Still so nervous!

[Sazzle]

Hello everyone & their hams.

I’ve had little Bernie since the end of August now and I’ve already posted about him and received some great advice.

Trouble is, he’s still not getting any tamer, despite my efforts and I don’t know what to do now.

He’s in the skyline Marrakesh tank and seems to love it. I’ve tried every day to interact with him and we even got as far as him taking treats out of my hand, but he seems to be get shyer and shyer and I’m no where near being able to pick him up.

Each night is the same pattern. He gets up (later and later) generally only when I turn all of the lights off and pretend I’ve gone. He then gets up almost immediately and potters about. If I turn on a low light and try to interact with him, he bolts off and hides like he’s absolutely terrified!

He doesn’t ever want to come out. I have to put a little box in and wait for him to get in it to get him into the play pen - but he often just stays in the box. He’s not keen on the ball and won’t run in it. In fact, he only seems content if it’s late and he thinks I’ve gone!

I don’t know what to to. He seems in good health and eats/drinks well but he just doesn’t seem to want me near him.

Does anyone have any advice or is this just his personality?

Thank you in advance.

[mangoandmimi]

It has been a little while since you got Bernie so I'm wondering if it's something to do with his cage & playpen setup. It might help if you posted some photos so we can pick out any potential issues. Have you changed the cage much? How often are you cleaning out the cage substrate and his nest? Too much cleaning can prevent them from settling down so it might be that. Changing things in the cage too much can put hamsters off so do limit that. In a Marrakesh between when you got him and now, ideally you would have just spot cleaned and probably be due the first partial clean within the next few weeks - depending on the amount of bedding you have. So if it's been much more than this that could be a reason that he hasn't settled.

I would ditch the ball entirely, it is known to stress hamsters out so that might be a reason he's afraid of coming out. If you are using a playpen, for now I would fill it right up with toys and hidey holes if you haven't already. If there's too much open space and he's nervous, he's unlikely to come out. Apart from that and what others have advised since you got Bernie, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas! Hopefully he'll start to relax with time.

[AliceJayne]

This sounds just like my skittish little guy, I very recently posted a similar thread asking for help.

Has Bernie been skittish from the very beginning? With Cap we seem to get somewhere then something happens and we go back to square one. I tried numerous times to take him out of the cage and try taming him in the shower or another bin cage and I truly wish I had never tried, every single time ended in disaster with him going completely nuts trying to escape, leaping of things or crashing into the walls. My advice would be not to rush this step, I know everyone says bathtub taming and playpens help but when your hamster is extremely scared and unsure I think it would be too stressful. Especially not until he is much calmer around you. Is Bernie curious? I found Cap is not curious and is not at all interested in new places and would rather stay in his cage!

He wakes up very late as well, and definitely prefers the dark. I got him very beginning of September.
However he will happily take treats from my hands and actually loves his ball, so I let him climb in his ball every other day for 10 mins.
I have come to accept that I think he will always be extra skittish and I probably wont ever be able to hold him and cuddle, at least for a very long time. Any little noise and I know he would leap out of my hands!

One thing I should mention is I have come to think that maybe Cap is quite blind, I know they all have quite bad eyesight but things in his cage that have been there for a while make him jump and he walks into things and this scares him. Could that be a possibility with Bernie?

I wish you luck and know how frustrating it can be with such a skittish little one!

[Sazzle]

Thank you both for your replies.

Mango and Mimi. I haven’t given the tank a full clean. Once a week I’ve cleared out some of the substrate, mixed in new and cleaned out his weeing corner & where he sleeps (just the bit underneath, not the actual paper bedding). I’ve given him tissue that smells of me, and tried to get him used to things. I’ll try to attach a photo of his tank setup.


Alicejayne - thank you for sharing your own experience. It was very reassuring! You’re right come to think of it, Bernie isn’t that curious. He seems to prefer hiding from me in the back corner or behind the wheel. I’ve tried the playpen taming, and even got in a bigger pen for him to climb on me, but he was extremely skittish!

I’ve given up with the ball - he’s really not impressed although he doesn’t get in of his own accord. He just doesn’t move once he’s in!

Would anyone suggest waking him earlier to encourage him to interact more? It’s getting later and later so that he can avoid me I think! I’m worried that if I leave it to him I won’t even see him!

I’ll see how things go in the next few days.

[Sazzle]

Also, I’m not sure if this is relevant, but the lady in pets at home where I got him wasn’t good at handling him at all, and actually made him scream when she tried to sex him before I brought him home.

I wonder if this traumatised him.

[Sazzle]

Here’s some picture of his setup.

[cypher]

Your cleaning routine sounds ok.
The cage does look a bit empty, quite a lot of empty space & not that much to do really I would try putting more in if you can, not too much change at any one time as that could stress him. Have a look around at other people's set ups for more ideas, if you can find a way to section of the wheel area maybe with a bendy bridge or something more substrate in the rest of the tank might help a bit too.
They do sometimes tend to get up later in winter so it would be worth trying to get him up a little earlier before it gets really late, ditching the ball is a good move, making the playpen really fun for him & just go slowly with beginning interacting & handling. You can keep sessions fairly short to begin with if he gets stressed & putting the wheel in the playpen can help too as they'll often have a run if they're getting a bit stressed out.

[AliceJayne]

No worries! I also got Cap from Pets at Home, and when they were doing the health check she was squeezing him so hard! My second hamster (only had a few days) was from PetsCorner and omg he is so much calmer and chilled! They handled him every day and have a much more ethical breeder contract! I can't wait to start taming him because i can already tell it will be 100x easier haha.

I agree with Cypher about getting him up earlier, with Cap I would make some noise, only a bit to make him have a look outside his hut, then would offer him a treat. Now any noise and he sticks his head out waiting for a treat ahaha but it does mean he is happy to come out and about if I need him to a bit earlier.

Also agreeing with Cypher about the cage and maybe some more hiding spots if possible, just so he feels safer in his cage. You can even make your own out of shoe boxes or cardboard!

In my thread, hamsterbasil said it took maybe 5/6 months for their hamster to be tame so that gave me a lot of hope that some hamsters do just take longer than others As long as there is nothing you are doing that is upsetting Bernie I think you just have a very skittish little guy and you will just need to take things slow! I rushed in too quick with playpens and I think it really set us back. If he doesn't like his ball do you have a way of transporting him when you do decide to move him to a playpen?

Also another random question, but does Bernie like burrowing, chewing and climbing? Cap has only in this past week started burrowing, despite having 6inches of bedding, doesn't seem very keen on chewing anything and seems nervous to climb, I wonder if thats typical of a very skittish hamster?

Also have you tried the tissue with your scent on trick?

[hamsterbasil]

Yes- my as AliceJayne says, my hamster took a REALLY long time to fully, 100% tame. Don't loose hope, it is a frustrating and very long process with skittish hamsters. I agree with AliceJayne and Cypher, maybe add more hiding spots. If he feels unsafe in his home he will be very hard to tame. Tissue scent trick worked miracles for me.
The main thing is to take it really slow and not rush anything.
I wish you all the luck, I understand the frustration.

[Sazzle]

Thank you again for the advice & reassurance.

Sorry for delay in response - been a crazy week!

I will add some more things to his setup and see if he gets a bit more confidence with more hiding spots. For the last 2 evenings, he’s got up and hid straight away. Last night I turned the lights off and had to come back in for something. When I switched on the light he was in his sandbath and had obviously been happily playing in there. He froze and when I sent a gentle hello to him, he bolted and hid again!

I do have a small box with holes that he will get into to be transported to the pen, but he takes ages to get in it, and sometimes won’t come out.

I did put my hand in for a while with a treat on and he will eventually walk on to get it. He doesn’t show any biting tendencies which is good. I just wish he would learn that I’m not going to be a threat to him and start to trust me a bit more.

He does seem to like to burrow, but usually to hide. He’s started to chew the little wooden toys I have put in for him too.

I will keep persevering!

Thank you for all your help. It’s really nice to know that others have gone through a similar things.