My hamster likes to be left alone?

[loveashwie]

I've had my hamster Esther since about September of last year. She is a Chinese dwarf hamster.

It seems like every time I take her out of her cage to clean it, she freaks out like crazy. I give her things to play with and food in the mean time, but she makes her little noises and tries to find a way to escape. She seems to get so distressed. She has a cage that is 560 sq inches, so its way above the minimum requirements. Is she just more comfortable in her cage?

She also doesn't like to be handled much. She takes food from my hand just fine, she walks on my hand sometimes, she knows my voice, but she wont eat food from my hand if she's out of her cage. She only really acknowledges my hand with food. I try washing my hands before handling her, rubbing my scent on tissue paper and put it in her cage, things like that. But I think she just likes minimal interaction.

She gets excited when I add new toys and food in her cage. She makes noises of contentment.

So overall, is she more of a minimal interaction hamster? Do you have any hamsters that act like this? Thank you!

[floppy91]

Hi, my last Syrian Hamtaro used to get upset when I cleaned the cage, as does my current dwarf lightning. I have a 60cm cage I put them in to clean out the cage and yeah they do not like it. I think they object being put in the small cage and don't like the upheaval! I found putting some yummy food (cucumber, sunflower seeds) in the small cage, and toys they haven't seen for a while, a handful of hay, some bedding from the big cage really helps to keep them calm and occupied just long enough to get the job done!

As long as your hamster is healthy and eating I wouldn't worry. It's hard to know what really goes on in a hamsters head. Lightning doesn't take treats from me when she's out the cage either, I think she's more excited and interested in playing! Thunder on the other hand just begs all the time for food, haha! It sounds like you are doing a great job looking after your hamster.

[Drago]

How often are you cleaning her cage? How much bedding do you remove each time? Stereotypically, Chinese hamsters do tend to be less confident than other species and can take longer to fully tame down. Some hamsters just don't like coming out of their cages, and that's perfectly fine granted their cages have plenty of stimulation to compensate for them being unable to leave their cages. Just like some hamsters not wanting to leave their cages, some hamsters are more "look don't touch" and this is perfectly fine again as long as they're overall healthy. You mention that she gets excited when new toys get added by making noises, but is it possible that she's stressed over it and that's why she grunts? Most hamsters who run all about in a way that would make it appear they're excited are actually stressed over something so I'd be cautious with how much you add at one time. Hamsters in general are food driven creatures and when they find there's no food in it for them, they generally lose interest quickly so it isn't unusual that she has as well. Overall, there's absolutely nothing wrong with a minimal interaction hamster, but it must be understood that this means touching her too much could cause nervousness and stress so this must be avoided. Good luck with her. Best wishes

[cypher]

Some people find their chineseys will enjoy out of cage time but I've found mine don't particularly like to be out of the cage, they all have quite big cages with plenty to do & seem to prefer interacting from within the cage, all my cages have large doors at the front & I just stand there & interact with them, they will usually come running to the door to see what I have & my female likes to climb out onto me or toys as long as we stay close to the cage!
I think they do get a bit set in their ways after a while so it may be a bit late to change things but you never know, try just interacting more with her while she's still in the cage & don't clean her cage or disturb her territory any more than you need to.
One of mine goes into a small cage with a wheel & toys when I clean & he's quite happy with that but the others prefer to go into a carrier with enough substrate to just burrow down in while I do any cleaning in their cages.
She may associate your hands with taking her out or cleaning so if you stop taking her out for a while with patience the association should change in her mind & she could well become more confident with you.

[Humphrey_hamster]

When in cleaning my hamsters cage, I put him in his excercise ball or put him in his baby cage. He has a big cage now but wen we first got him he was in a smaller one.... We put him in there for only a short time, generally an hour at the most as it's too small for him to be in all the time but he seems to enjoy it in there while I clean his actual cage. Humphrey seems quite laid back about cage cleaning, pretty much nothing bothers him. I might just suggest that you invest in a small cage, it doesn't have to be at all big and so can be very cheap, just to put her in while she is getting cleaned out

[Emilyeva]

Do you have any other pets in your room? Because it seems like you hamster is distressed but maybe it isn't tamed properly I have two hamsters my self and for my luck both are untameable so maybe for a few days try not to disturb her or move house or anything like that

your sincerely

Emily