hamsters

Question
Hello..

I bought a dwarf hamster three weeks ago. He was very happy with his little cave, tubes, food bowl, wheel, etc.. But two days ago after cleaning his cage out he decided he doesn't want his bedding in his cave and took everything out. I then put some of his old bedding in, thinking he would like it because it has his scent on it already. But of course he took it out as well. Now all he seems to do is clean his cave out. He doesn't sleep often because he's always busy worrying about his cave being clean.

Is this a problem and what can I do about it?

Answer
Hi Alexia

thanks for your question.

Sometimes hamster just do strange things and there isn't always any explanation.  Dwarf hamsters tend to move their nest around anyway - whereas Syrians tend to always make their nest in the same place.  I've often found that they like to have several places to sleep so if you have other tubes etc that you can put in for him to sleep in that might help.

Have you moved his cage at all?  When you put his things back did they go in the same place?  Sometimes i accidentally put the base of the cage the wrong way round and this can distress my hamsters a lot. Also, one of my hamsters always empties their food bowl and moves everything into the nest so their bowl is empty, another gathers up any food in the cage and puts theirs in the bowl - so they all seem to have their own funny little way of doing things and perhaps now that your hamster is settling down in his new home he just wants to change it around.

If your hamster seems to be worried right now, it might be an idea to delay cleaning him this week - perhaps just remove any soiled corner rather than all the bedding etc. just to give him a bit longer to settle down.

I hope this helps you.

regards
Sheila