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Old 07-02-2020, 06:04 PM   #1
Bobby88
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Join Date: Jul 2020
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Question Please help, My Russian dwarf hamster hides in the burrow and never seen.

Hello!

I am new here and would appreciate any advice on how to deal with the behavior of our new cute hamster.

Four days ago we brought home a 30 days old Russian dwarf boy, Choco is his name.
This is our first time with a hamster pet.
We had his home all ready, following the information given out by Victoria Raechel on her youtube, purchased a Savic Hamster Heaven Metro cage with a plenty of bedding and all essentials. We took possession of Choco in the evening and put him in the new cage.

When we woke up the next morning we saw that Choco dug and made a burrow as his home at one end of the cage where 7 inches of bedding is placed. We are happy to see this since he seem to have made a good home out of it. Attached photos of the cage and the burrow hole.

He sleeps during the day and wakes up around 4pm as we can hear him making noise. But as soon as we go over to look he goes and hides in the burrow.
In the past four days, we have yet to see Choco.

We see the evidence of his foot prints on the sand bath, and the food and snacks that he eats, so we believe he is active.

Last night we placed a camera on the cage with indirect dim light in his room, and took the video of the cage all night. We saw him come out of burrow after everyone slept. He was using the wheel running about 10 min every 2 hours and wondered around the cage snacking drinking etc for about 20 min every 2 hours as well.

We like to be able to interact with our hamster and tame him, but it is not possible given the first 4 days, we have yet to see him.

We saw on ErinsAnimal youtube where she explains how to tame a hamster and suggesting that if a hamster hides, to move him to a cage with less bedding and in open with one small hut with bedding in it to hide. We only have one cage and we feel very bad to destroy his burrow home and concerned that he might get stressed/traumatized by it.

We want Choco to get to know us and be tamed so he can trust us and feel comfortable around us. But in order to break the current situation/cycle, should we go ahead and destroy his burrow home and rearrange the cage so he is forced to be in an open visible and to interact with us? Any other option?

If you have any input/advise on what we should do, please respond.

Thanks in advance!
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Choco cage4.jpg (347.2 KB, 24 views)
File Type: jpg Choco cage5.jpg (252.6 KB, 16 views)
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Old 07-04-2020, 04:50 AM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: Please help, My Russian dwarf hamster hides in the burrow and never seen.

4 days isn’t long, it may take a while longer for him to gain confidence & come out more when you’re around.
I would spend time just talking to him to begin with, let him get used to your voice & your presence around the cage, you could try the tissue tick to help him get used to your scent too, just put some toilet tissue up your sleeve for a while then shred it up a bit & put it in the cage.
What kind of house does he have, sorry I can’t really see from the photos. If you have a good size house with no base on a deep layer of substrate underneath he may sleep in there, you can make one out of something like a shoe box, cut the base out & use the lid as the roof then you can just lift it off to check on him when you need to or to spot clean without disturbing things too much.
His cage is quite open so I would put more hides in to help him feel safe coming out, things like coconut hides, cork tunnels or just cardboard tubes are. good, even an egg box with a hole cut in each end makes a good hideout, this will make the cage more interesting for him f& you have more places to scatter food & treats for him so as well as feelng safer he will have more to encourage him to come out.
I would remove the tubes & penthouse thing from the cage, they’re not necessary & there is often a problem with them nesting in them & peeing in them so better without.
Just give it time & he should soo get a bit braver.
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Old 07-04-2020, 05:09 AM   #3
LunaTheHamster1
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Default Re: Please help, My Russian dwarf hamster hides in the burrow and never seen.

Hi, congratulations on your new hamster. Everything you states sounds perfectly fine to me. Like Cypher says it is early days yet and I think your hamster just needs more time to get used to all the new smells and sounds..

I wouldn't be destorying his burrows, that would just make him more unsettled. He needs somewhere to feel safe. Think of it like you woke up one morning and someone had changed all of your surroundings, you wouldn't know where you were.

When I get a new hamster I try to leave everything in their cage alone for at least a couple of weeks, longer if they are still very timid.

Try and be patient and just let him do his hamstery things, I am sure you patience will pay off long term.

Cypher has also given you plenty of other advice that may help.

Good luck and enjoy your new hamster.
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Old 07-04-2020, 03:36 PM   #4
Bobby88
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Default Re: Please help, My Russian dwarf hamster hides in the burrow and never seen.

Hi, thanks for the advice Cypher, we stayed patient and let him be and this morning, the 6th day, he stayed out when we walked into the room and saw him for the first time. We kept some distance and watched him do his things in the cage, very cute!
We will take your advice we will keep his burrow and create better hides for him so he can use them as options to his burrow. We will also remove the tubes and the penthouse. We will stay patient and enjoy him to grow and become tamed at his pace! Thanks.
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Old 07-04-2020, 03:45 PM   #5
Bobby88
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Default Re: Please help, My Russian dwarf hamster hides in the burrow and never seen.

Hi LunaTheHamster1, thanks for your advice also, what you said makes sense, we will continue to be patient and let him be and have him become totally comfortable and feel safe of the new home and us. Actually, today is the first day we saw him out of the burrow and our daughter handed a treat (a piece of cut cucumber) through the cage wires and he took it from her hand. We were so excited to see that, and seems that Choco is feeling better and safer about the new home and us already!!
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Old 07-05-2020, 02:08 AM   #6
LunaTheHamster1
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Default Re: Please help, My Russian dwarf hamster hides in the burrow and never seen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobby88 View Post
Hi LunaTheHamster1, thanks for your advice also, what you said makes sense, we will continue to be patient and let him be and have him become totally comfortable and feel safe of the new home and us. Actually, today is the first day we saw him out of the burrow and our daughter handed a treat (a piece of cut cucumber) through the cage wires and he took it from her hand. We were so excited to see that, and seems that Choco is feeling better and safer about the new home and us already!!
Good to hear Bobby88
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cage, burrow, hamster, home, choco, days, bedding, hides, destroy, youtube, open, made, feel, interact, dwarf, night, russian, min, tame, hours, video, light, dim, slept, room

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