Hi all - sorry about the massive post. It's my first time posting, first hamster, and I'd really appreciate some advice
We bought Darwin, our male long-haired Syrian hamster at Pets at Home about three weeks ago (I've attached a pic of him, he's so fluffy!) I've researched his care with every article and video I could get my hands on, and he just seems frightened of us!
We've (my partner and I, no children or other pets in the household) have given him a good amount of time to settle in. I think it was day 4/5 we started to interact in any way - putting our hands in with a treat on while talking softly and encouragingly. We started by placing our hand in until he came to smell it, then when he retreated, we placed the treat down. Then we started handing him treats, then he took them from our hand, etc.
His cage is above the recommended size - Link to the cage:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
He's got plenty of toys and hides, a burrow box, flying saucer, massive amount of toilet roll tubes, etc.
He was at the older end of hamsters which can share a cage when we bought him, but he was more tame and chill than the other ones. Our sleeping pattern (due to late work starts and far too many video games) is pretty much nocturnal right now and his cage is in the room with us while we're at our computers during the night. He spends a lot of time in his hide, barely uses his wheel and doesn't come out much while we're about - my partner has seen him about in the daytime so maybe he is avoiding us?
Anyway, he's never really been jumpy or super timid - his ears twitch at noises every now and again but he doesn't have any kind of frightened reaction to them. He used to freeze up for a few seconds when anyone went near but he doesn't do that anymore - I talk softly to him and he unfreezes. We bought an enclosure for him to play in about a week ago (I'm reluctant to get a ball) and a sand bath for him to use. We also got a soft child's toothbrush for his skirt since it's so long and gets stuff caught in it. By this time (two weeks after taking him home) he was just about okay climbing onto my hand and eating treats while standing on it, though he's not massively food-motivated - sometimes he would just climb across my hand, food or not, though he would quite often avoid my hand for whatever reason. At one point he was happy being held for a few seconds after a couple of days using the enclosure. However, about three days ago (5-ish days after starting taming with the enclosure, which was 2 weeks after getting him) he seemed to become more timid and the times he would climb onto my hand became fewer and he went back to actively avoiding my hand - if I place my hand with a treat on in his cage or enclosure he will go around it, usually climbing behind his toys to get to a hide. I make sure I go across instead of down when placing my hand (flat) inside his cage (so it doesn't look like a bird or something trying to eat him) or in front of him in his enclosure. He will still take treats from my hand sometimes but is very reluctant to fully climb on. While writing this, I tried placing a few sunflower seeds on my hand, some far back and one on my fingertips. He took all of them in turn but never put more than three feet on my hand, and he ate each of them while standing close to but not touching my hand, whereas he used to climb on and eat them on my hand sometimes. I've tried all kinds of treats and it's the same.
I feel like the taming process is going backwards. I think I can tell by his body language he probably doesn't want to be forcibly picked up in his enclosure, and I don't want to stress him more than he might already be by forcing it upon him. At the moment we're doing about 10-15 minutes of enclosure time every day, usually at about 1am-3am ish. We're using the same spare hide each time to transport him (so he associates that hide with the enclosure) and he goes in willingly straight away without any treat motivation. Every time he goes in his enclosure I gently brush his skirt to get knots and bedding out. He gets things caught in it a lot - he needs it every day or it'll become a problem given how bad it gets after one day - I do my best to take it slowly and not pull. (He tried to bite the brush head when I was letting him smell it and get familiar, and he still does if I put the brush down in the enclosure, but he doesn't try to bite it while he's being brushed) After brushing him, if he seems comfortable, I will stroke him a little to get him used to contact and this doesn't seem to bother him either. Both of these he is fine with, he doesn't flinch, jump or run away when I do them. He kind of ignores his skirt being brushed - he goes about his business quite happily while being stroked/brushed. He just still avoids my hand, treats or not. He also sometimes digs at the blanket we put underneath the pen and the bottom of the plastic hide we transport him between his cage and enclosure in. Is this a sign of him wanting to get out, or is he just exploring his environment?
His taming regimen begins with his entry into his enclosure, and ends when he's taken a treat from me after being put in his cage (positive reinforcement and reward) - sometimes he doesn't seem too fussed about the treat though since he doesn't seem to be particularly bothered by many of the treats we give him, and after maybe two he doesn't care anymore. Today, the most recent taming session, ended in me placing his travel hide back in his cage and offering him a treat, and he just ignored it and walked the long way round (avoiding my hand) back to his hide. He doesn't run or seem panicked when retreating to his hide though - could he just be tired and grumpy?
Some days if he seems quite awake but there isn't time to set up his enclosure (or if he's already been in) I'll put some food on my hand and try to entice him to climb on, this is only once a day (in addition to his enclosure time)
Another thing is we change the setup of his cage quite a lot. We clean it about once a week but every two or three days we change about some of his toys to encourage exploration and get him used to any changes there may be to cage setup during cleaning to make it less of a shock.
Final note: He has never bitten either of us. The most he's done is lick and lightly gnaw my hand to work out if I'm food or not, and it's not hurt at all (I made sure not to jump when I felt teeth). I may have tasted of cheese at the time so I don't blame him! When he takes food from my hand, he licks it quite frequently. Also the only vocalisation he's made was when my partner was changing his water during the first couple of days and he accidentally made a bit of a racket with the cage and Darwin squeaked a bit from his hide.
I guess my main questions are:
1) Am I doing anything wrong?
2) Is this normal behaviour for a eleven-ish week old Syrian that we've had for three weeks?
3) Should we continue changing the cage about or try to leave it as it is as much as possible?
4) Are we doing anything wrong in our taming regime?
5) Should I attempt the bath taming method? (lying in the bath and letting him climb about and realise I'm not a threat)
6) Does he seem scared or just incredibly indifferent? Or is he just a particularly grumpy ball of floof?
7) I've not tried picking him up in the last few days since he's not gone onto my hand willingly really, but could I be reading his body language wrong and he'd actually be okay with it? In the past when he was having a go at climbing the enclosure walls I had to pick him up and place him back on the ground and he didn't have a problem with that at all. Should I just go for it and pick him up or might that scare him more? (I've been looking up his body language when I've been unsure and he will happily eat out in the open and groom himself while in his enclosure - all with his ears upright, not flat, which would indicate he doesn't feel particularly threatened.)
Is he actively avoiding us, or is he just not particularly nocturnal? Or is he getting lots of sleep and rest while he's growing? He spends so much time in his hide while we're around that we're worried he's avoiding us. We make sure to wait a while after we see him awake to put him in the enclosure, we don't forcibly wake him or try taming as soon as he's woken - if we do wake him we speak softly near his cage for a few minutes and then wait for him to come around.
9) When he digs at the blanket on the floor of the enclosure, does that mean he wants out or is just exploring?
10) Is how a hamster reacts to you strongly based on their mood (i.e have I just been catching Darwin at a bad time while he's grumpy or tired) or are his reactions based on how he feels about me (i.e this person is a threat, do not trust this person) regardless of his mood?
11) Should I give it a day between each taming session in his enclosure and hope his skirt doesn't get too knotted? Should I alter his taming and grooming regime?
If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading! Any help you can give, advice or criticism, would be hugely appreciated.
Thankyou!!
New Syrian seems to be frightened of me! Is his taming going backwards?
Re: New Syrian seems to be frightened of me! Is his taming going backwards?
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