Pacing/jumping in large cage

[AngelTheHam]

Angel has been pacing and jumping a lot lately. Any ideas?
She has over 1000 sq in, a wheel, sand bath, water bottle and bowl, 4 different substrates (besides bedding), 6-8 inches of bedding, 4 hides (2 open bottoms), many toys and foraging puzzles, and a burrow starter. There are also many woods in there. I scatter feed her too. It won’t let me send a picture. Let me know if there are any questions! (I’m so sorry for posting so much!!)

Any ideas? Thank you all!

[ForgetfulBreeze]

Hmm.

You said she was a female Syrian?

Female Syrians are notorious for NEVER being able to settle with space! No matter what you do, for some Female Syrians (expecially when in heat) will always jump/paw/chew.

My girl Bianca had literally 1800 sq inches, 10+ inches of bedding, and literally everything you could ask for as a hamster, and she chewed every single night on her cage. No stopping her.

If you would like, you can post a picture and I could give suggestions, but from what you gave me, you seem pretty good off! Some girls never settle, but we can still try to make her more content. What cage specifically is it? Have you tried boredom breakers, like willow balls and cardboard DIYs?

To post a picture:
Go to imgbb.com
Click upload & upload the picture
Copy the link, you can either do "viewer links" or "BB code full linked"
Post the link here.

Hope this helps.

[AngelTheHam]

Thank you for the advice! I'm currently on my pc where I don't have the photos, but I can tell you the cage! It is the Niteangel Oblique Cage (Large I think). It's the one that is about $300 on amazon. I do give her boredom breakers, and there are many different items for her to chew on! She tends to love the things shes NOT supposed to chew the most. I'll try to make some more boredom breakers as well. I have a design that she tend to absolutely love, so I'll make that!

[ForgetfulBreeze]

Thank you for the advice! I'm currently on my pc where I don't have the photos, but I can tell you the cage! It is the Niteangel Oblique Cage (Large I think). It's the one that is about $300 on amazon. I do give her boredom breakers, and there are many different items for her to chew on! She tends to love the things shes NOT supposed to chew the most. I'll try to make some more boredom breakers as well. I have a design that she tend to absolutely love, so I'll make that!

Thats a good cage. I'll give you some extra suggestions to keep her busy.

-If you can free roam, or have a playpen, that would be great to get her energy out.
-Corrugated cardboard! You get those really thick pieces of cardboard sometimes, and you can peel off the top layer, then put treats inside. She will destroy it!
- Hanging DIY boredom breakers are also great. And boredom breakers designed for birds! Look for that. They have an excellent selection online and in stores like PetSmart.
-Have you tried growing cat grass, a herb or other safe plant in ecoearth/coco fibre? She will love to dig it up!
-My biggest reccomendation is to find DIY boredom breakers that she must chew to get the treat out!

If I think of more, I'll let you know.

[AngelTheHam]

I always have lotus pods in her cage and I sprinkle food in there. There is also a wooden block with holes in it (with mushrooms that fit in the holes) that is a puzzle for her. I have been working on finding a good playpen to get her out of her cage!

[Kikya]

Angel has been pacing and jumping a lot lately. Any ideas?
She has over 1000 sq in, a wheel, sand bath, water bottle and bowl, 4 different substrates (besides bedding), 6-8 inches of bedding, 4 hides (2 open bottoms), many toys and foraging puzzles, and a burrow starter. There are also many woods in there. I scatter feed her too. It won’t let me send a picture. Let me know if there are any questions! (I’m so sorry for posting so much!!)

Any ideas? Thank you all!

For female Syrians, daily play time is a must. They are basically never happy unless they get out and roam. It's their natural instinct to find a mate and to store up as much food as possible.

When you have a food that you are comfortable with, I always use play time as "foraging time". I rarely feed in the cage because I feel like it engages them more to "find food" outside their home and they take it back. I use shelled nuts as boredom breakers too, like a partially cracked walnut or peanuts in the shell, make'em work for it!

I also more frequently rearrange their cage layout for female syrians (until they start getting much older).

Also when you have a play pen, I put in some bedding, plenty of hides, one of those plastic tunnels from amazon, different substrates that I don't normally keep in their regular cage, plus a sand bath in case they need to pee. I put in a wheel too.

[AngelTheHam]

That is such a good idea! Now that I have a playpen, I've been letting her out everyday (only had it for 2 days though haha). I am excited to add a few of those items. I have shelled peanuts and I have been sprinkling food in there as well. I will try to add some more fun stuff in there for her! Thank you so much!!