New hamster suddenly too shy to leave the house

[Mdorothy]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time here as I am a first-time hamster owner. Though I never had a hammy before, but I made sure I did the research beforehand, got the right cage, bedding and food. I got my little 4-week-old male Campbell from a small, family owned pet store, his name is Peanut.

So I knew that he might be very shy the very first days, I was prepared to take everything really slowly with him. At first, he seemed really brave and curious, he ran around in his cage, even when I was around, he was eating and exploring. The second day I had him I moved him from my parents place to mine (as I was only visiting and that's when I got him), but even after that he was still okay with being outside of his house when I was around, even though he spent the majority of the day sleeping. The problem started the 2nd night, he didn't come out for a single second, not even at night (food was untouched). This continued for days. But the weird thing is that whenever I'm moving things in his cage, he would glimpse out of his house, then he'd go back. When I try to give him a treat, he comes to the door of his nest, he takes it, and eats it inside. He sniffed my hand multiple times also. Last 2 nights he was out when I was sleeping, and I caught him hanging around in the cage when I wasn't in the room, but the moment he sees me runs back.

So all in all, my question is, for how long is this behaviour okay? I would really like to start taming him as he is okay with eating treats out of my hand, but I can't really do it if he's never outside of his house. And why is he suddenly afraid of my presence when he wasn't in the first 2 days? I see him wanting to come out and explore but he's just too afraid, and it's breaking my heart to see how he's struggling.

Thank you all and happy new year!

[cypher]

This does sometimes happen, they're really curious to begin with & it almost seems they forget to be scared of anything as they're too busy exploring all the new things then they make themselves at home & can be a bit reluctant to come out all of a sudden.
Spend time just talking to him, even if he's not out so he can really get used to you being around & he'll begin to feel more confident.
You can try just talking to him for a while then leave a little treat in the cage & step away so he can come out & find it & make the association between you being there & good things!
I would begin to get him out for some out of cage taming & handling, stick to a regular time each evening if you can, offer him a treat & see if you can get him to climb into something like a tube, large mug, anything you can transport him in safely & begin to have short taming sessions.
If you can set up a play area in a playpen, play bin or in the bath (with a towel in the bottom & plug in!) with some toys for him to explore & a wheel to run in (this can help if they get a bit stressed) to start with I'd just let him run around a bit then introduce your hand, don't try to pick him up at first just let him get used to your hand & see if he'll climb on for a treat.
Just go slow & steady, keeping it short at first & he should gain confidence with a little time.
It does take longer to tame some hams than others so don't feel disheartened.

[Mdorothy]

Thank you for your reply, this did calm me down. I tried what you suggested, set up a little playground in the bathtub, and transferred him in a mug (straightly out from his nest, as he’s still not willing to come out to the cage, but at least he climbed into the mug). In the bathtub he was super scared, he ran around nonstop, looking for a place to hide. He didn’t even look at the treats I was offering him, so after 10-15 minutes, I decided I didn’t want to stress him more, so I put him back to his cage without any progress. Should I try this a few more times, hoping that he’ll get more familiar with the situation? Or should I wait until he gets more brave in his own cage?

[cypher]

I would continue to have short sessions, 10 minutes is plenty to begin with & he should gradually get used to it & begin to enjoy it, you could put something like a cardboard box or something similar in so he has a bit of a hideout, try not to make anywhere he will hide completely but just something that will make him feel safer, did you put the wheel in? Running in the wheel seems to calm them down a bit if they're nervous.
The problem with waiting is sometimes they just get too used to not coming out & it makes it difficult to progress.

[Mdorothy]

I put one of his hideouts in, but not the main one he uses as nest, because I was cleaning the poop out of it in the meantime. (Oh well this is something I might post a new thread about, peeing and pooping in the wooden nest, because it’s only been a week and it already smells like strong pee, the wood is probably soaking in it)
I also put his flying saucer in, but he doesn’t really get it yet, tries to run in the middle so he just runs off of it. �� But I read young hamsters might need some time to learn how to use their wheels (as they probably never had one before), so I’m not concerned about that.

So all in all, I should continue trying to get him out, right? I read in one of the threads here that we shouldn’t start taming a hamster before they reach 6 weeks - Peanut turned 5 week old this week, does this mean I have to be even more patient?

[cypher]

Wooden houses do need to be treated with some kind of non toxic paint to waterproof them, you can never get pee out of untreated wood so at some point you will probably have to bin it & get another. Here in the UK we mostly use .Plastikote water based enamel but I have no idea what will be available where you are.
Poo isn't a problem, you don't have to clean that up too often & they eat some so best not to over clean that.

I think it's fine to begin taming at that age, breeders will begin handling pups before they even leave the mother, so age shouldn't be an issue for your little one, just go nice & slow, don't rush anything but at the same time be consistent so he can get used to a routine.
If he finds the bath overwhelming you might do better with a large plastic storage bin with some substrate in the bottom & similar things that you use in the bath.
You could even keep sessions to just five minutes if he seems to be getting overly stressed.

[Pebbles82]

Yes keep on with the bathtub taming - maybe 2 or 3 times a week and let him have some space in between. I wouldn't move things around in his cage though - that can stress them - and might make him more nervous of you. Best to leave everything in exactly the same place. When he's older he might cope with the odd change a bit better.

In the bathtub you could have 2 or 3 toys - a cardboard kitchen roll inner tube eg and a wheel - somewhere he can go and hide for a bit if he gets scared.

Have you got a litter tray? They will usually use it if you put it where they have chosen as a toilet - usually a corner of the cage, or a corner of the house if it's a large house. Does he pee anywhere in the cage regularly? If so put a litter tray there (you put chinchilla bathing sand in it and just empty it every few days then the rest of the cage can be cleaned less often).

If he is only peeing in his house then it will get pee stained if it isn't plastikoted. A shoebox makes a good sized house for a large winter nest and big enough to put a litter tray inside as well. I find they use it if the litter tray is in the back corner nearest the door - and they then nest in the darkest bit away from the door. Putting a bendy bridge over the door makes it darker inside too and makes a ramp up to the roof to put a food bowl on eg.

You cut the bottom of the shoebox out and keep the lid as a lift off roof (so you can check inside without his nest falling apart) and cut a hole in for a door. Also easily replaceable if it gets pee soaked!

Other than that, clean outs can stress them out and set back taming too. There is no need to do weekly cleans - put plenty of substrate in (at least 4 inches, but 6 inches if possible) then just "spot clean" (take out the odd handful and replace it with another handful) - you can do this for weeks and only do a full substrate clean every 2 to 3 months then- even then it's good to replace some of the old substrate so it still smells familiar. Also don't throw his nest or hoards away - I leave those unless they are pee soaked, and then replace a bit of the dry old nest and put new strips of plain white toilet paper out so he can rebuild it and replace any soaked hoard removed with new food in exactly the same place

I did a short video on bath tub taming if it helps. It seems slow and then it just happens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyEme2xcq4

[Mdorothy]

Thank you for your replies!
Serendipity: he does have a litter tray under a platform, in a corner filled with chinchilla sand, and he does like to go in but he doesn’t pee there, nor anywhere else in the cage, it’s only in the nest. What I did yesterday that I took the pee-soaked tissues from his house and put it in the litter tray, I read it might motivate them to urinate where they smell their own pee.
He does have a rather big house apart from the one he’s currently using as a nest, but how to make him change his preferred location there? I’m afraid if I take the favored house out it would stress him too much.

I will continue bathtub taming as you both suggested. He does seem to have progress though, today he woke up when I was moving around the cage and came out for a little playtime - first time in days! He loves eating veggies out of my hand, he doesn’t even want to hold himself, just makes me hold it for him - well, I’m his servant after all.

[Mdorothy]

Here’s a little update:
Peanut’s taming is going really well, and the pee-problem is solved, as he decided to move his nest to another house, which is a lot easier to clean. He would happily climb into my hand and stays to eat treats, though yesterday he climbed into just for fun, without any food-motivation. He’s getting braver in the bathtub as well.
I have a new question now. Everytime I touch him, he squeaks and runs to hide, which is quite normal for a new, young hamster I think. What I’d like to know is that if I should keep touching him from time to time, or let him adjust to being handled, sitting in my palms first?
I’m really proud of him already, I just don’t want to ruin his progress with not doing the right things, but I do think making him comfortable while being petted is essential.

[CMB]

Get him more used to sitting/climbing on your hands first. If he can walk from hand to hand calmly, you could position your thumb so he brushes past it as he goes hand to hand.