Advice on caring for a male syrian found abandoned (first time ham owner)

Emilydotbug · 03-17-2018, 03:00 PM

Hi my name is Emily I am a first time owner of an orange and white male Syrian. I found Lucky in a makeup bag I picked up that had been left near the entrance of a subway in Seattle. I guess anything is possible but I've been sticking with the assumption that someone abandoned him. I don't see how someone could do that to such a cute little guy!

Anyways! After I found him I went and got him a container more suitable to carry him home in at least. It was far from ideal and very small but since then he has had 2 different habitats so far. After doing some research I found out that in the beginning hamsters do not like to me handled very much. However because of the scenario I was in when I found him I was forced to handle him. Now he is getting used to his new home and I sometimes handle him. He seems uncomfortable with me about 40% of the time. There's a lot more I'll have to explain in a future thread but does he not like me? Should I stop handling him and let him adjust a bit more even though I messed up already? Also sometimes he VERY gently nibbles my finger when I try to offer treats in my palm to pick him up. Is he biting me or just trying to get the food? He seems to know how to grab the seeds with precision usually but is nervous with my hand.

CMB · 03-22-2018, 02:22 PM

Hopefully he will get more used to you with time.

Baron · 03-22-2018, 03:46 PM

He's very lucky you found him!

I hope he will adjust himself in time. I am curious though, what other behaviour does he display?

Emilydotbug · 03-22-2018, 08:03 PM

The last few days since I made this post I have been trying to slow down my pace with taming lucky. Instead of getting a little too excited like I was tending to do and handling him because I thought it was too late to start over the process. I started letting him set the pace by feeding him treats from my open hand and letting him sit on my hand while he ate and then let him walk away from my hand without picking him up or anything. I started contact by just petting occasionally with one finger down his back. Then FINALLY last night I picked him up and took him to sit in my bed with me and for the first time ever instead of trying to get away from me he later there with me for like 30minutes! He was calm and let me pet him and he sat still it was awesome! Definitely worth the patience.

LittleSnowball · 03-22-2018, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emilydotbug

The last few days since I made this post I have been trying to slow down my pace with taming lucky. Instead of getting a little too excited like I was tending to do and handling him because I thought it was too late to start over the process. I started letting him set the pace by feeding him treats from my open hand and letting him sit on my hand while he ate and then let him walk away from my hand without picking him up or anything. I started contact by just petting occasionally with one finger down his back. Then FINALLY last night I picked him up and took him to sit in my bed with me and for the first time ever instead of trying to get away from me he later there with me for like 30minutes! He was calm and let me pet him and he sat still it was awesome! Definitely worth the patience.

He is very lucky to have found a forever home with you. You have a good heart. Continue as you are doing and very soon he will be completely tame.

hellobg · 03-23-2018, 07:40 AM

Thank you for rescuing Lucky, you really have a good heart. Lucky is lucky to have you. You can keep doing what you do with Lucky. You can try giving him some other treats too if he did a great job at letting you pet him.

Emilydotbug · 03-23-2018, 10:46 PM

Today they sprayed for bedbugs at my place and I couldn't have lucky there because it would be against the rules of my house so i had to take him with me today but dis not have a sufficient travel habitat for him. I made do with what I had and we made it back home with him safe but I feel like we might have moved a few steps back on the trust thing now. Does anyone have any advice on traveling with hams?

cypher · 03-23-2018, 11:14 PM

It's best to use a carrier when you travel with them, this sort of thing although I'm not sure which is the best brand & size for a syrian tbh lots of substrate in the bottom so they can burrow down & get comfortable, nothing else in there that could move around while travelling, depending on how long they are in the carrier you may want to put a piece of cucumber in for hydration & you could scatter a little food in too.