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jsp · 09-20-2020, 10:21 PM

Thanks Maker, that's really helpful. I'll try to set him up a nice house as you say, and also see if I can get his pipe into the arrangement somehow. I will keep him in his cage from now on and see if he just gets used to always being in the cage. Thanks also for the thoughts about the wheel.

Ria, thanks that's good to know too. I realised from thinking aloud to you yesterday that he really has very little working memory. It's one of the things that is most strikingly different between him and my previous hamster. He really never seems to remember anything, even over really long periods of frequent repetition. I think that if he can't learn to recognise nice things like toys until he's been seeing them regularly for 4 months, then it's probably not surprising that he's struggling to recognise my fingers as a safe thing. That might be part of the problem with taming.

I also had a pet with mental health difficulties once. He was a cat who attacked my Dad constantly and at every opportunity. The cat died under general anaesthetic when he was being neutered, and when the vet did an autopsy he found that one entire section of the cat's brain had failed to develop and was just not there at all. So maybe that is just a think that can happen sometimes.

The upside, I realised, is that if Roc is delighted over and over again by new toys that he doesn't remember seeing 400 times before, then keeping him happy should be quite easy. I just need to find a toy he likes and let him enjoy the novelty over and over again safely in his cage. Maybe?

09-20-2020, 10:21 PM
jsp Hamster Pup Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 108	Re: Biting Thanks Maker, that's really helpful. I'll try to set him up a nice house as you say, and also see if I can get his pipe into the arrangement somehow. I will keep him in his cage from now on and see if he just gets used to always being in the cage. Thanks also for the thoughts about the wheel. Ria, thanks that's good to know too. I realised from thinking aloud to you yesterday that he really has very little working memory. It's one of the things that is most strikingly different between him and my previous hamster. He really never seems to remember anything, even over really long periods of frequent repetition. I think that if he can't learn to recognise nice things like toys until he's been seeing them regularly for 4 months, then it's probably not surprising that he's struggling to recognise my fingers as a safe thing. That might be part of the problem with taming. I also had a pet with mental health difficulties once. He was a cat who attacked my Dad constantly and at every opportunity. The cat died under general anaesthetic when he was being neutered, and when the vet did an autopsy he found that one entire section of the cat's brain had failed to develop and was just not there at all. So maybe that is just a think that can happen sometimes. The upside, I realised, is that if Roc is delighted over and over again by new toys that he doesn't remember seeing 400 times before, then keeping him happy should be quite easy. I just need to find a toy he likes and let him enjoy the novelty over and over again safely in his cage. Maybe?