Shy hamster?

[ununpentium]

I got a male Syrian on Sunday, was told he was between 6-8 weeks old, no older than 10 weeks. He is still quite small so I would say he's still young.

We left him 24 hours to settle into his cage and on Monday evening we changed his food, water and toilet area and started to feed him some food from our hands. He did take the food from our hands, but after a short while he seemed to jump when we moved our hands so we left him alone and he ran straight back to bed. When he did come out a few hours later he played a little while but then every time one of us walked by the cage or sat to watch him he'd freeze and not move until we went away.

On Tuesday we tried getting him out for the first time to start taming him. We scooped him up gently in a margarine tub and put him on my lap. He seemed okay and quite inquisitive, but when we put him back in his cage he ran back to bed and didn't come back out until 10.30pm when we'd gone to bed.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we got him out again (have to wake him to do this) and this time handled him gently. He did give me a small nip so I said 'no' and put him down on the floor. He ran around the hall SO FAST his legs were a blur. But he did make his little squeaky noises so I wasn't sure if he was happy or not, but every now and again he did stop and have a little wash and I know they only do that when they feel safe. He was out about 20 minutes but I was worried he wasn't happy as he was scrabbling in the corners of the hall a lot. When we put him back in his cage he went into the corner and 'froze' again, and eventually fell asleep.

I know it's early days but I'm wondering if we've picked a shy hamster? If we left him to his own devices he'd not wake up until about 10pm when we've gone to bed ourselves.

I can hear him nibbling now and he did come out earlier briefly for a drink.

As he gets older will he get used to us watching him and not freeze when he sees us?

I've had 2 hamsters before but that was about 13 years ago now!

[DrKMcK]

Hello ununpentium. LOL. You little ham is perfectly normal. He's still a baby yet. The world is a scary place for a creature that little. Freezing when feeling alarmed or unsure is very typical for hammies. Even my older hams do it if they hear something they're not sure of. The running fast like that is pure hamster. In the wild these little guys run about 5 miles a night foraging for food. That's why a wheel or a saucer is so important for a hammy to have. They really need the exercise. As for the digging in the corners, that too is normal behavior for hamsters. No matter how big a cage, or how large a room, hamsters will try to find a way out. They are major Houdinis and curious about everything. Also, some hamsters are more vocal than others. I adore talky hams. The time, 10:00 p.m., is normal for hamsters. They are commonly up in the early evenings and night time. But they do okay if you wake them up to play. They'll go right back to sleep when playtime is over. But...make sure he's fully awake before you pick him up or he'll bite. You don't want to get him in the habit of biting. You can continue to use the margarine tub, or a cup to get him out of the cage to prevent bites. Your little man seems to be a typical hammy and he'll calm down as he gets older. Look at the tub taming method on the forums. It's my favorite way to tame a hammy and it's a safe way too. Have fun with him.

[ununpentium]

Thanks for your reply

Last night we seemed to make some progress with him. As I was changing his food I called his name and told him dinner was ready and he came out of his nest all by himself to have a look! So I gently scooped him up in the margarine tub and took him into the hall again where he ran about as usual. After about 10 minutes I scooped him up and put him in the crook of my arm and he actually settled down there and washed himself, then got some food out of his cheeks and started eating. The whole time I was stroking him gently and talking to him and he seemed perfectly content.

After I put him back in his cage he didn't run straight back to bed, he had a little walk about, a quick run on his wheel, and a drink, but then he did freeze for a little while in his corner before going back to bed.

He has a very large cage (1 metre long by about half a metre wide) and a 12" silent spinner wheel, plus lots of toilet roll tubes to run through and some shelves and ladders to climb on.

[souffle]

Sounds like you are making good progress now he is starting to settle Well done.
As prey animals hamsters do not really like to run in open areas. This is why they stick to the edges and freeze if anything moves near them. If you give him things to go behind like cushions where he can hide behind if he feels stressed that may help. In the cage the freezing is just a reaction to something catching his eye. They freeze so for example, a bird of prey, would not see any movement and catch them. They have this instinct no matter how tame they are
I'm sure he will settle nicely if you keep up the hard work and especially handling him.

[ununpentium]

I did suspect that he doesn't like open spaces, so that's why I tried putting him in the crook of my arm so he would have someone to snuggle in, and he really seemed to like that!

Next time we get him out in the hall I'll try putting some things in there he can hide behind.

[fluffydd]

Fluffy behaved just the same when she was out in the hall so I put lots of cardboard tubes and boxes on the floor for her to run in. I also had a spare cage that she could let herself in and out of while she was in the hall and I sat on the floor and she liked to climb on me. She loved to climb the stairs too. I had a wheel in the hall and one in the play cage and despite having plenty of space to run in she still spent about half of her playtime running in the wheels. She also used to play on the floor in the study and she was less nervous there as it was a smaller space but after about 15 minutes she would be biting at the door because she wanted to see what was on the other side. She would also try to get behind all of the bookcase so I had to block up any gaps that she could squeeze through. When she really wanted to get out of the study I would pick her up and carry her round the house so she could see all the rooms. I let her play on the landing and in the hallway, and on the beds but it wasn't safe to put her on the floor anywhere else because of wires and gaps she could get in. She was so excited when we went in all the rooms though

[ununpentium]

Yeah that's why we keep Peanut in the hall when he's out of his cage- anywhere else there are too many wires to chew and too many hiding places (like under the sofa) for him to get lost in!

Good idea about putting cardboard tubes and a wheel in the hall. I'll give that a try tonight.

[ununpentium]

It felt like we went back a step tonight in the taming process

I held Peanut in my arms again but he didn't seem as relaxed as yesterday. My boyfriend was here so maybe that was why. He was just sitting looking at Peanut and stroking him gently, but Peanut gave him a nibble. We decided to put him back in his cage as he was desperately trying to get off of my arm so we scooped him up in the margarine tub and carried him back. Boyfriend put his hand over the top of the tub to stop Peanut jumping out, and Peanut bit him quite hard

I'm hoping that we've not traumatised Peanut.

[DrKMcK]

Peanut will be fine. I hope your boyfriends finger is okay. Peanut probably didn't like being confined. Hammies get over things like this very quickly.

[AlexWyattMommy]

Quicker than we do. LOL