Very nervous hamster....advice please

[ImoH]

A few weeks ago we got our new Syrian hamster Basil from the pets at home adoption section. It was quite a spontaneous decision, our beloved hamster Shirley had recently had to be put to sleep, we were in pets at home getting litter from our bunnies and there Basil was. He was described as ‘bitey’ so obviously I couldn’t possibly leave him there!

He is not aggressive in the slightest, just absolutely terrified. We have tried very slow taming by hand feeding him. He does take food out our hands but runs and hides if there is any movement. He is in a fairly large cafe, a ferplast maxi duna multy and I am starting to think this is part of the problem. It’s top opening and massive. I’ve hidden treats around the cage and they’ve gone untouched. He is drinking from his water bowl which is something. But we never ever see him out and about.

I think the space could be making his nervousness worse? Can anyone recommend a front opening smaller cage for him? Maybe something with levels so the space doesn’t quite feel so ‘open’.

Or any other suggestions about how we can reassure him. He just seems permenantly scared!

[cypher]

Well done for giving Basil a loving home, sorry to hear he's still so nervous but I'm sure he'll come round with time.
Not many cages have large front opening doors which is a shame as they do make taming & interaction so much easier (small front doors might just make things harder with a shy ham) but you might want to consider the Hamster Heaven cage which is a bit smaller than the cage you have now but with a large front door (I recommend using it without the penthouse & tubes it comes with, the holes can be blocked with the bits provided) it's a good size, not too big or too small (I keep dwarf hams in mine) you can easily make the space less open by adding plenty of hideouts, things like coconuts can be good, or even just cardboard boxes & tubes & plenty of substrate to dig into.
It's not that high so you may need to fence an area off using bendy bridges or something to fit a syrian size wheel in but that actually makes the space seem smaller so might suit Basil while he settles in & adjusts to his new home.

[SimonandSyril]

The key to eliminating nervousness in hamsters is patience. I adopted my hamster from pets at home and she was also described as bitey and she also was just very scared. What I did was I left the room and made sure everything was silent for about 1 to 2 hours. Then, very slowly and calmly i walked towards the cage quietly. Gradually I got faster and faster until I could walk in and out of the room at a normal pace without her being petrified. After getting her used to me making noise and walking in and out of the room I began the normal taming process as you would any other hamster. Hope this helps

[ImoH]

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply! I have bought some pet remedy as I remember it working for my bunnies. It seems to be working really well and Basil is a lot less jumpy. He climbed all over me yesterday which was nice. I can't pick him up yet but we are making progress!