Stew has been doing really well, and the 27th will be one month since getting him. Today I will be talking about all the things I’ve learned about Stuart in that time.

Stew’s Sleep Schedule

After the first few days of taming Stew began to develop a different sleep schedule.

Sometimes I won’t see Stuart for a day or two, but I’ll see his things moved or messed up and know he’s okay. He seems to like seeing people, just not all the time. When he hears me in his cage he’ll come out and hop on my hands, usually when I offer a snack.

Usually Stew is awake around 10pm or 7:30am if he wants social interaction. Sometimes he’ll wait until I leave and the lights are out before he emerges, which I take as a sign he doesn’t want to see me. It’s a system that both of us are content with: appear and be played with.

Burrowing

Stew has been creating many burrows in his 7 inches of soil substrate. I’ll be posting pictures of those burrows when I clean his nest. I do have to clean his nest to prevent his urine and hoarded food from molding or something gross.

Burrowing is one of his favorite activities, and I’ve been seeing tons of moved substrate and little entryways and filled in holes. Stuart seems to be a happy burrowing boi.

Stew’s Taming

Stuart is still making slow taming progress. I can pet him when he’s distracted with food, but he’ll jerk away if I touch his back without that distraction.

He actually comes onto my hand willingly, especially when there’s food. I’m slowly working him off having food every time, and that’s going really well.

Stuart’s Wheel

Stew is currently using a purple 7 inch flying saucer wheel. For the first two weeks this wheel was completely silent. Completely silent. I can’t say that now.

The flying saucer wheel clatters, and there’s no way to fix it, which sucks.

I’ve tried all my old tricks from my last clattery wheel, but to no avail. And it’s not squeaky, so oiling it would be pointless.

However, Stew is going to grow a little more, and will probably need a slightly larger wheel in the future, so after much research, I painfully spent a nice chunk of money to purchase and ship a new, slightly larger wheel to me. It is due here on July 7th, and I will be doing a reveal and review post about that exciting new mystery wheel as soon as possible.

Conclusion

I’m really excited for his mysterious wheel (mysterious for you, anyway. I obviously know what it is, lol) to arrive, and can’t wait to show it to you.

Despite the fact I’m being aroused in the night by Stew’s current wheel, I don’t mind Stew. He’s extremely quiet, and seems quite content to have minimal social interaction and just explore his cage.

If you’re interested in more hamster-related content be sure to like this post and follow the blog, and I’ll be back on Tuesday with more small pet care, DIYs, recipes, cage setups, stories and more, have a ham-tastic day!