Taming Help

Black_Inky_Eyes · 03-01-2019, 05:39 PM

Ok, so I let my Syrian hamster settle into its enclosure for 5 days and after 3 days in that time period I began to talk to my hamster when he was out but had to do it in the dark because when any light (including red) would be turned on he would freeze until the lights were switched on again. I talked to him just to get him used to my voice, I was whispering but still when I started talking he would frantically run across the cage out of fear. I knew he was shy but I didn't know it was this extreme.

Anyway, after the 5 days, I fed him some treats out of my hands with gloves which he seemed okay with but he doesn't dare step on my hand and will only take it out of my fingers. I tried feeding him on the hand after I put him in a box outside the cage so he wasn't so territorial in his own cage but that made up him more nervous and began to make a little repetitive clicking noise and was clearly stressed. Now I can feed him out of my fingertips, only with gloves and that's lucky if he doesn't sprint across the cage which only my past Robo has done, and nothing else. I really want to try and tame him but he seems so nervous and I don't want to give him a stressful illness. He's going on his wheel a lot and I know that's a sign of stress. What should I do? Have I made a mistake? Is this hamster never going to be tamed?

cypher · 03-01-2019, 11:44 PM

It's still very early days, some hamsters are much more nervous than others & will take more time & patience so don't worry or try to rush things just keep going slowly.
Is there a reason for the gloves? That in itself might be intimidating for him, if you haven't already do the tissue trick so he can really get used to your scent & ditch the gloves, let him get used to your hands slowly though don't try to push them on him, just let him get used to coming to you.
If he's running off & hiding keep talking to him for a little while then leave a treat for him when you walk away so he can make the association between your presence & good things.
There's no set time frame for taming they are all different, I would continue to have this interaction with him while he's in the cage for a bit longer before getting him out, try that when he's a little more confident, if you're using a box for out of cage taming take some substrate from the cage so it smells familiar & give him a few things to explore in there too.
Running in the wheel can be a sign of stress but young hams can go crazy for the wheel just because they love it so I wouldn't worry about that.

Black_Inky_Eyes · 03-02-2019, 06:23 AM

Hi,

I have done the tissue trick but he didn't really do anything with the pieces of tissue since he's on Kaytee Clean and Cozy and that has pieces of tissue in it anyway.

It's not that he'll hide away but just will very suddenly sprint across the cage, giving me quite a shock, and then stop either moving normally, completely frozen until I'm gone or sprint again usually one of the last two.

I thought taming mostly inside the cage was bad because they're territorial?

The gloves are just because I have anxiety and am extremely nervous he's going to take a nibble at my hand as he's my most nervous Syrian and has also taken a small nibble at the gloves when I tried to give him a mealworm

cypher · 03-02-2019, 06:30 AM

Personally I don't think there's any single right or wrong way to tame a hamster as they're all different, if you think he's being territorial & doesn't like hands in the cage then persevere with out of cage taming but if he seems ok with hands in the cage & very nervous out of the cage it's fine to continue taming in the cage, you just have to try & judge what's best for them really.
Everything is still very new to him so I don't think his reactions are that unusual, while I can understand how you feel about the possibility of getting bitten I think they're far more likely to nibble or bite a glove than a finger so it could encourage that kind of thing, try not to be afraid of a little nibble though, it's very different to getting bitten & is one of the ways they explore new things.

Black_Inky_Eyes · 03-02-2019, 03:07 PM

I think I can feed him without gloves in my fingers as he seems fine with that as long as I approach him from the side and not from straight above which would almost definitely make him frantically jump. So, since he made a stressful clicking noise-the kind a hamster makes before they scream-and was very clearly unhappy. My plan is to carry on feeding him out of my fingertips and then see if he'll take a treat out of my palm. But I'm unsure of where to go from there, any advice or changes to my current plan? I'm thinking the taming process will be different since he's very jittery and nervous? Correct me if I'm wrong.

cypher · 03-02-2019, 10:19 PM

Just take it one step at a time, once he's got more comfortable with taking treats from you & is more confident he should move on to taking food from your palm & may just climb onto your hand, keep that up for a while before considering the best next step for him, you could just try the out of cage taming again then.
Any ham will be scared if you approach them from above but with the size of your cage it should be easy enough to approach from the side.