Sudden nervousness

[mikew]

I've had a new male Syrian for about a week now.

Initially he was a little cautious of me which I thought was normal and after a few days I started offering him treats from my fingers and he would take them and munch them. I thought we were making progress and was looking at letting him out to have a little run in his exercise ball of an evening but before I got there from yesterday he seems very nervous of me for some reason. He's extremely cautious of me and will frequently freeze or run away and hide when I go over to his cage. It's like I did something that scared him but I can't think of anything. The only thing I did find yesterday was a couple of small bits of plastic he appeared to have gnawed off from somewhere which I removed when I freshened up his food & water yesterday.

He was out in his wheel quite a bit last night but I had to stay away otherwise he would stop, freeze or run off.

He's eating and drinking ok and doing the other kind of normal Hamster stuff.

I just wonder if he could be sick in some way or whether I need to change my approach towards him?

[AprilPearl]

I don’t think he sounds sick if he is on his wheel. Did you clean his cage? Sometimes that can make them anxious. If not, it’s probably just new hamster nerves. Some days they do better than others. He could have been having a more skittish day yesterday.

[mikew]

I haven't cleaned his cage yet although it is getting to the time I think I'll need to (about 1 week)

It seems strange to have scared him in some way.

[AprilPearl]

You actually don’t need to clean his cage that often at all. If you spot clean, you should only need to do bigger clean outs every few months. Some people never do complete clean outs! It is actually much less stressful for the hamster this way as their home does not suddenly start to smell wrong.

I am sure it’s nothing you have done wrong which made him act that way. He is new and still settling in. As I said, he will have good days and bad days. Hamsters someimes startle for reasons we cannot work out. He will warm back up to you.

[mikew]

Ok, thanks.

I'll give him some more time to settle in.

[CMB]

I have had my hamster for a few weeks now and she did the same thing. She was friendly and exploring, playing etc within days. Then she started having odd days where she would hide away or freeze. Before being friendly again.

She still has times when she is skittish. Hopefully both our hamsters and other hamsters having these skittish moments will gain confidence in time.

[Pebbles82]

Lovely that you have a new hammy! It's perfectly normal behaviour as it takes them time to settle in and familiarise themselves. It was probably your hand in the cage removing something that scared him Don't clean the cage yet - wait till he's been in it at least two weeks - they need that time to fully settle in. It won't get that smelly. After that, you can check where he is peeing and just spot clean that area. Best to put off a bigger clean as long possible. Looking forward to meeting him.

It's been a bit change of environment so he's bound to be skittish. Just time and patience

[mikew]

I had a little victory earlier when I offered him a treat I left my finger there for him to sniff for a little while & he just sniffed it & let me stroke him gently on the back a few times with my finger

[kitty629]

Aww that is a big step, they must be gaining confidence!

[CMB]

That's good news. I hope his confidence grows even more.