My hamster, who I've had for about 1.5 months, is the same, and I also have to work. Do you notice if he has a schedule where he's more likely to come out? I think when my hamster was at the pet store, they probably fed him around 4-5 pm, because I noticed when I called him with a treat around that time, he would come out, grab the treat and take it back into his hideout and go back to sleep. He would step on my hand just for a second to get it, so it's good enough for me (for now!) At other times, no matter how much I called him, he'd ignore me!
My hamster is so spoiled, I noticed he didn't want to eat most of his food and only liked fresh carrots and broccoli (the stuff I use to bribe him with to come out). So, sometimes, I don't give him a treat for a day or 2, leave just the food he hates (but is healthy for him), and once, when I came home late (around 9 pm), he was already standing right on the platform, waiting for his treat. I took that opportunity to cup both hands beneath him and bring him to the bathtub with me for some bonding time.
I also have a potty box for him, and when I see him in his potty, sometimes, i take the whole potty out and bring him to the tub for more bonding time! I make sure he pees before I handle him though, so I've been lucky he hasn't peed on me yet! 2x he peed right on the bathtub drain.
I think even as little as 15 min a day will be ok to start with. The first time I took him to the tub, he was so stressed he pooped everywhere (my bad. It was only his 2nd day home). Now he's less stressed, but he still doesn't enjoy being handled a lot. I try to always have a treat for him whenever I socialize him, or sometimes I bring my phone with me to the tub and just let him run around as he pleases, then I put him back in his cage, give him a treat and go to bed. Sometimes I catch him in the morning, also give him his food from my hand (sometimes I take it from his food dish if he doesn't eat it) before I get ready for work. He's usually hungry right when he wakes up, or right before he goes to bed, he'd want to hoard some food to take with him to his hideout.
I'm just trying to teach him to associate out of cage time with treats time
Otherwise, he doesn't even want to leave his cage.
I know every hamster is different, and I'm also a new hamster owner, so I'm not sure if this is helpful. Anyway, I think the first thing I learned about my hamster was that he does have a schedule too, and times when he's more likely to interact with me and when he ignores me!
Making hamster used to me being around
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