Is this normal?

[Katsock]

Hi all,

I'm a little worried about our new hamster. I've never had a pet before, despite my 'advancing' (ahem) age and our hamster seems to be acting a little contradictory.

We brought him home on Monday evening and all seemed fine - we'd bought the cage, bedding, toys, food, etc etc already and just had to introduce him to his new home. He seemed quite excited and happy, set up a little nest and started exploring tubes and wheels. We left him to it when we went to bed and thought nothing of it.

Next day, I was working from home, so I went to see how he was doing, even though I knew he'd probably be asleep. Anyway, he was wandering around, though a little dopey, so probs just surfaced for water/food before heading back to bed. I must have startled him because he squawked at me, but seemed to settle down again fairly swiftly - I had heard that squawking was a sign of fear/distress so was a little perturbed.

That night, he seemed to wake later, but once he did wake fully, he appeared quite happy, all through his tubes, running for England on the wheel, etc etc. We introduced a finger into the cage to see if he'd come to us and he quite happily came and had a sniff and then wandered off again.

Last night, he woke even later, but again seemed quite happy once he was awake, didn't seem to be doing anything else untoward, no more squawking apart from that once incident, and happy to come and check us out or completely ignore us if we open up the cage and offer a finger.

What I wanted to ask is: is this normal? Or should he be waking at a more or less consistent time each evening? Did I completely freak him out by peering into his cage when he'd just woken during the day?

Thanks everyone!

Kat.x

[kyrilliondaemon]

He's probably just settling into a routine. Most of ours have a vague routine but it can vary a lot.

Scamp's routine - Stay in bed until we're asleep. If we're up late, she gets up and tells us off at 4-5am until we go to sleep (if she can be bothered). Get up for drinks as she likes. Get up to ask for playtime at whatever random time she deems playtime if she wants it.
Skip - Used to get up randomly to check his bowl or have a quick play, but was up more in the late evening/night
Whizz - Usually gets up around 11pm
Dusty - Gets up randomly through the day and night
Scruff - Gets up in the day sometimes but usually gets up for food and is up for the night once we sleep
Timmy and Bump - Get up in the day sometimes, then get up in the evening to run in wheels and ask for treats
Muffin - Gets up when we do if he hears us, then goes to bed and stays asleep until shortly before our bedtime (if he can hear us to work it out). Once his nest gets too deeply buried to hear us we see him as and when he feels like it.
Fwirl - Gets up late evening most nights, like if I've got a late finish at work she often gets up to see me arrive home

[souffle]

Young hamsters don't have as much of a routine as settled hamsters. He may take a few weeks to settle down a bit. Hams do get up a bit during the day so don't worry about that. Start your taming in ernest soon as he has had enough time now to get used to things. If you look on the WIKI (far left of the forum under navigation ) there are some articles on taming.
I hope he settles soon and looking foward to meeting him

[Pouches]

The only typical routine my hammies had was they did what they please when they pleased. lol. In all seriousness, the biggest routines they had was they were more active around dusk and dawn. Milo would come out to greet us if he heard our voices during they day, while Kit-Kat wouldn't be seen until after the sun had gone down, unless I stirred the bedding in her cage. Simon was active all the time, he would nap, never sleeping for more than a few hours at a time. Most of our hamsters knew their names and if we came into the bedroom and called them they would eagerly come to the cage door, it didn't matter what time it was. I would observe your hammie and make notes of when certain activities take place, and you should probably start to see the routine starting to get fine tuned. As for hand taming, your biggest asset is patience. Every move you make towards your hammie must be slow and smooth, even after you get them to the point where they freely come to your hand when it's in the cage. A sudden movement or jerk may wind up getting you bit, and while I love my hammies the little beggers can bite the heck out of you, and they always seem to have a knack for biting you on the place that is likely to take the longest to stop bleeding (ie. the knockles, and joints of your fingers)
Trust me, I know from experience.

[Katsock]

Thanks everyone for your replies, it's really set my mind at rest!

We started the dreaded 'bar gnawing' last night too, so one more thing for me to stress over! Seriously I'm not in the least neurotic normally but if I'm like this over a hamster, thank goodness I never had kids!

Having said that, the bar gnawing only lasted 10 mins or so and then he just went for a mad run and back to sleep again, so hoping it was just an urgent need to grind his teeth down (even though he has perfectly good gnawing/playing items!)

After all that, he did get up at about 8pm last night, so it bears out completely what you've all said. I did have a quick flick through the taming advice - lots of really good ideas there, I really like the tissue idea! He's not in the least bit spooked by me or my husband introducing fingers / hands / treats (!) into his cage - runs towards rather than away - so we're off tonight to get a playbox and one or two extra toys. I was so disappointed originally that his see-saw wouldn't fit in the cage!!!!

Thanks again all, pics and intros after this evening, when I can get a camera in front of him without pale yellow perspex in the way (thank goodness I remembered to turn off the flash for that one!)