Hamster very scared of us!

[helz_k]

Hi everyone,
We've had our new hamster, Gaz, for a couple of weeks and he is really shy and scared around us. At first we thought he was generally just really overwhelmed about moving homes and leaving the pet shop. However overall he seems to have settled into his new home ok - eating well, drinking, and playing with his toys. However, this only happens when we aren't around!

We left him alone for the first few days to get to know his new surroundings, then slowly started to talk to him and approach the cage etc. He seems to constantly shake as soon as we're around. Now he very rarely comes out of his house while we are there - we've even tested switching the lights and tv off so he thinks we've gone to bed, and sure enough he appears 10 or so minutes later.

We've had other hamsters before and have never had any issues with taming them and building trust, but it's incredibly hard with Gaz when he refuses to come out while we are in the room.

If anyone has any help or tips we'd greatly appreciate it! Is this something we should be concerned about?

Thanks! Helena

[Princess Pixie]

I have a Dwarf kind of like this. Only he's not scared of me but he prefers his own company and likes to come out only when I'm in bed (he's in my bedroom). I'm ok with this, I rarely handle him as it stresses him out, he's got a big cage and all he needs so I don't like forcing him.
My Syrian on the other hand just can't get enough of being handled and played with. All hams have different personalities. Maybe you've just got a hamster who wants to do his own thing.

[Thin Lizzy]

He does sound scared and he may need longer to adjust and settle, all hamsters are different when it comes to settling in.

[cypher]

It does sound as though Gaz is a particularly nervous hamster which is a shame but most will come round with time & patience.
There are two ways of dealing with it, some prefer to force tame which basically involves getting them out into a taming box & having short sessions once or twice a day until they get used to it but personally I prefer to just go at their pace & take things slow.
If he'll only come out when the lights are off I would begin to just sit & talk to him in the dark for a few nights, even if he continues to hide when you're by the cage continue to do that & you could leave a treat in the cage each time before you walk away so he begins to associate you with good things.
After a few days trying doing that in low light, maybe just a lamp on, you will probably have to persist for a while but if he can smell a nice tasty treat it should help to entice him out.
Have you done the tissue trick yet? Putting a few sheets of plain white toilet tissue up your sleeve for a few hours then shredding them & putting them in the cage, repeat that daily for a while as it helps them get used to your scent.
What is his cage set up like? How the cage is set up can make a big difference, plenty of substrate, a good sized house with no base & a few smaller hideouts to move between will help him feel more secure, you don't want to make it too difficult to get him out when you want to but too much open space of not enough substrate to dig & burrow in can make them feel a lot less confident.