Taming tips?

[xosunflowerox]

So I bought my hamster a playpen and I've tried to put her in it a couple of times now. I was following videos that showed the bathtub taming method. I put her in the playpen with some of her toys and some treats and got in with her. The first time she was scared, but curious. She took treats from my hand and kept trying to crawl under my legs. The next time I tried the playpen, she was even more afraid. She spent the whole time trying to escape and hide. She didn't want anything to do with the treats. From the videos I watched, it seems like normally the hamster bonds with their owner during these sessions. The hamster is crawling all over the owner, allowing them to be picked up, pet, ect. I read other things that said it helps speed up the taming process, but all it's seemed to do for me is backtrack. I'm not sure if I should keep trying this method as it just seems to scare her. What can I do to help tame her?

[buttercuplols]

I wear tissues up my sleeve each day and then shed them in the evening and pop them in Hesper's cage by her house for more bedding with my scent on. This has helped with us. Hesper is around 4 months and taming has been slow and back and forth but progressive finally. I do bathtub or small taming bin sessions. I started with just a few minutes at a time and built up. She now comes out on my bed for 15 minutes a couple of times a day. Also, she was very skittish in the evening when she first woke up originally so I switched to morning taming just before she went to bed and she was much more relaxed and exercised out. That helped A LOT! Good luck!

[frodo]

I had the same experience with my hamster! Eventually, we started to tame her in her cage, which worked surprisingly fast (maybe 2-3 weeks). She became so comfortable she would crawl up on our arms and body - take treats - did not mind getting picked up etc.
After she became comfortable and would express she wanted out, we would let her out of the cage in a hamster-safe space on her own terms. Meaning we would never carry her out - even though we could, instead we would move her cage to a playpen and let her climb out of her cage under supervision.

However, it is important when doing the playpen method, that you provide your hamster with hiding spaces/toys/wheel. Remember, hamsters do not like big open spaces - and not all hamsters are alike, hence the taming process might take longer time. )

[xosunflowerox]

Thank you for the tips!

Frodo, how did you get your hamster more comfortable with you while in the cage? My hamster was taking treats off my hand, but not anymore.

[Pebbles82]

They vary. And it is time and patience. She is probably still a bit stressed after moving the cage to another room. So take it very slowly for now. I would suggest leaving off out of cage taming for another week. And sort of start from scratch again. Let her settle a bit.

And the tissue trick mentioned above is good too With bathtub taming they do spend most of their time sliding up and down trying to escape and during that time you can try gently stroking her on the back with one finger while she's busy trying to climb the side of the bathtub! If she jerks around as if to bite then stop, and try again a bit later. Then leave it till the next session and same again. And at some point she will accept being stroked on the back by one finger and ignore it - and not jerk round. That is big progress.

If you have her wheel and a cardboard tube eg and a hide of some kind (I used a cardbord kitchen roll inner tube and a mug on its side) in the bath and hide the odd bit of food or treats here and there she may start investigating those a bit in between trying to escape the sides of the bathtub. And you can then move onto (after she has acceptedthe finger stroke) sort of putting your hand flat on the bathtub, palm up and cupping it under her slightly while she's standing or walking and just raising your hand about 1cm but don't try and hold her, let her walk off. Do that a couple of times for a couple of sessions and then on the second session raise your hand a bit more but still let her walk off. And the next time let her walk from hand to hand with your hands like a bit of a tunnel - just a short time so she doesn't get stressed by it. From there you should be able to lift and hold her without her wriggling to escape or "pinging" (where they wriggle freee and leap in the air at the same time about 2 feet!).

It took ages to hand tame our last syrian with bathtub sessions twice a week but when it happened it was instant and suddenly we could hold him and he was placid as anything.

Bear in mind that even when tame and handleable they often don't like being held too long and won't sit still for long (unless they're sleepy and then may doze on your lap).

[xosunflowerox]

Ohh!! I wasn't aware that the hamster trying to escape the entire time was normal. When I got my hamster, I wanted one that I could pet and hold. Back then, I hadn't done a lot of research on the taming aspect. When I picked my hamster out, I looked at a few (I wasn't aware you shouldn't be trying to pet/pick them up right from the start). The breeder showed me how to hold them and the hamsters I was looking at were terrified. When they were picked up or pet, they would flinch and one even rolled onto his back like he was in shock. I picked my hamster because she didn't flinch when she was pet. It was obvious she didn't really like it because she wouldn't sit still for her, but she also wasn't terrified.

Before I moved her, she would allow me to pet her while she was eating and she wouldn't move. But inside the playpen, she kept moving around so much. I tried to stroke her back with my finger. She doesn't flinch, but she started trying harder to get out. Meanwhile in her cage, she would sit still while I pet her if she was eating.

I will definitely add in a hideaway, tube and wheel next time I try the playpen (though I will let her settle for a bit before trying again).
When I lay my hand flat, she never climbs on. Does she have to walk onto my hand? I did try holding my hand flat when she was getting out of her carrier and into the playpen. She had no choice but to use my hand as a platform.
From the videos I've seen about taming, it seems like the hamster just crawls onto the owner's hands on it's own? So far that hasn't happened.