not actually) hamsters are nocturnal. So, my hamster is up all night clawing at the bars of her cage. I don't get any sleep. I always feel bad because I think she's lonely but, don't syrian hamsters not get along with their own kind very well? I've tried giving her chew sticks and she has a wheel. When I gave her the chew stick, she used it for about three seconds, and then chucked it across the cage and started climbing all over the cage again. I'm afraid she might hurt herself one day. She uses the top of the cage as monkey bars, and often, she falls. I was wondering if anyone knew of anything that could keep this monster entertained, or if it would be safe to get her a friend?

Here is a pic

Lily:
[URL="http/i177.photobucket.com/albums/w229/kittysrule55/159.jpg"]http/i177.photobucket.com/albums/w229/kittysrule55/159.jpg[/URL]

get her a see saw, my dwarf spends hours on it! can you not just move your cage into the bathroom at night? thats what i do.

syrians will fight to death if kept together.

 

[loraxchick]

i feel for you. i had a chinchilla (also nocternal) for years and he would bounce around his cage all night and occasionally wake me up.
could you get her a different cage? the kind that you can build tunnels for? maybe she would like to explore the tunnels instead of practice gymnastics.
just a thought.
she is awefully cute. i had a teddy bear hamster in college named "Hammy", (how original, huh?). he looked very much like your girlie. she's cute.
cheers

 

[aly_starh]

very cute lil hamster

I had a hamster, Rufus, only for a week, i was allergic

Try getting her a wheel, they love those, and yes a bigger cage might help, with different levels so she can explore!

 

[Jade107]

i feel for you. i had a chinchilla (also nocternal) for years and he would bounce around his cage all night and occasionally wake me up.
could you get her a different cage? the kind that you can build tunnels for? maybe she would like to explore the tunnels instead of practice gymnastics.
just a thought.
she is awefully cute. i had a teddy bear hamster in college named "Hammy", (how original, huh?). he looked very much like your girlie. she's cute.
cheers

Hehe thanks! She has one of those crittertrail cages (It was $40!!) that have all those connecty tunnels and a double story. I put her in there for a couple hours before I got to bed. She wakes up at around 7:00 pm. So I'll put her in there and she runs around on her wheel and goes through those tunnels. I'm afraid she's gonna get stuck one day. (I'd be really chlostrophobic lol) But it has this little hideout thing at the top. Like a little box with a tube to acess it from the bottom. The worst part is, she claws at the plastic, which makes the most annoying sound! So then when I go to bed, I transfer her back into her small cage so she won't make as much noise. (I don't know what kind it is. It was a kit I bought from petsmart for like $10)

By the way, I don't reccomend those Crittertrails. They are a real pain in the butt to clean lol

 

[MBOU]

Please dont put her in the small cage when you go to bed, thats really cruel they are most active at night! If you consider the fact that an adult Syrian can travel up to 8 miles a night scavanging for food and hunting and exploring and scurrying about.... of course they are going to be very active.

Those Crittertrail cages are rubbish, they are far too small and the tubes a bit small if you get a proper sized syrian, if you want a quieter hamster, get a bigger cage, FOP Gimmey or Marchioro cages are good, 3-4 levels or a rat cage, lots and lots of cardboard tubes, lots of tissue to dig in, things like Pedigree Denta Rask or Original Bonios to chew on and move the cage out of your bedroom!

Please dont take it out on the hamster because you can't sleep, try sleeping when you have about 15 syrians in your bedroom! Thats hard work!

 

[Curiosity101]

Few tips (I've had several hamsters).

Over the period of the next few weeks start waking her up 10 minutes earlier every other day. You have to do it slowly as naturally they are nocturnal. Try to get her naturally waking up at say...4pm

Put her in her ball (presuming she has one, and if not get her one), for 2 periods of 1 hour every day. Or at the very least 1 hour a day. Eg. 7pm and 9pm (or when you have her waking up earlier have her 2 sets of 1 hour further apart)
This way she's getting much more exercise and getting much more stimulation, but not getting it all in one big chunk.

Buy her a BIG cage. My hammys have always been in something that either 3 tiered wire cage (saves on surface area but still gives lots of space) or my most recent ham was in This

Aswell as just the cage she had....a hanging basket from the top of the cage, a big chew ball, bridge, climbing wall, tubes and a wheel.

I also didn't feed her by putting food in her bowl. So long as her cage was clean I would sprinkle her food on the base. (Avoid her 'toilet' corner of course).

And whenever I cleaned her bed out I would put bedding around the cage so she could make her own bed. Alot of books advise against the bedding thing, but I've never been bitten, and our hammys have always lived at least 2 years unless they had underlying health complications...so I don't think it causes undue stress.

You could also get her a 'hamster play pen' to put toys in, as an alternative to her ball.

Cutting up bits of fruit/veg and putting them in obscure places is a good plan too, not too much fresh stuff though. Make sure she only gets hammy sized portions.

Oh...and putting her in a smaller cage is a bad idea. Particularly as she is nocturnal.
And crittertrail are rubbish. Wire cages are much better anyways, gives them the chance to climb, something they are very adept at!

 

[Jade107]

Few tips (I've had several hamsters).

Over the period of the next few weeks start waking her up 10 minutes earlier every other day. You have to do it slowly as naturally they are nocturnal. Try to get her naturally waking up at say...4pm

Put her in her ball (presuming she has one, and if not get her one), for 2 periods of 1 hour every day. Or at the very least 1 hour a day. Eg. 7pm and 9pm (or when you have her waking up earlier have her 2 sets of 1 hour further apart)
This way she's getting much more exercise and getting much more stimulation, but not getting it all in one big chunk.

Buy her a BIG cage. My hammys have always been in something that either 3 tiered wire cage (saves on surface area but still gives lots of space) or my most recent ham was in This

Aswell as just the cage she had....a hanging basket from the top of the cage, a big chew ball, bridge, climbing wall, tubes and a wheel.

I also didn't feed her by putting food in her bowl. So long as her cage was clean I would sprinkle her food on the base. (Avoid her 'toilet' corner of course).

And whenever I cleaned her bed out I would put bedding around the cage so she could make her own bed. Alot of books advise against the bedding thing, but I've never been bitten, and our hammys have always lived at least 2 years unless they had underlying health complications...so I don't think it causes undue stress.

You could also get her a 'hamster play pen' to put toys in, as an alternative to her ball.

Cutting up bits of fruit/veg and putting them in obscure places is a good plan too, not too much fresh stuff though. Make sure she only gets hammy sized portions.

Oh...and putting her in a smaller cage is a bad idea. Particularly as she is nocturnal.
And crittertrail are rubbish. Wire cages are much better anyways, gives them the chance to climb, something they are very adept at!

I'll try to wake her up a little earlier =) but she has a ball, and she hates it! Every time I put her in it she squeaks and squeaks and pees all over it. My mice loved their ball but she just cries and refuses to move. How big of a cage would she really need? I don't have much room to put a large cage...and she's getting huge lol. I also put her food not in a bowl, but I hide it in cardboard tubes and under the bedding. I think she enjoys scavenging around for it.

As for her cage, I have the same one as the cage you showed, except mine is smaller. I'm kinda on a budget for the cage so...any good brands that are cheap? Heh

 

[xxBarneyxx]

As mentioned above give it more stuff to play with and a larger area (ie bigger cage).

Best place to get a good cage would actually be your local classifieds and boot fairs. I have seen large parrot cages that cost over £150 new going for around £10-20 at boot fairs and something like a parrot cage with loads of ladders and levels in would be perfect.

 

[kj23502]

We always had our hamsters in aquariums, not wire cages. They had wheels, chew sticks, toilet paper or paper towel rolls and stuff. They never bothered me to much. I guess I'm a heavy sleeper.