My sweetie

[cypher]

The video is totally adorable!
She does still look a little nervous at the end by the way she's flattening herself down on the ground, maybe try having less open space in her play area, you could try making a dig box or something for her to play in, just a container or cardboard box with either substrate or sand which she could dig around in & you could hide a few of those treats in there for her to find.
That floor must be a bit slippy for a little girl with furry feet, could you put something down on the floor for her? I use an old duvet cover under my play pen, anything they won't chew is fine, you can also scatter some substrate, herbs, flowers etc around to make it more interesting.
She sounds as though she's doing fine with taming, you just need to be patient & go slow & she will grow in confidence & steadily learn to trust you more.

[Thin Lizzy]

Super advice from Cypher!
So love the recent pics of Sweetie.

[fuzzyfriendly]

Hm, I had her in the kitchen before this room. Where we have linoleum floor. And she was walking a bit funny on those, kind of stretched out and not really running at all. So I tried putting towel, blanket and cotton bedding on different occasions. She was chewing, trying to scratch through all of them. In this other room we have wooden floors. Which are a bit old and not really slippery. Judging by the way she is zooming around, I didn't think they were too slippy :confused. A friend said that wooden floor is great for little critters, because they can also trim their nails a bit in a safe way while they are zooming around .

I can just put her in a big carton box. But that would be just another cage of some sort. Isn't one of the reasons for free time - hammie having more space to really stretch it's legs?

I'm looking forward to trying the sand bath. I had it since I got her, but just haven't tried it yet. I will try to take some pictures, when I finally do it .

We have winter&snow atm . I would love to pick some dandelion, daisies and clover otherwise. I did some search on safe flowers&herbs. I guess I could find some of those in the florist shop, but I'm quite certain they put all sorts of stuff on them (pesticide etc.).

[cypher]

I think anything textured like a towel really gets their attention so they do tend to chew which is just a way of exploring really but not what you want, I've never found they bother with something smooth like the old duvet cover or an old cotton sheet. I do tend to scatter a bit of substrate & other stuff around though so they're probably more curious about that.
Running on a wooden floor may have a marginal effect on nails but I doubt it would make much difference & it's not really that comfortable for them plus it can get quite cold in winter on wooden floors sometimes.
They don't need a huge amount of space to run around, it's more about a different space, different toys etc to explore & something you can interact with them in.

I'm sure she'll love the sand bath when you put it in, mine all enjoy theirs.

I wouldn't buy flowers or anything from a florist in summer if you have access to herbs & wild plants that haven't had fertiliser or pesticides of any kind on them then you can pick your own but at this time of year you can try dried ones which are sold for hams & other small animals. dandelion at least should be easy to find.
You could always try growing some herbs indoors things like basil, coriander & parsley are safe but I can't say any of mine like them!

It's taken me a while to find it but there's a play pen thread here that might help give you some idea of what others do.
Let's see your playpens!

[fuzzyfriendly]

Hello all, it's been a long time since I posted something. Our hamster is all grown up and is starting to calm down a bit.

She still loves broccoli, sunflower seeds and meal-worms. I tried a bunch of other stuff. I gave her a blueberry and a raspberry once. And then I was like: How come you don't like thiiiis? Raspberries are so greaaaat! It would be nice to have some sort of bribe other than those three things.

Anyway my partner and I have moved into another country last month and we took her with us. She was great the whole 800km journey. I was a bit worried that she would get wet tail or something afterwards, but everything was great.

She is still a bit shy. I feel kind of bad for saying this, because I know it's probably my fault. She is still the most sociable hamster I ever had but I wonder sometimes. Is it normal to be scared all the time? I hope she isn't too stressed out. If we change one thing in her environment she hides and avoids us for a day or two. The other day we put some boxes near her cage, so there was this brown thing 1,5 meters away that wasn't there before. And she just wouldn't come on to my hand that evening. Even though it has been a ritual for a while. I just don't know. Or it can be just a shadow, the light changing, she runs straight into her house. She does come out usually right after that but I kind of feel bad for her. Or it can be a certain noise. Basically anything sends her into "run for your life" mode. She never bit me, she sometimes nibbles on me if I have been just cooking something or held her food in my hand. I kind of like the last bit . When I carry her around the apartment she has her ears relaxed and seems curious. She enjoys her play-box as well, I think. For a while at least, then she just wants to get on my hand and get out.

But I would say she is more jumpy than other hamsters. I'm not sure if it is a part of hamster nature or if I did/am doing something wrong. As far as I can remember it has been like this from the start. I can't even imagine taking her to a vet or something. I worry if she gets sick that the stress from taking her to the vet will be the end of her.

Thank you for your patience

[Thin Lizzy]

So glad the long journey went ok, how many miles is 800km? How did you travel?
She's in a totally different environment so the air will be different, along with smells and noises. I would do the tissue trick, both you & your bf stuff some toilet paper up your sleeves and leave for a couple of hours and then place in her cage, she'll be curious and sniff it and sniff your scent, do this everyday for a week, just add the new toilet paper to it and I find with my hams that they'll pouch and add it to their bed.
I'd also ensure she's got plenty substrate and places to hide in her cage. Having that will make her feel note secure. Try and avoid a cage clean for at least 4 weeks, do daily spot checks in heart toilet corner and weekly spot checks on her bedding/sleeping area. Don't clean the bed area just remove any old food and remove any substrate/bedding but not all of it, be sure to keep some old and mix in with the new.
Talk as much as you can to her, praise her with some treats, this will help with her confidence.

[cypher]

Some hamsters are a lot more timid by nature than others & she may never be really confident so it really isn't your fault, you are doing your best for her & respecting the fact that she is shy & nervous.
I think all you can do is try to avoid as much change in or around her environment as possible, keep cleaning to the minimum necessary & maybe if you have anything new to put in her cage introduce her to it in the play box first.
If you just keep her time in the play box short, let her come out when she seems to have had enough but keep it up & keep handling her daily, even if only for really short periods she should gain a little more confidence & will at least be used to handling enough for health checks & if she does ever have to go to the vet, hopefully she won't but at least you will have done all you can to prepare her.

[fuzzyfriendly]

I have a situation. I'm panicking already. Closest vet is closed for another two hours. The next one is much farther and I don't have a car. I have to wait for this one. I hope they will take her, because rodents are not their specialty.

Today I took my hamster out. Just for a bit of a daily cuddle and check up. I usually take her out in the morning and then put her in a play box in the evening. And she has this big pinkish growth under hear ear. It seems to be growing a bit into her ear as well. Oh god I hope I'm not too late for whatever it is. It looks terrible, like a bunch of little bumps. She didn't mind me poking at it, so I guess it doesn't hurt. She took her worm and seemed ok.

I have to confess - I hadn't taken her out of her cage for a week before today, because my hubby and I were very sick. I was afraid we have something that could be transmitted to her ... oh the irony. I changed her water, food, she was active, responsive, eating, drinking, using her wheel, tail wasn't wet from what I saw. But I still have no idea how I could miss this growth. A week ago everything was fine. I feel like an awful owner already. I can only hope something can be done.

[cypher]

Sorry to hear this, try not to panic or blame yourself, it's the right thing to do not handling them if you're unwell so you're not at fault, these types of things can grow very fast but hopefully it will be something that the vet can deal with quite easily, hope all goes well when you get to the vet, keep us posted.

[Hamsterita]

I hope you were able to go with your little one to the vet and that everything went ok