Help with new Syrian!

[Isleofhamsters]

Last week I got my first Syrian hamster and I need advice for taming. He was 10 weeks old when we got him and he had 2 cage mates.

The first day we were very excited and we tried to record him exploring his cage. He started screaming at us, but was still excited so he continued exploring. We didn’t try the handle him, but we were crowded round his cage.

After a couple days we successfully gave him some pumpkin seeds. We didn’t try touching him, as he was still a bit jumpy when we had a hand in the cage.

He now takes treats from us with practically no hesitation and has put two paws on our hands to reach the treats. He has nipped us a of couple times. He has gotten used to us moving things around inside his enclosure. We have never tried picking him up.

From the start, he was awake before we went to bed and then awake before us in the morning.
Today however he woke up after the lights were off and we were asleep, and only woke up for 10 minutes in the morning to get treats and then went straight to sleep. Is this normal? It kind of seems like he is avoiding us.

Another thing. Do you think it would be a good idea to do bathtub bonding? As in taking him out of the cage using a jar or cup and letting him run around me whilst I give him treats?

Will this behaviour change? What is the best way to tame him?

If you are wondering, he comes from a pet shop where he was probably never handled.

Any advice would be great!

[Rads]

Hi And welcome to HC,
From what you have described it sounds all pretty normal, some Hamsters take many weeks to tame fully, some take a few days to a couple of weeks, the thing is to persevere and talk quietly to your Hammy he is coming to your hand and taking seeds and even putting his paws on you, sounds pretty good to me just keep at it ,try putting the seeds on one hand and letting him walk over the other hand to get to the seeds.
Bath tub bonding is supposed to be good too, but have never had to use it I have just worked at it as normal, if the hamster being tamed has shown interest then I work more at it, if not then I back off and always take it at their pace.