When do they settle in?

[Rodent Fan]

How long do you find it takes for hamsters to fully settle in?

Archie is my first ever hamster (he's a WW russian dwarf), so I am not sure at all what their normal activity levels are. I've had him for 6 days, but I'm a little concerned that he doesn't seem to be out and about much. He's sweet and friendly (has walked onto my hand a few times) and doesn't seem scared of people and seems to have lots of fun when we let him out for play time. But when he's in his cage he seems to spend 95% of his time in his house, and the rest of the time he eats, drinks, and then goes back to bed.

He is definitely very healthy, so do you think he is just taking a while to settle in? He has one of those trixie labyrinth leif houses and loves digging away in there, I can hear him at night - perhaps he likes it in there too much (lol)? He doesn't seem to be running on his wheel much at all.

Sorry if this seems silly, but as I said, he's my first hammy so not sure what to expect

[Happy Hamsters]

When I got my first hamster, Beans, she only took 2 short days to settle in. I do find however that it all depends on the personality of your hamster. Many hamsters will need plenty of time to settle in and get comfortable with the new environment. Few will have the courage and will settle in quickly.

A good rule of thumb is to let them be for around 2-4 days. If they show interest in you then that could be your green light to start taming.

Just be very patient, it will take time

[AmityvilleHams]

You're supposed to let a hamster settle in without any handling at all for 3-7 days(more is better),which you haven't done perfectly.Don't worry,you still can fix it!I'd say just give him another week to settle without any handling,but it also depends on the cage size and layout and other factors.

Don't be too upset if he just isn't the most social hamster,since not all hamsters are!It could simply be him telling you he just isn't interested at the moment as well,but with hamsters and other animals you can never be too sure if it's at the moment or all the time.

Good luck!Just do the usual tissue trick(putting tissue or toilet paper in the cage that has your scent on it),let him get used to your voice,and things like that for now,and wait until later for handling.

[Cinnamon Bear]

My last 3 dwarves I gave then 14-17 days w/o any interaction as they hid under the bedding all that time & I wondered if they would ever stop hiding?

But once you've gone through it once or twice you know what to expect.

If he seemed outgoing & friendly when you adopted him, then that's how he will be when he finally feels secure in his new home.

I'd give it another week of no handling as Amity has said also. Just change water & food, then the next week start doing the tissue trick & talking to him & feeding treats & begin taming let your hammie let you know how fast or slow to go

Rushing things can set back the taming process
Try to have lots of patience, your pet needs time to make her cage her own.

[cypher]

I think Archie is doing fine, with a breeder ham like yours he will be much more comfortable with handling & interacting so it's no surprise he's happy to do that but he does still have a lot of adjusting to do getting settled in his new home, it can take them anything up to a couple of weeks to really get used to things & make themselves really at home in the cage.
He'll probably be more active at night than during the day even though dwarf hams do come out more in the day so you may not see his busiest times.
I've had hams that seemed perfectly at home on day one while others have taken weeks to become totally secure & confident, they're all very different so no hard & fast rules basically!

[Thin Lizzy]

I agree with Cypher, breeder hams are handled lots before going to a new home. With Petshops, it can take longer. I find that with my local petshop, where I've gotten all my hamsters the owners aren't too keen on handling them but, this has gotten better over time.
Because Archie's had constant human touch he's less scared.

[Pebbles82]

I think generally it is two weeks to settle into a cage. The first 2 or 3 days left alone and then after that just occasional spot cleaning, feeding the odd treat through the bars or on the palm of your hand. Of course if he is already quite tame the handling may progress quicker as the others say, but I think the two weeks for settling into a cage and feeling familiar is probably about right. This can be set back as well, if things are moved around in the cage or a big clean is done during that two weeks, which could delay the settling in.

Hammies are all different too - some take a bit longer to build confidence and some are more active and outgoing than others. It's just time and patience

You can test to see if he runs on his wheel at night by putting a small piece of substrate on top and seeing if it's gone in the morning.

Also scatter feeding might tempt him to explore the cage a bit more. But it sounds like he is just building confidence and feels safe in his house A week isn't very long.

Ironically, if he is quite hand tame and enjoying playtime out of the cage, this could possibly be slowing up his adustment and getting familiar with the environment in the cage. So maybe only get him out if he shows he wants to come out, rather than taking him out every day - for the next week or so. And scatter feed half of his food. I put one half of the usual amount in the food bowl and scatter the other half on the substrate - they like foraging and finding it. Then after a couple of weeks they have got a bit of a routine in the cage - knowing when feeding time is, knowing where everything is and which bits they like to sit in and so on and finding their way around. They scent mark everywhere when it's new so they can find their way around, so if you clean the cage they have to start again with scent marking.

[cypher]

Scatter feeding is a good idea, forgot to mention that!
I would continue to get him out daily tbh, keep that routine up now you've begun but do give him time alone to explore, I think it's important they know they can be out & about without being bothered by us if they want too so I think have a routine time to interact but otherwise stand back & watch from a bit of a distance for now.

[Rodent Fan]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I left Archie alone for about 3 days, but as he is used to being handled I didn't think it necessary to wait any longer. I haven't taken him out of his cage without his "permission", only when he has climbed onto my hand.

I realised something last night... this may sound ridiculous...

I don't always realise Archie's out and about because he's so much quieter than my mice! They make a right racket climbing around their cage, which is how I know they're up. Plus, when my mice are running on their wheel, it makes more noise because it is attached to bars (and rattles against them). Archie's silent spinner has tissues underneath the stand, and is... silent. He was running on it for ages last night, but I only noticed because I was specifically looking out for it. I can't rely on my ears to tell me when Archie's busying about because he's just so lovely and quiet Sorry if that sounds ridiculous, lol.

But thanks for all the tips. I may try a bit of scatter feeding anyway, as it sounds like a good idea

[Jasmine2016]

Originally Posted by Rodent Fan

Thanks for the advice everyone. I left Archie alone for about 3 days, but as he is used to being handled I didn't think it necessary to wait any longer. I haven't taken him out of his cage without his "permission", only when he has climbed onto my hand.

I realised something last night... this may sound ridiculous...

I don't always realise Archie's out and about because he's so much quieter than my mice! They make a right racket climbing around their cage, which is how I know they're up. Plus, when my mice are running on their wheel, it makes more noise because it is attached to bars (and rattles against them). Archie's silent spinner has tissues underneath the stand, and is... silent. He was running on it for ages last night, but I only noticed because I was specifically looking out for it. I can't rely on my ears to tell me when Archie's busying about because he's just so lovely and quiet Sorry if that sounds ridiculous, lol.

But thanks for all the tips. I may try a bit of scatter feeding anyway, as it sounds like a good idea

That does not sound silly at all.
Before I got Swift, a roborovski hamster, I had gerbils, I always knew when the gerbils were up as I could hear them (digging, jumping, eating, drinking, gnawing, playing together) but Swift is absolutely silent, the only sounds I can hear (and then I have to not have any other sounds otherwise I don't even hear these noises)is when she has a drink or at the very beginning of a run (once the wheel is moving it goes silent, but I can hear her claws for a second as she starts) so I wonder if she is up and about more then I realise.