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Old 12-11-2018, 04:56 AM   #1
AxisOkami
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Default Anxious Hamster?

Hi all

I'm busy caring for my boyfriend's winter white hamster, Sunny, while he is gone on vacation. My boyfriend has owned multiple hamsters in his lifetime.

I myself own a winter white named Pepper (my first hammie), but these two hamsters are like night and day. Pepper became tame quite easily and gets onto my hand of her own choice, as well as coming out of her nest when spoken to and such.

Sunny is a much different story. She is older than Pepper by a few months, as my boyfriend got her roughly 2 months before I got Pepper, and I got Pepper back in August. Sunny was really small, even for a dwarf hamster, but now she is a tiny bit bigger than before. But ever since my boyfriend got her she has been skittish. She rarely leaves her nest and if she is exploring her cage and notices you, she will dash back to her nest and not leave for an extended period of time. She's done that when at my boyfriend's house and is continuing that behaviour at mine, despite being with me for over 2 weeks now. I've tried taming her but any attempts to pick her up causes her to squirm and fight her way out of you hand.

I was wondering if she might be suffering from a type of anxiety, or if anybody here has any good taming tips? Right now I spend some time just talking to her to get her used to my voice and give her peas (she goes insane for peas) to get her to come out of her den. She has been showing some progress, like sticking her nose out of her den when being talked to, but she still runs away when you try and touch her.
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Old 12-11-2018, 10:59 PM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: Anxious Hamster?

Some hams do take a lot longer to tame than others & need a lot more time & patience.
If she's that nervous I wouldn't try picking her up & handling her just yet, spend lots of time just talking to her as you are, even if she's hiding away, you can try doing that then leaving a small treat when you walk away to help her associate your presence with nice things.
It's promising that she is making some progress with what you're doing & it may just be a case of lots of time & patience before she gets really confident.

If you can get her out, get her to climb into something she's comfortable with, and take her to a playpen or safe play area to run around with toys, wheel etc then you might find interacting with her easier, I would go slow though, just let her get used to being near hands or running over them to begin with, let her climb on you if she wants to but don't try to rush things, if she gets anxious out of the cage just keep sessions really short to begin with.
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Old 12-11-2018, 11:49 PM   #3
AxisOkami
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Default Re: Anxious Hamster?

I have stopped picking her up since I'm scared she will hurt herself.

I have noticed something when I am cleaning her cage. Usually I move her to a playpen while I am cleaning and she is a lot calmer inside the playpen, and will even hop onto my hands sometimes of her own choice. She seems more anxious with someone doing something in her cage, and is more friendly outside, though she does get anxious if left out of her cage for too long.

I am very patient at least, and glad to hear that my current approach is approved of. She will sometimes come out, turn her nose up to treats but want to smell your hands through the bars. I'll just keep taking it slow and steady with her.
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Old 12-12-2018, 12:06 AM   #4
cypher
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Default Re: Anxious Hamster?

That's not unusual, often females more than males really don't like hands in their territory & do much better with taming outside the cage & keeping hands in the cage to a minimum just to do what's necessary.
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