I don't know what is up with her???

[hols]

Okay so my cousin came around last week to vist
Shes 13 and i let her hold ood.

I turned around for a second and she'd dropped ood, ood's completely fine, but my cousin thinks it was hilarious and started laughing never have i wanted to scream so much.

It took me about 10 minutes to find her under my table she was all curled up in a ball like she was scared for her life.

Since Saturday ood has been trying to avoid contact with me which is strange as she normally loves to sit on my legs.

It's like she doesn't trust me any more or something??

[Thin Lizzy]

I can't believe how immature your cousin is, dropping your hammie and laughing is disrespectful to you and ood.
She will have gotten a fright and curling up in a ball she was scared.
You're going to have to be patient with her and try and call her out for some of her favourite treats and talk to her like you usually do. She'll trust you again!
Don't let that awful cousin anywhere near ood again.
Some people are born animal lovers, she obviously isn't.

[cypher]

Poor ood obviously had a real fright, as long as you're sure she's unhurt I'm sure she'll come around to trusting you again soon, I agree just talking to her quietly, offering her some treats & generally reassuring her should do the trick, give her a little time & hopefully she'll be back to her old self again.

I have to disagree with Thin Lizzy about your cousin though, I can understand how upset you must be over the whole thing hols but I think 13 is a bit young to be writing someone off when it comes to loving & understanding animals, if you feel up to it I'd try to take the opportunity to educate her a little on how fragile, easily hurt & easily frightened animals are & how it's up to us to take good care of them.

[Thin Lizzy]

OK, I might have been a bit harsh about her cousin but, it's makes me mad when there's a lack of respect towards animals.
I don't think Ood's going to be too forgiving of the cousin. I just felt bad for Hols as she's really connected with ood.

[cypher]

I understand that Thin Lizzy, I feel bad for hols too, I just think sometimes we need to be as patient with kids as we are with animals, animals are just a whole lot easier!!

[shawniyatwain]

My Bella is similar, I have had a few people round for dinner on various occasions, all of which have fallen completely in love with her and wanted a hold, normally she will want to sit calmly on me, but everyone wanted her run around and held her in ways I wouldn't normally (not bad just different) I didn't like it much being the protective hammy mummy I am.
Since she has had different people holding her she has become more stressed by being held and just doesn't want to like she used to now I'm slowly trying build up that trust again.

[TheFluffyHammies]

Poor ood.
Maybe you could try and almost "re-tame". Of course ood is already tame, but it may help to build up the trust again.

[BrainGirl]

Is it possible that your cousin's laughter was a nervous reaction? I've experienced that where something horrific happens but instead of tears I burst out laughing. It really was horrible and I felt sickened by what I'd seen and I guess my mind just couldn't deal with it.

[hols]

Shes not hurt, i've been checking her everyday since to see if anything has changed but no. It's sort my fault as my cousin gets high so i shouldn't of let ood near her.
I think i'll try to tame her again hopefully it works.
Thank you all for replying it means alot !

[Shannonmcn]

There's a difference between a 5yo and a 13yo, if my 13 yo cousin laughed at dropping my hamster he wouldn't be laughing for long. They're not really children at that age, I think they should know better. Luckily the kids in my family (13, 11 and are all animal lovers, seeing the way they love their dog and dote on her makes me less forgiving of less empathetic children maybe.

Poor Ood just needs some time, I wouldn't stress out too much. It's understandable that he would feel a bit shy for a while.