i know this might be a very common question, but it seems very excessive to me so am a little worried. this is my first hamster, and my first pet, so i understand i might be overthinking.

context:
- long haired syrian hamster
- petco employee (no breeders near me unfortunately) said he's a male and 2-4 month old
- today is day 4 since i brought him home
- enclosure is, i think, big enough: bucatstate 2.0 (40x20x20in)
- 8-9in bedding (8in around the house and 9in rest of the area) sloping down to 3-4in (wheel is on the floor and the bedding slopes down again)

whenever i see him, if he's not chewing on something or eating, he's trying to escape - sniffing and chewing on the ventilation gaps, climbing on the house and wheel to sniff/chew/hang from the ventilation gap at the top. he also just stands and looks up for some time then starts running (pacing?) around the enclosure trying to reach the top/side ventilation gaps; and while pacing he'll stop and lean against the front panel/door sometimes.

he did start digging tunnels to/from the hide at the bottom and a couple other tunnels, but i'm scared he's too stressed. the wheel isn't functional right now and acts as a hide because amazon didn't ship a part and it doesn't spin smoothly. i have the replacement coming in a few days so i'm hoping that will help with the activeness and boredom if that's the cause.

he doesn't do this ALL THE TIME, but it's enough times that it's starting to worry me. i also read that this is a normal behavior in females during heat (trying to escape to find a mate?), but i was assured this is a male, so unless the petco employee was wrong, that's probably not the reason.

I just got news that there is a freeze watch from now until Saturday morning, and I live in a state that gets SUPER cold during the winter time, so I want to know some ways to keep my hammy warm

Hey so I have 2 hamsters and their sand bath is smelly it's not like it's not cleaned I did clean it removed poop and all that but it's still smelly and I'm a first time owner so I don't know how to properly clean it . So if anyone can suggest me something it would be a great help !

I brought her home yesterday afternoon and since then she’s been undisturbed. About an hour ago the fire alarm in the room went off; I was worried it was real so put her with her bedding into her carry-on, with a jumper over the top to keep it dark, and took her downstairs and across the street to wait it out. As soon as it was finished I brought her back in and she’s been in her cage since. She spent the first few minutes scrambling around in her box and then went to sleep, and I had to wake her up to put her back in her cage. She went back to sleep in her little hut almost immediately.

I couldn’t carry the cage since it’s a metre long and I was by myself. I kept it as quiet as I could and she slept through most of it.

I’m really worried about messing up the first 48 hours that are meant to spent alone decompressing. Should I wait for an additional day to let her get back to normal?

Ham picture for tax. Her name is Shirley.

I have a 75 gallon for my Syrian and I make sure to do some cleaning/refreshing throughout the week. When I had him in a 40 I would do a complete change every other weekend. But tossing away all the bedding in the 75 is painful 😂💸

Basically how often do you guys do a full overhaul for bedding, and does anyone have suggestions on how to make what isn't trashed more reusable or something?

Is the Bucastate 2.0 worth it for $115?

If anyone has experience with it, Id appreciate all the details, because Im having a tought time deciding whether or not to get it as I've heard there's issues with the bottom giving out. I could probably reinforce the bottom with a wood panel or aquarium glue, but if there's issues with the other panels popping out, I'm afraid of her escaping and geting lost.

Having financial hardships so im not able to afford the 3.0 rn, so thts why i want to know if the 2.0 is suitable.

lately i've noticed my hamster Sprinkle hasn't been peeing in her usual spot and I can't locate the new one. I'm a first time hamster owner but i've also noticed her burrowing more and i'm scared that she's been peeing in her burrows but i've also noticed that she likes to pee and her sand bath and wheel also. I don't know what I should do as i'm so used to her peeing in the same spot.

So my new (had her for 1mth) 7mth old lady has been trying to escape her cage these past 2 days by climbing up her 32cm wheel. I tried to cushion her falls with more bedding but tonight she seems a lot more frantic about it. I let her roam my room for awhile but she seems more stressed outside of her enclosure. But when i bring her back in, her behaviour worsens.

Im quite upset about it and i dont know how to make her feel better. She doesnt like to dig despite having 2 pre made tunnels. I have sprays all around that she doesnt forage, i have 2 box of substrate that she doesnt dig.

This past month she has been up from 2-5am running her wheel and foraging my scattered feeds with no signs of stress (just fear of me). Im being conservative about making changes to her set up as i didnt want to stress her out and hate me more since she is still new to me.

It is now 4am and after that 30mins of manic climbing and digging the new bedding i gave to cushion her fall, shes just staring and not reacting, even to treats.

Am i doing something wrong? How can i make her feel better?

I can't believe he's two but I think he looks pretty good for his age🥹

I need some reassurance. Currently defrosting sprays for my little guy I kept them in the ziplock (as recommend by a few people) bags they were in the freezer with and have been just sat on the table for about 48 hours. How do I make sure they’re fully defrosted and won’t get moldy (I’m still learning about everything and this has me worried as I don’t wanna get him ill) one of the bags had a slight rip in it but Google said that’s fine as long as freezer burn didn’t get on the sprays which doesn’t look like it’s the case. Also when I froze them and from them being squashed in the freezer a lot fell off I assume that’s just a thing that happens lol. I’m just so worried about mold from them being damp or not thawed properly. Would they be okay now to put in his cage? I’m just an extremely paranoid owner but if you guys say it’s okay to put them in his cage now i absolutely will!!

They are the baby white bowls from the store and they perfectly hold her water and food without her feeling scared of falling in the water

She is a syrian that I adopted from the rescue that I frequently foster for, and my previous syrian was happy with this type of setup, but he was a boy and overall less antsy than she is. Charisima seems very bored and I am looking for more to add to her current housing situation

The tank is now almost completely full of bedding, there are 2 multichambered hides in the bedding. The top is arranged slightly differently, with the sand bath in the front of the house and the food/water bowls in the back. There is also no longer the honey pot hide, as I replaced it with a homemade cardboard bookcase and couch.

She has been chewing on the inside of the tank under the wood that is supporting the top portion of the house, so I think she is pretty bored. She has chew toys n such in the tank with her, and sprays arranged (somewhat sparsely) throughout.

Photos of Charisima for tax!

I noticed that he was making these noises while cuddled up sleeping. Is this normal or should I be worried?

I currently give him Mazuri-Rat and Mouse blocks but I’m unsure what seed mix I should pair with it. There’s allot of different info online and I’m just wondering what your options are. Thanks💕

Hi everyone!

I’m moving soon, and besides being undecided about the layout of my future bedroom, I don’t really know where to put my hamster’s cage.
Right now, he’s in the living room, but after the move, the cage will have to go to my bedroom.

Where do you guys have yours?

So on the left (1st photo) is the cage my Hammy Tumbles has, she was a birthday gift from my mom and that was the cage I was given. Tumbles bites the bars of her cage despite having chew toys, food, water, and new bedding. I’ve only had her for a couple months but I’ve only recently learnt (about 10 min ago) that the cage was too small.. she’s a Syrian hamster I believe. What enclosures are better for my hamster? I don’t have much money, neither do my parents nor space in my room but I ultimately feel bad for Tumbles. Does anyone have enclosure recommendations for Tumbles and I?

Just got my hamster about a week ago and I think I hear him sneezing often. I think it could be because of the bedding or sand but I'm not sure. I don't know what kind of sand I bought, but I added a picture of it. I also don't know what wood types my bedding is made of (only realise this now). I don't know what to do or how to find good bedding.

She is in a 200cm x 60cm DIY cage with 40cm of compressed bedding. Every few days, I hear grinding / chewing from her cage usually in early morning and late at night and it lasts maybe for a day. When she comes out of her burrows at night, she acts normal, cleans herself, looks for food, runs in her wheel and has never scaled the walls or anything. She has wooden chew toys, apple sticks etc., but doesn't really seem interested in them. She has chewed on the supports of a platform quite bit as well which I'm fine with.

Any ideas on what I should do? She doesn't get very far with her chewing, but the sound and knowledge that she does it stresses me out. I've covered the spots she has chewed with cardboard when cleaning, but I'm not sure if they've done anything. Should I just add more stuff for her to do? If so, what? Should I add her seed mix to the apple sticks to get her interested? Any ideas are welcome.