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Old 12-14-2018, 04:40 PM   #1
r_h0shi
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 4
Question New hamster excessively grooming

Hello!
I picked up a new hamster this week on Monday, and as a first time owner was overall nervous and excited.

I have a few concerns currently, one related to the title.

For the first day or so I let her be, but found the wheel was too small for her so ordered a new one, and removed the old one. As I was removing it, she woke up and came out of her nest, sniffed my hand and bit me, which drew blood but I assume it was because she was grumpy!

Then I started to feed her treats through the bars, which I later read was a bad idea so from yesterday I put my hand in the cage with the treat and she took it- I did this many times after, and she usually took the treat after sniffing.

However over the days I feel as though the progress has been reset as she is hesitant to take a treat, and flinches many times before taking it or moving away and hiding before trying again/giving up

My concerns are:
1. She seems to be more afraid/skittish than before, and flinches more although at the start of this she was generally accepting my treat offers.
2. She has been using the box from the pet shop as her nest for all of this, which she also poos in and (I assume) she pees in. I can't spot clean it without taking her out as she spends most of her time inside it, and she seems unprepared to be handled or even stroked- I'd like her to spend time outside the cage but I feel that would panic her even more. She has also worn it down considerably by chewing at the cardboard and it is barely standing- all the food she has stored and poos has spilled a little out of the sides; I almost want to throw it away but since it is her secure place, it would likely make her upset.
3. Recently, she has been grooming excessively. I understand at the very first stage it may be her marking her scent onto the new environment, but this seems to be constant. She goes to the side of her box (which is the darker side) and grooms herself repeatedly, (this happened when I was offering her a treat) she sniffed it, was nervous while doing so, went to the side of her cage, groomed herself, came back to sniff and almost took the treat, then got nervous again, and repeated the cycle.

I fear I've been too impatient or am doing something wrong. If anyone could help, I'd be grateful
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Old 12-15-2018, 12:29 PM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: New hamster excessively grooming

Welcome to the forum & congrats on getting your new ham

It's still very early days & some hams take longer to tame & gain confidence than others so don't worry too much at this stage.
Just wanted to say that feeding treats through the bars at the beginning is perfectly ok & can work very well encouraging a nervous ham without invading their space.
When you say she's grooming excessively is it mainly her face & head? That is something they do when nervous & not something to worry about.
Most hams do better with taming outside the cage so you don't have to invade their territory as it were but if you think that might be a bit much for her this early then you could just continue to offer treats as you are now but I would keep your hand by the door & wait for her to come to you, if she takes a treat maybe back off a bit for a little while so she feels safe to enjoy it then go back to her after that.
Spend lots of time just talking to her quietly so she can get comfortable with your voice & having you around.
You could try doing the tissue trick if you haven't already, put some plain white toilet tissue up your sleeve for a while then shred it up & put it in the cage, this can help them get used to your scent, she may or may not use it for nesting but it doesn't really matter either way.
Taming can seem to take a backward step sometimes but just go at her pace & she should gain confidence.
It does sound as though you may have to remove the box soon & replace it with a new house for her, does she have a house at all? A house should have no base & be directly on a deep layer of substrate so she can burrow down & nest under it.
You don't need to worry about poo in there, that's dry & can be left for quite a while without being a problem but if she is peeing in there you will need to spot clean that sometime soon.
You could just use another box for a house for now & just place it over where the old box was, if there's dry nest material in the box put that back under the new one & just remove anything that's wet, all you really want to clean for the first few weeks at least is pee, don't worry about anything else while she settles in.
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Old 12-15-2018, 02:39 PM   #3
mzwiwy
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Default Re: New hamster excessively grooming

Welcome to the group! This is a great
Place to learn and ask questions!
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Old 01-04-2019, 05:22 PM   #4
r_h0shi
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Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 4
Default Re: New hamster excessively grooming

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
Welcome to the forum & congrats on getting your new ham

It's still very early days & some hams take longer to tame & gain confidence than others so don't worry too much at this stage.
Just wanted to say that feeding treats through the bars at the beginning is perfectly ok & can work very well encouraging a nervous ham without invading their space.
When you say she's grooming excessively is it mainly her face & head? That is something they do when nervous & not something to worry about.
Most hams do better with taming outside the cage so you don't have to invade their territory as it were but if you think that might be a bit much for her this early then you could just continue to offer treats as you are now but I would keep your hand by the door & wait for her to come to you, if she takes a treat maybe back off a bit for a little while so she feels safe to enjoy it then go back to her after that.
Spend lots of time just talking to her quietly so she can get comfortable with your voice & having you around.
You could try doing the tissue trick if you haven't already, put some plain white toilet tissue up your sleeve for a while then shred it up & put it in the cage, this can help them get used to your scent, she may or may not use it for nesting but it doesn't really matter either way.
Taming can seem to take a backward step sometimes but just go at her pace & she should gain confidence.
It does sound as though you may have to remove the box soon & replace it with a new house for her, does she have a house at all? A house should have no base & be directly on a deep layer of substrate so she can burrow down & nest under it.
You don't need to worry about poo in there, that's dry & can be left for quite a while without being a problem but if she is peeing in there you will need to spot clean that sometime soon.
You could just use another box for a house for now & just place it over where the old box was, if there's dry nest material in the box put that back under the new one & just remove anything that's wet, all you really want to clean for the first few weeks at least is pee, don't worry about anything else while she settles in.
Hi! This is such a late reply, but thank you for answering

She was excessively grooming her whole body, though I'm not sure it's an issue since she has done it less over time.

I used the tissue trick and she seemed very happy, taking it back to her [new] nest and arranging it nicely around her!

She has become more confident and is now able to step onto my hand and allow me to carry her, although only stays still for short periods of time and begins climbing my arm/burrowing through my armpit However, today she has been a bit nippy, which is weird since she generally doesn't do this. Hmm..
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Old 01-04-2019, 10:22 PM   #5
cypher
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Location: Wales UK
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Default Re: New hamster excessively grooming

It doesn't sound as though the grooming was anything to worry about then, glad to hear she's settling well & gaining confidence now.
Being a bit nippy could be caused by all sorts of things, any different smells on your hands or any changes that might have unsettled her a bit like cage cleaning maybe, it's hard to guess so see how she goes with that for now.
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Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
T'ycor, Ziggy, Zephyr, Flynt, Mickle, Little Whisp, Zen, Zeki, Tinwë, Zylvan, Míriel, Calyanwë, Gusto & Meri
❤️
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