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Originally Posted by Serendipity7000
It really is a bit of time and patience :-). It takes a good 2 weeks for them to be fully settled in a cagey. During that time he may want to come out or interact but will feel a bit territorial about his cage too and they don’t really like a hand in the cage. Best thing for bus is keep talking to him, offer him treats through the bars and then maybe in a couple of weeks, if he hasn’t shown signs of wanting to come out, tempt him out in a tube. Easiest way is use the top door - maybe while he’s in his house early evening, lower the tube in so one end is over his house door and the other end has a smelly treat in (eg cucumber or cheese). He should walk into the tube to get the treat. Put your hands over both ends of the tube and lift it out. You need something next to the cage to put it down in - eg a large box. So he can walk out of the tube again. I used to use a hamster ball - put one end of the tube in the hamster ball and keep your hand over the other end (to make sure he goes the right way!). He should walk into the ball then pop the lid on and you can then carry him in the ball to a safe area to let him out for some taming and interaction. The dry bathtub is a good place - put the odd toy and hide in there first. He’ll probably just slither up and down the side of the bath trying to get out but you can give him the occasional stroke and he’ll gradually get used to touch and trust you. It depends on the hamster how quick this stage is but you should be able to pick him up easily fairly soon - bearing in mind that until fully hand tame they can still “ping “ (wriggle free and leap 2 feet in the air) so always handle him low over something soft.
Some people set up a playpen area and put his in and/or sit in it as well and they climb on you and get used to you.
A bit of patience now means you have a very tame hamster long term. Maybe 2 or 3 times a week and in between leave him to do his own thing. Some hamsters never do like being held for long and like to be off, but may sit for a stroke for a couple of minutes and at least don’t run away and can be picked up if necessary.
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Yeah I'm not trying to pick him up or anything like that for now, I'm just feeding him treats through the bars (he comes up to me looking for treats now :))) and sometimes I'll put a treat on my hand to see if he'll walk onto my hand, but no luck with this so far. Tonight I'm going to try the tube thing and put him in the bath and try the treat on the palm and see if he'll take it. Hopefully he will, and I'll keep yall updated :)