Aside from a different cage, you're also gonna need an upright wheel :)
Saucers are ok, but the size you need for a Syrian would take up a TON of space. I very much recommend the Niteangel Silent Runner. I have the solid clear one and if you're in the room and silent, you can only hear the little pitter patter of paws. I have his enclosure in my office and he could run all day and I wouldn't notice
I cannot recommend this one enough! The only thing I can hear, if I focus really hard, is a pitter-patter of tiny paws
Yeah the wheels that come with the cages are a joke. I very highly recommend the Niteangel clear acrylic wheel. It's absolutely silent (all I can hear are little tippy taps of his paws hitting the wheel if I'm quiet enough). I also recommend Pangea Reptile for cork logs and driftwood.
You also need a big sand bath. A good sand bath can be a large baking pan or bowl filled with reptile sand with no additives. I got a drawer organizer kind of like this and it's great
so the size of the cage might be cause for his excessive chewing, too-small enclosures stress hamsters out and one of their coping mechanisms is chewing/bar biting. Syrians need a minimum of 600 square inches of unbroken floor space, meaning platforms and levels (which hamsters shouldn't have anyway since they're not great climbers and falls can seriously injure themselves) don't count toward floorspace. The cheapest way to get a cage with enough floor space is to get one of these and follow this tutorial on how to modify it into a suitable enclosure.
Another cause of stress might be his lack of bedding and ability to burrow. Hamsters need at least 6 inches of bedding to allow them to dig their own burrows. While the hamsters we have aren't wild, they still enjoy being able to dig and form their own tunnel systems.
Have you seen him using his wheel? It sounds a little small, especially for a full-grown Syrian. Syrians (and all hamsters) benefit greatly from a 10-12" wheel. A lot of users here recommend this one in the large size. It's super quiet and easy to clean, plus it comes in a lot of fun colours! If you're in the UK you might have to find another 12" wheel because I don't think Niteangel is available in the UK :(
I'd definitely recommend checking out this care guide, as it covers what I have and more, and has a lot of great information on how to better the lives of your hamsters :)
Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
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Niteangel Silent Hamster Exercise Wheel - Dual-Be… | - | - | 4.8/5.0 |
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Yes any niteangel wheel large size is great! I like
this one since it's 0.8 inches bigger than all the other large size wheels, so it's good for our chonky girls!
Yup! It's this one! It's the best wheel I've ever purchased, by far