Chinesesy Sisters

[velma]

Like cypher said, patience is the key. Animals need to learn to trust you not see you as a threat. Letting them settle in to their new living arrangements and being patient when it comes to handling will get you further than chasing them around and forcing them to do something that makes them scared. You'll likely only end up with hams that hide from you. When they've settled and you want to start handling more, I found with Lewis my Chinesy that with a bit of reward he will happily get in a mug or his pouch and then I lift it a very small amount and he walks down onto my hand, to get a sunflower seed to start with. He seemed to be less weirded out that a hand straight in. But he gets to walk off when he wants, it's not up to me.

[Cinnamon Bear]

Thanks TL and Velma, I see now that I did the right thing in separating them. They each have so many enriching tubes and ladders in their tanks that they otherwise wouldn't have had. They had nothing to do except forage for food and run on their wheel. This is much better. I'll leave them alone for a couple days to get used to being alone and with their new cage set-ups.

I don't want them hiding from me. I think that I've only forced Kylie 2x's & Mylie 1x but still I understand that would be ruining our relationship, like you said they will end up hiding from me. They hide enough on their own. Let alone with me chasing them. I'm glad that Kylie forgave me and went right back to her wheel.

I'll read some of the Chinese threads to pick up some more info on the species. Izzy I just left alone and interact with her some nights during feeding. She has her underground tunnel system so if that makes her happy then that's fine with me.

Mylie & Kylie come out pretty much after the lights are out. I turn on a red light and then I can see them a little. Then if I get up fairy early they are awake in the morning hours, but overall this should be interesting.

You never know what your going to get with any hamster of any species till you bring it home. I think some species hide more than others, but it's still unknown until they settle in. You just hope that you have adopted or bought a great hamster. If you didn't than the morally right thing to do is to give it a loving home unconditionally. That's just my thoughts on the subject.

Thanks Velma for the info on training tips

Update: The Chinese sisters are handling the split up in very different ways. Kylie is going nuts, just running all over the place, enjoying everything. She was banging the sand bath against the glass so I had to put my hand in there to put more bedding behind the sand bath so it wouldn't make banging noises.

While I was in her cage I thought I'd offer her a sunflower seed but all she did was sniff me and bit the back of my hand.

Mylie is having the roughest time adjusting. She hid under the bedding the whole time I was up watching Kylie in early morning. Mylie is the most active one too so I'm guessing that she needs more time to adjust.

I lingered around in Kylies cage so I'm not surprised I got bit, since she is claiming the territory for herself but it didn't make me feel good. She was still too nervous to take the treat. She didn't mine my hand in her cage, just should have taken it out right away instead of trying to interact with her.

It's so hard to have patience with them. But there really isn't any choice in the matter, they need a few days just to cope with their loss plus a new cage set-up, so that's a lot of changes for a little hammy.