Hi. It's usuall best to leave them alone for the first 2 or 3 days, to get used to their new cage and environment and not to clean anything for the first 2 weeks, although if things get really stinky you could 'spot clean' - ie take out a handful or two of wee'd on substrate and replace it. Hamsters are quite clean generally though and tend to choose one corner of the cage as a 'wee corner'. The best advice I could give is get a potty litter tray. Our Syrian started using his straight away. You put it in their wee corner and they just carry on weeing in the same place. I empty the potty and refill it with litter once a week and the rest of the cage stays clean mostly.
This is the one I got
Hamster Potty corner Litter Tray for Mice Hamster Gerbil Cage House. Size: 16 × 7 × 12/12 cm: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies
Fits nicely in a corner. You can use hamser potty litter which seems to attract them to use it and neutralises some of the smells, but keep an eye out in case he eats any - ours tried to eat a bit once but spat it out again lol. It's bad for them if they eat it so if he does you can use Chinchilla bathing sand in it instead. Not cat litter though, just the stuff for hamsters.
Assume he is in his cage with food water and paper to build a nest with (torn up strips of white toilet paper are best and safest for nesting material). Your hamster will build a nest - try not to touch that at all for the first 2 weeks.
After 2 or 3 days talk gently to him through the cage and offer him the odd treat through the bars - if he's in a tank you could skip this bit for now. Good treats are sunflower seeds, a very small piece of cheese, like a centimetre cubed size, half a brazil nut. Best to avoid too many processed sugary things. I also put a very small piece of veg out every day, in addition to the hamster mix - like a tiny broccoli of cauliflower floret, a small cube of carrot, or cucumber. Cabbage and lettuce aren't advised.
You could then try getting him out in a tube - they don't like hands above them as they think it's a predator so they can get defensive in the cage but once out of the cage they are not territorial and less likely to be aggressive. I used to put a kitchen roll tube in the cage with a treat in one end, then when he walks in, lift the tube out or put the other end of the tube into his hamster ball so he can walk in there and then life the hamster ball out. Be careful to keep your hands over the ends of the tube when you lift it or they could jump or fall out. Hamsters don't tend to bite unless they are frightened, but sometimes they may test you out with a nip if your hands smell of food! So best to wash your hands before handling him (and not in honey scented soap!)
Once out you need a safe place to put him for handling and taming or he might run away or jump off if he's not used to being held. We used to take ours up to the bathtub in his ball (dry bathtub, no water) and let him out of the ball into the bathtub, so he couldn't escape but he could run around and we could gradually starting handling him until he was tame enough to hold.
Hope this helps. I know when you first get them it can be frustrating. Our little boy was 6 and just wanted to hold him and we had to wait a bit.
New Syrian
Linear Mode
