# Worried about my Russian Dwarf Hamster



## Aaronwatson04 (Mar 31, 2020)

I have 2 Russian Dwarf hamsters who used to live together in the same cage but after some fighting, they had to get split up. I have recently found that Arlo has been very inactive. I haven’t seen him on his wheel for at least a month. Obviously as they’re nocturnal, I may just be missing it. Pringle has been on his wheel as normal but recently he has constantly been trying to climb out of the cage. He has been going to the top part of his wheel (flying saucer wheel) and jumping off towards the side of the cage, of course, landing head first in his bedding. I have read that hamsters may want to escape their cage if they are bored, the cage is too small or the cage is too dirty. From the very start, I have ensured that I spot clean every 2-3 days and I never fully empty their cage ever. They’re cage is a bin cage and it adds up to 450 Square Inches of floor space, which I believe is the minimum for a Syrian Hamster. I also give him plenty of boredom breakers and chew toys. Both my hamsters have also been very fussy with food recently. I have turned to only feeding them vegetables instead of their regular Hamster Muesli. Is this a safe hamster diet? If anyone knows why any of these things are happening, let me know! I got them in July at 10 weeks old, meaning they’re about 8 months old....


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## Engel98 (Oct 7, 2018)

Can I see their setups so I can give you ideas on enrichment.

450sq" is the bare minimum agreed upon in the US. In the UK it's generally agreed that 80cm X 50 cm is the bare minimum. Bigger is always better have you tried upgrading to a larger cage/tank?

I will add that flying saucer wheels aren't that great as their body shape mimics the outer curve of the disc. A conventional upright wheel properly sized provides a more natural running position. Speaking of wheels, what size are their wheels, he may not be using it because it's too small and gives him pain or of the unnatural running position.

Don't feed just veggies, you'll end up with many deficiencies and poorly tummies as they have lots of B vitamins which are water soluble. Pellets or muesli are balanced, hard to wear teeth down and muesli should have a large variety. In the wild, hamsters eat a wide range of seeds, nuts, grains and grasses as well as fruits and vegetables. Bugs are on the menu too. You may want to mimic that. No food has all these things in it and many recommend getzoo or rodipet. Essentially you want a good muesli mix which many different ingredients, peas and pea flakes count as 1 ingredient as they're the same thing, peas. But alfalfa pellets, pea flakes and pumpkin seed are 3 different things so they're 3 ingredients.

For food I use Harry hamster muesli mix, science selective pellets (or [email protected] own brand) with mealworms, dehydrated parsnip and beetroot as well as a herb mix. Plenty of variety. Now if like me you have a ham that's a fussy so and so, pellets may be the way to go. Athena only has pellets, nothing else. Once or twice a week she'll have herbs and veggies but she has to be seen eating her pellets or she'll try and live off just veggies and fatty seeds/nuts :/


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## Engel98 (Oct 7, 2018)

Just for you to compare.

Here's my one Syrians layout which is 600+sq inches of unbroken floor space.







Here's my roborovskis layout which is 750sq inches of floor space.








These aren't my most impressive layouts I'll insert the link to those here:
https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/lets-see-your-hamster-cages.522109/


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