Nervous wreck 4 months later. Could he be blind?

Pumpkinsmom · 01-14-2015, 07:59 AM

I got Pumpkin from Petco at the end of August. I'm not sure how old he was, but he was an adult. From the beginning, he was always very nervous. The first day I got him, I dropped him about 4 feet to the floor, twice, because he bolted out of my hands as I tried to put him in his new cage. That's my fault, because I never had a hamster before and didn't realize that I should do that on the floor or a bed. Anyway...he seemed fine after that as far as I could tell.

I'm not sure what is wrong with him, but he, over 4 months later, is still EXTREMELY jumpy and nervous. He will let me pet him and pick him up, and hold him on my arm for a second, but you can feel his body shaking and he just wants to get away. He would never bite me, but he would be happier if I never touched him. If I pet him, and then take my hand away for one second and then pet him again, he jumps as if I snuck up on him, even though I try to put my hand in front of his face to let him see I'm coming. Do you think he can be blind? How can I tell?

He kind of crouches down when he walks, like he's ready to run all the time.
He seems to use his sense of smell a lot. For example, when he goes up his ramp to the upstairs tank topper, he puts his paw on the ramp and smells, walks, stops and smells and goes up very slowly even though it shouldn't smell any different because I didn't take it out or anything.

I know he can hear because my husband make a noise while putting his coat away and Pumpkin did the meercat thing to listen to what the noise was.

I never realized how wrong his behavior was until I got Cupcake, a dwarf, who acts like what a normal hamster should be. She doesn't jump or shake, she lets me pet her without startling, and I can hold her without being afraid she's going to freak out and jump.

Is there anything I can do to help Pumpkin? It makes me sad to see him so nervous. Other than that, healthwise, he seems fine. He loves to eat, loves his alligator Whimzee, and loves his wheel. He seems relaxed when he grooms himself, which takes him a long time with his long hair. He even pees in his potty. It just pains me to see him seem to be so scared all the time.

BrainGirl · 01-14-2015, 09:33 AM

Was he in the adoptions section of the pet store? Is it possible that someone else had him first and that's why he's so nervous? Alternatively, it could just be because he was left in the pet shop until adulthood and never had the chance to learn to trust humans. He's probably not blind, hamsters are nearly blind anyway and use their other senses to get around. The crouching is normal hamster behaviour too. They're low to the ground anyway and then in unfamiliar territory they run sort of flattened down to the ground. Do you clean his cage out a lot? Does he run like that inside or only outside of the cage? Do you wash your hands before handling him? Do you have any other pets besides the dwarf or any visiting pets? Don't worry about him not being like your dwarf, they aren't much alike anyway

cypher · 01-14-2015, 09:51 AM

I'm not sure there's an easy answer to this, you never really know what might have happened to a ham before you get them & I'm sure some are just more nervous by nature than others, they are all different.
I can understand how you feel, I have one who is still very nervous, fortunately he got over his fear of me & being handled but is still really scared of being out of his cage & nothing I do seems to help the poor boy, I think you can only continue to do what you do & wait & see if he responds over time to the gentle approach.
I doubt he's blind, although I'm not sure how you can tell for certain but his behaviour does sound like slightly exaggerated normal behaviour because he is nervous.
Are the cats allowed into the room where he is? If they are that may be causing some of his behaviour problems.
Not sure what to suggest other than to let him be himself & give him more time, four months may seem like a long time but it's not that long really.

Pumpkinsmom · 01-14-2015, 01:41 PM

He wasn't an adoption that I know of. I'm not sure how long he was there because I never used to look at the hamsters...until I went in with my kids and they wanted to look, and we all fell in love at first sight with him.

I don't clean his cage a lot, because the fact that he pees in his little potty keeps it cleaner. I don't let him run around outside his cage unless he's in a ball, so I can't tell if he only does it in the cage. I would think he would be petrified if I let him out outside his cage without his ball to protect him. When the time comes to come out of the ball and back into the cage, I have to literally pick him out of the ball because he's sticking his head out and smelling, but too afraid to come out.

I do usually wash my hands before I touch him, always with the same lemony kitchen soap. The few times that I forget to doesn't affect his behavior. I also have cats, but he can't see them and they have no interest in him, and I don't touch them before I touch him. His cage is in my dining room, so they are always passing by, but after 4 months, shouldn't he have figured out that they can't hurt him? His cage is on a stand, far away from them. I don't know what I could do if he smells the cats and is freaking out. Their litter box is in the basement where he doesn't go. I have my Robo in the basement not far from the box and if anybody should be freaking out, it's him, but he doesn't. He's a little nuts besides that lol, but he doesn't act scared to death most of the time like Pumpkin does.

cypher · 01-15-2015, 12:14 AM

I know a lot of people do have cats & hamsters & it doesn't seem to cause a problem but as yours is so nervous I guess just there presence could be upsetting.
Sorry I can't think of anything else to suggest really, I hope he will come round in time.

Pebbles82 · 01-15-2015, 06:14 AM

Charlie was also a very nervy hamster - very nervy! We have had him nearly 7 months now and he has improved a lot. I am not sure what has helped. He has got used to us I think. He may have had a bit of a trauma at being dropped, but should get over that as he builds confidence being held by you. Charlie also used to 'edge' and sniff every time he went back to his cage as if nervous something was in there - he still does it a bit if I have spot cleaned etc. One change that might of made a difference was when I got him a different house. He used to sleep in the pod house (like the ones in the hamster heaven cage, and had to come out of it to use his toilet - also it was near the top of the cage. I took that shelf out and put in a big wood house (a guinea pig sized one), which has a flat roof and doubles up as a shelf, and with a bendy stick bridge as a tunnel over the entrance. He immediately dived into it and built a huge nest at one end and got it just how he wanted, digging substrate into dips and mountains, making little hoards around his nest instead of under it. I also put his toilet in there in the opposite end. He basically feels more safe in there I think - it is completely dark at one end and he can do everything in there. The downside was, we hardly saw him! Now I have got into a routine of getting him out once a day and he has got used to that, I do a bit of making a noise while putting his food out, take the bendy stick tunnel and put a large tube there with a treat in one end - he crawls in and I take him out that way. I put him on the sofa on a blanket (he has his own blanket now so it smells of him) with a couple of toys (not tubes or he just hides in them and doesn't come out) - a little nest thing - and put his ball in one corner of the sofa. He jumps into it when he wants to go for a run. We have to keep picking him up and putting him down if he tries to just run to the edge of the sofa.

I think the business of him not sitting on you for long is quite normal. charlie is the same - he will sit in the corner of your arm for a few seconds but then wants to be off. We put a trail of treats leading to a toy and he investigates those. I even started feeding him outside the cage - putting his dinner on a little plate and he got to going and sitting on the plate and eating it. If something has freaked him for a bit (ie a cage clean) he will just pouch it and not want to stay out for long. When he's like this (just wanting to run off the sofa and back to his cage) I pop him in his ball and take him into a different room - then he seems happy to run about for a bit, then take him back to the sofa for a bit more out of cage time, and he seems more relaxed (I think in another room, where they can't smell their cage, they forget about it a bit and just have fun). he's usually more relaxed by then. I then take him back to his cage in the ball, put the blanket on the cage door/ramp into the cage, and let him out of the ball onto the blanket. He rarely tries to run away from here, but cautiously approaches his cage as if nervous something has changed (I put the bendy stick tunnel back in place first). At this time he will sit still if I pick him up and hold him, as if he feels safer in my hand, than going into his cage if something might be in there! Sometimes he just walks into his cage on his own after a check and a sniff, other times I'll hold him in front of his sputnik (with a treat in) and he'll walk into that - the treat or food seems to distract him from worrying about what's different in the cage! And then pop the door closed. He has got used to this routine.

One thing I have noticed is how his behaviour is different at different times of the evening. I usually do the feeding/playtime routine between 7pm and 8pm - at which time he is quite active and hard to keep still. Sometimes it isn't until about 10pm and he's usually in nap mode at that time, and will sometimes just curl up on my knee and go to sleep (providing I put his blanket over the top of him so he feels safe), or just sit in my hand to be stroked.

It just takes time for them to learn to trust again after a scare - and he may be just a naturally nervous ham - I think ours is. Now when I take him back to the cage, he tries to run off sideways and explore the room, and I let him do that a little bit because he is easier to pick up now and doesn't 'ping' any more. He is so used to being handled now I can pick him up backwards, forwards, hold him upside down or whatever, and he is just comfortable with it.

Four months isn't long - give it a bit more time, try to get a routine going and maybe think about a house. My big guinea pig house was instead of a labyrinth house (the one I saw wasn't quite big enough for our large syrian and the bigger one wouldn't fit in his cage) - hammies are supposed to love those as they are so dark inside and have runs and hidey places.

Here's a pic of the house in the cage

And here's a pic of him in his blanket when he was a bit sleepy - it's one of those fleece ones so very light and nice and soft. You can bunch them up to help prevent escapes.

Pumpkinsmom · 01-15-2015, 07:50 AM

That's a nice house and Charlie looks so cute in the blanket! As far as houses go, Pumpkin has one of those igloos. I think he likes it and it's dark enough for him. He brings his treats in there and I often hear him munching on them. He also tried to bring his alligator in there lol. I don't really have room in his cage for a bigger house. If it was up to me, he would have a huge house, but right now all I can give him is a 10 gallon tank with a cage topper that has a flat bottom and adds another floor He has his Wodent wheel up there, his food dish, and a little plush round bed that has a bendy bridge over it. Sometimes he likes to sleep curled up in there. He has snacks stashed in that bed too.

My husband was against us having hamsters in the first place because he was traumatized when he was a kid and his teacher gave him 2 male hamsters to take care of over the summer, and well, they ate each other, so now he doesn't like rodents. I know the 10 gallon is smaller than what they are supposed to have, but I figured at least it's better than what he had at Petco. He was by himself there, and then they put in a bunch of new hamsters with him, and they threw him out of his house and he looked very upset. That's when I knew I had to take him home.

As for taking him out to run around loose, I want to try it, and the blanket idea is good, but I'm so scared of him running off and under something where I can't get him. I think I will try it when it gets a little warmer out. Right now he doesn't wake up till about 11 p.m., and then takes an hour to eat, poop, and groom himself until he's fully awake. By that time I'm off to bed already. Maybe when it gets warmer out he'll be up earlier. He has a reptile heater right under his house and I don't blame him for wanting to be all nice and toasty in there! But when it gets warmer and he's up earlier, I will lock up the cats and try it and see what he does. Getting his own blanket with his own scent is a good idea. I think I have some old baby blankets that might work.

Pebbles82 · 01-15-2015, 08:14 AM

I would keep using the ball for out of cage time as yes it is a nightmare if they run off! I only really have Charlie out on the sofa where I can keep him in one place! But in time pumpkin may get tamer and more relaxed! An upturned shoe box with a door cut in might do if you wanted to try a different house. Charlie's old house was also like an igloo type and he did love it, but he loves this one more lol!

**DrKMcK** · 01-15-2015, 10:13 AM

Hi Pumpkins mom. You've got a lot of good info so far. I adopted Nutmeg quite a while ago. She does not like to be out of her cage unless she is in her playpen. She really doesn't enjoy being held and wants to go back in her cage right away. She's met Yoda and doesn't really care for him the way Ted E. did and Almond does, but she's not afraid of him. She always knows when he's there. I think hammies have definite personalities and they can change over time. My Ted E. Bear was a mush and loved being out. But that wasn't true when I first got him. He was very much like you describe Pumpkin. He took the longest of any hamster I've had. If I were you, I would use the bathtub method with him as if he were new. Have it be a time with no demands on him but just allowing him to explore the tub and you as he wants to. I know you don't have to clean his cage out a lot, but he should have contact with you in the tub at least 3-4 times a week until he becomes less nervous and builds up his confidence. Some of these little guys just are harder to work with than others.