To let my hamster be a house hamster?

[DifficultSituation19]

I rescued a hamster about 4 months ago who had had a pretty shit life up until then (she was about 8 months old when I got her).

She had never really been handled, but is now super tame and friendly. Her (very large) cage is on the floor of the living room, and since she’s become tamer I’ve been just opening the door of the cage and letting her free roam around the living room every evening, usually for 3-4 hours, sometimes longer. When she’s tired she gets back in her cage and puts herself back to bed.

Last night I was —three sheets to the wind— tired, and fell asleep while she was having her run around. This morning, when I went downstairs, she wasn’t in her house. No sign of her all day, but this evening she woke up and has been running around as normal, popping back into her cage every now and again for food and drinks or a quick run on her wheel.

I closed her cage door at about 10.30, and her little face broke my heart! She just sat at the door of her cage looking very sad indeed. She’s now out running around again. So I’m thinking, people have house rabbits, how about a house hamster? I’d keep her confined to the living room and she’d have the option of being in her cage if she wanted to be there (and I’d obviously put all her food in there).

Is this a bonkers idea? She has a sand bath, soil, deep substrate, and more toys and treats than you can shake a stick at in her cage, but she’d far rather not be in there. We don’t have any other pets that could munch her, and the dc are well trained at keeping the doors closed.

I am chuckling at her DM sad face from her cage! So cute!

No advice to add though, sorry!

@semperldem

#FreePeanut

That is one very cute hamster.

I created a fantastic cage for my DCs' hamster. We had a Savic Hamster Heaven cage. I stood the cage on a small table then bought extra tubing and a big, deep, clear plastic storage box which I filled to 2/3 deep with sawdust and put under the table. I built a tube from the cage, down into the box, stopping just above the level of the sawdust so the hamster had a huge playground to burrow in. She loved it!

I love her 😍 I think YWBU to let her free roam ALL the time, but nowt wrong with an extended evening out of her cage 8-11 ish while you’re still awake and keeping an eye! I have a ham that looks very similar and when I move to a more modern flat with no gaps in the skirting boards I will be letting him out and about more often!

@Fozzleyplum it’s the hamster heaven she’s in, I like your idea! I have been thinking of ways to be able to extend her cage. She’s quite big, as hamsters go, and I don’t think the HH is big enough for her.

Really the only thing that makes me say ywbu is that she might chew a hole in the sofa or other soft furnishings. The fibres would be very bad for her insides, and she could end up climbing in and getting ‘lost’/ unretrievable inside the sofa. Worst case scenario you could sit down and squish her.
Or she might climb the curtains and end up falling from a height.
Hamsters have a knack of getting where they shouldn’t be. I had one fall into the toilet once. He was promptly rescued and lived to tell the tale but I have no idea how he a) escaped b) managed to get up onto a bathroom surface c)
Jumped across to the toilet (literally the only way he could have got there) ... but somehow he managed this all. Little houdinis they are.

My little guy says hi! 👋

When I was a child we got a new hamster. I made the mistake of letting it free to run round the bathroom. Turned my back (I was in the room!) and it was gone! We think it must have somehow squeezed under the bath panel then made a run for it. I slept all night on the floor with a plate of bourbons for it. Never came back

You can buy the extra tubing- straight sections and bends- from Amazon or ebay. Iirc, I also got a cap for one of the tube ports on top of the cage, then used the 2nd port to attach the tube that went down into the sawdust box.

She’s absolutely adorable and I too would have a hard time refusing her sad face.😂

Many years ago I and some friends were renting a flat and little boy came to the door, imploring us to take his hamster as his mum wouldn't let him keep it. We took it but a few hours later it escaped from us and we never saw it again. A couple of days he came back asking if it had had its babies yet.

I have a rescue turtle, so I feel your pain. I have spent way too much time worrying about the happiness and emotional wellbeing of the turtle.

The thing is, you have no way of knowing if your pet actually hates you and is completely miserable, so you just have to research its needs, do your best and hope its ok.

My sister (as a child) decided to confine the hamster to the bathroom whilst she cleaned its cage. She locked it in the bathroom thinking it would still be there when she opened the door. It wasn't.

Rodents can get everywhere. Not to mention the droppings.

She is a very cute hamster!

Could you extend upwards, rather than outwards, to give her more cage room?

Our hamster burrowed into the insulation at the back of our oven. I’m glad I spent the night on the kitchen floor, listening for signs of her, or I may have inadvertently cooked her.

Peanut looks very focussed to me. On escape. Don't be fooled.

It's almost like a Daily Fail 'sad face/compo' picture 🤣🤣

OP liable to get her own DM sad face photo...under a punning headline about how her £x thousand pound house burned to the ground due to chewed wires or had to be demolished to rescue a lost hamster.

That is the cutest hamster I've even seen OP. And...given that you are sitting up ay night worrying about her mental health and wellbeing...you are about the sweetest hamster owner too.

Aww she's a sweetie!

As a long time rodent lover/breeder, I'd say you're fine to give her lots of free range time, but only when you're there. The main danger I've had with all mine has been chewing on electrical cables, so if you're able to unplug some stuff then that's good too.

One of my ratties managed to chew directly through the wifi router cable, sending the whole house wifi down. How she didn't electrocute herself I'll never know, especialy since when I picked up the cable to say "Hmm whats this" I shocked myself!

She needs to live in her cage but supervised play time is fine. I had chinchillas and they had morning and evening run time. I even taught them to,' go to bed' when there run was over.

It does sound unworkable, OP. But I completely understand the emotional pull of a small, furry face.

I speak as a woman who 10 years ago slept on the couch so my budgie could have the double bed when it had a cold.

I just wanted to say you sound lovely to the hamster. I’m not sure it would be very safe unless you bought a big solid enclosure type thing and let it run round there. I’m thinking not only of it chewing wires but also it being accidentally stood on. I had a hamster that could scale the back of a wardrobe and climb on top.

I had hamsters in my early teens (one at a time). They were let out for supervised run arounds. One went inside my record player (old 60's type) and another time one went inside the sofa. They both came out safely. If they bit into an electric cable they could be electrocuted. DH found a mouse which had done this when he opened up at work one morning. Peanut is adorable.

She's lovely ❤ My neighbour has a houdini hamster - last caught using a humane trap in the garden shed!! I wouldn't risk it with mine..

I just need to say your a lovely owner by the sounds of it, I'd be worried about the chewing and little wees and poos but my gosh what a absolutely gorgeous little hamster really really cute 😁🐹😘

I adored my hamster, predictably called hammy but I wouldnt let her run free unless I was there to supervise.
They chew things and burrow and she could get ill eating something she shouldn't or harmed by getting stuck somewhere.
By all means let her do what she wants when you are there but I'd make sure she is back in her cage at all other times.
It sounds like she has a lovely home.

Our hamster escaped for a week and we heard it under the floor. We had to pull them up but found him all covered with dust.