Hamster not interested in coming out of cage

[Cocothela]

Hi,

Ive had my male Syrian hamster Pickles for about 3 weeks now.

He has a really good temperament in that he's very clean and doesn't bite.

What I'm worried about is how I'm struggling to properly tame him.

He's comfortable enough with me, and when he's out of the cage he explores and is happy enough to walk on me.

However he won't come out of the cage of his own free will. I could leave the door open forever and he wouldn't even bother. When I take him out he runs away and struggles until he is out and then he's perfectly happy. It confuses me as he's calm enough to be considered tame, apart from that he won't come out and won't sit still! But I'm more putting that down to him being a baby still and curious.

I'm not sure if it's something to worry about, or if he's still scared of me. But he's calm once I've got him out so I'm so confused.

Thanks for any advice

[velma]

Hi, welcome to HC. At only three weeks in your hamster is still adjusting to life in a new place so his behaviour is totally normal. The most important thing when taming hamsters, I think, is to go at your hams pace. Rushing them with things they aren't yet comfy with will set you back in the long run. Do you take him out by hand or let him walk into something? He may be more comfortable at this stage of having a large mug or a tube he can walk into that you can cover over with you hand until you are ready to put him down somewhere safe. All hamsters behave slightly differently so there's no set timeline or golden rule, you just have kept your ham tell you when he's ready

[Cocothela]

Thankyou for the reassurance. I did try moving him with a tube yesterday and he seemed happier. I also took him in the shower tray (don't have a bath) and for the first time he walked over my legs happily and let me stroke him when he cleaned next to me! That felt like real progress! I'll keep trying but it does seem he just doesn't like hands Thankyou!

[velma]

Hurrah! Not all hams like the same things. And in the wild they are predated so hands coming from above can make them think they're beg swooped in by a bird. I'm glad you're getting ahead in training. The most useful thing with any hamster ins to learn their personality and then you know what they're tying to tell you. You get much further ahead that way

[Fluffagrams]

Some hamsters seem take a little bit longer to reach certain points in their taming and there is no real definite timescale with it unfortunately other than the one that they set.

I remember worrying at one point that I'd never manage to get one of mine tame as she took so much longer than my others but she got there in the end, she just needed me to work to her timetable rather than what I thought it should be.

I used to use an exercise ball to get her out of her cage before she'd let me pick her up and for a while I actually used fleece gloves whilst getting her used to the feeling of being held in hands as she seemed to feel more relaxed with fabric.

I don't know whether it's a difference in species (I keep Chinese hams) but I've found that very few of mine would actually have come out of the cage on their own accord but have usually shown me some sign that they want me to pick them up instead. It's almost like the big wide world is a bit too daunting for them on their own. Maybe your hamster will never climb out of the cage on their own but hopefully you'll get to a point where you can get them out without them making too much of a fuss.

[Bertiebobbins]

I have two hams who are extremely tame. I've had them about six months or so. One of them will come out of the cage at any opportunity of his own free will climbing out of the door, the other is a bit more shy and often needs to be coaxed out by putting a bowl in his cage and letting him climb in. Sometimes he wants to, sometimes not. He gets put off coming out by anything - new clock ticking, hoovered earlier in the day, too warm too cold, he's such a fusspot! The rare occasions he does want to climb out of the cage I'm totally amazed! Yet once he is out of the cage he is so cuddly it's almost ridiculous. They're all different.