behaviour

Question
hi
i got my new hamster about 3weeks ago and she keeps on collecting the saw dust in her cheek pouches and putting it in one corner.i am a little worried as i have never had a hamster before so i dont know if this is normal please answere my concern A.S.A.P

Answer
Hi Saffron

It is in every hamster's nature to collect food and bedding and put it in their cheek pouch.  In the wild they can travel up to 5 miles a night in search of food which they pouch and carry back to their nest.  It is a bit unusual that she is pouching sawdust though - what other bedding does she have?  Have you given her any of the shredded paper to make her nest or does she just have sawdust?  If she only has sawdust I would advise giving her soft paper bedding to sleep in as well and this might stop her from pouching the sawdust.  Is the sawdust fine or bigger wood chippings?  It is important that this does not come from Cedar, Pine or Cypress as these contain the volatile oil, thujone which can cause skin irritation and respiratory problems.  Any sawdust/wood chippings must therefore be packaged and labelled that it is safe for small animals, especially if she is putting it in her cheeks.

Hamsters are generally clean and tidy animals and like to have some sort of order in their homes and therefore she will/has probably allocated a corner as her toilet, an area for food and one for her nest.  One of my hamsters used to pouch all his bedding.  He seemed to go into a panic when I cleaned him out and he would pack as much bedding as possible into his mouth and run around for ages before he finally built his nest.  Others have piled up all the woodchippings in one corner and made their nest in the middle of it.

Apart from this - how is she in herself?  Is she eating/drinking/playing as normal?

I don't think you should worry about her - she is new and is trying to make the cage her own and may well have a few 'funny' ways of doing things at the moment.  

Hope this helps.

Regards