New hamster won't come out at all.. worried

Nube · 08-25-2015, 01:38 PM

Hi,

Am new to hamster world and need advice badly. Not sure this is the right section, please redirect me where appropriate if not.

Have read pages and pages on Internet and there is conflicting advice. We got a Syrian hamster on Saturday (3 days ago). He was shy on the first day but did run around and explore the cage and spent lots of time in his wheel, stopping only to drop off. We did not handle him but talked to him and tried to offer him treats (which he very gingerly accepted).

On the second day he was still Ok but bit my 10-year old when she tried to pick him up (we did say do not do it

). On the third day (yesterday) he did not come out of his house, but when offered a bit of corn on cob by my daughter he poked his nose out of the house and ate the first lot but bit her again when she gave him the second lot. After that he stayed in the house all evening and was not out before midnight when I went to sleep.

He obviously ate in the night as his bowl was nearly empty in the morning, but today he did not come out at all again so far (it's 9:30 here). I have ruffled bedding in the entrance of his house and offered him a bit of cucumber. He very carefully poked his nose out and nibbled a tiny bit , and after that could not be persuaded to show his face again.

So what do we do now? My daughter is really disappointed as she got a hamster and has hardly seen him. But apart from that I am worried if he is Ok and how dirty his house is. The advice ranges from leaving him alone for a week to "take his house out of the cage and try to handle him" (and clean his house). If he does not come out of the house at all when we around how are we supposed to tame him? And how can I make sure he is Ok, has not got wet tail or upset tummy?

Any advice will be appreciated, we are really worried here. We had rats before and they were friendly from the first day so we did not need to tame them at all...

Piebald · 08-25-2015, 02:27 PM

Hi Nube,
I think you should have some patience. Try to look at it from your hamsters point of view. He is a tiny prey animal who relies on his senses other than sight and feels safest in an environment he is completely familiar with. He suddenly finds himself taken away from anything familiar and has been plopped into a strange cage, with strange smells and sounds, and strange humans. If he is young and was with his litter mates before you brought him home he is on his own for the first time. He is likely very frightened and nervous. It will take usually a good two weeks for him to gain enough confidence for you to start taming him. Treat him now with understanding about what he is going through, not like a toy. It is a good thing for a 10 year old to learn in my view. If she takes her relationship with the hammie with respect she will, in time, find she has a great friend. I recommend she, and you watch ErinsAnimals on you tube for the start of your hamster learning. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...LnU9C9rRVFaNV7

Good luck and keep us posted or ask any questions as you go! And we love pictures.

ETA here is a good introductory vid from Erin, hope it helps

Nube · 08-25-2015, 02:59 PM

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes we knew it would take long time for a timid hamster to adjust and were ready to accept it, but he has fooled us by being quite relaxed first couple of days so I am worried that the regression was caused by us trying to feed him treats and talking to him. And my daughter is usually sensible, she has been very good with rats, so this should not be a problem (yes she tried to pick him up once but we all make mistakes). I just want to know whether I should at least once open his house and clean it and check the hamster is Ok?

And as I mentioned - the advice from different sources is often contradicting and confusing...

PS will show the video to my daughter too, many thanks for that!

PPS and there is no pictures as we have not seen him properly yet! We were very careful not to scare him first few days so did not run for the camera every time he was out, and now we hardy see his nose once a day

bbbarker · 08-25-2015, 03:39 PM

You definitely need to slow down a little bit, when I got my first Hamster I wasn't very patient as most first time Hamster owners aren't. After having him for 2 days I decided to pick him up (worst decision ever) he jumped out of my hands and it really set us back in taming. I would suggest leaving him for a week, only changing his water and food and maybe sitting by his cage once a night and talk to him so your voice becomes familiar. After a week you may notice your hamster becomes a little bit more brave, coming out whilst you are in the room but don't jump straight in to picking him up because this is going to set tje process back. You need to gain his trust, if he doesn't trust you and is scared he's going to do the only normal thing which is biting. Try putting tissue down your socks for an hour or so and putting it in his cage so your smell becomes familiar. I really recommend sitting down with your daughter and watching some of Erin's videos on YouTube, she has one specifically for taming. Good luck let us know how you get on

Wanna Hamster · 08-25-2015, 03:45 PM

Piebald and bbbarker have given some great tips on taming. I personally have had a breeze taming Tori. She jumped onto my hand when I tried giving her a treat on the second day and was content to snooze on my lap! Most hamsters are very different!

Nube · 08-25-2015, 03:48 PM

So just to make it clear - I should not worry about the state of his house for these two weeks? I am even not sure he drinks as I have not seen him drink and have not seen any wee. The other (school) hamster wees for England

Only seen a couple of droppings as well. I assume though as food disappears he does eat... And what about cleaning his cage? It is Ok now since he probably does all of his business in the house, but things are going to get smelly...

Piebald · 08-25-2015, 11:39 PM

Hi Nube,
A picture of his cage would be useful to see his environment

The advice from Erin, who is highly regarded, is to leave him for at least a week. She also talks about the concerns about drinking. Your hamster needs to get that house all smelly with his own scent-- let him!! It is comforting to him. I myself can't see what it will accomplish to dig him out of there to "have a look" other than to upset him. I doubt you will be able to tell yet if he is poorly-- and his behavior sounds normal. The first couple of days perhaps he just hadn't decided it was safe in the house. Just be sure the water is working and keep it fresh. Your best chance of seeing him is to peek in the middle of the night or very early in the morning-- however, he may scoot back to his house if he smells or hears you. Hamsters have excellent hearing, those ears are like sound enhancers.
Hang in there! What food are you using? There is a list of safe foods and treats you can leave one out and he may take one when you are away LINK
Did you see the BBC segment on hamsters in their recent series Wild at Heart?
These are some hamster fun for you while you wait for your fella to make an appearance

Thin Lizzy · 08-26-2015, 01:26 AM

Whenever hamsters get a new home, they like to mark it, scratch it, rub themselves against it. I know the thought of 2 weeks seems like s long time but, they like to be able to smell their smells, it would be good if he had a set area for the toilet so that you could remove any soiled substrate.
I can understand your daughter being disappointed but, you need to go at your hamster's pace.
The tissue trick is an excellent way of letting your ham get familiar with your smells and talking softly to him even if you can't see him will let him get use to your voices.

Nube · 08-26-2015, 02:05 AM

Hi all, thanks again for all the advice, am feeling better now. Here come some details and more questions.

The cage we have got is from Pets at Home (shown below). It has two levels, however we have removed the top level on the second day (which I now think might have been a silly thing to do but we thought it would make him more sociable as there is advice to not give them a house for example for first few days so they cannot hide). He was still able to climb into the tubes easily.

Cage setup is pretty basic at the moment (see photos). We have a few toys ready for him but decided to not overcrowd the cage at the moment. We have covered part of the cage with a towel to give him a bit of privacy (this came from the fact that the school hamster came to us with a towel covering the cage, so we thought it might be a good idea - yes we are looking after a school hamster too at the moment, and she is the friendliest hamster I have ever seen)

The hamster himself came from a litter of hamsters from a small pet shop (that was where we got our rats from so we knew it was a reasonably good place... family business and all, small breeders). He is 7 week old as of yesterday. The food is their hamster seed mix. We have given him a few treats as in bits of cucumber, apple and corn on cob. He loves the cucumber and the corn, but seems to not like the apple particularly.

As I said, first two days he was quite friendly, explored the cage, used the wheel, would poke his nose out through the door when I opened it, accept treats from my hand and let me stroke him with one finger. Apart from the incident mentioned, we did not try to pick him up at all, and he remained friendly even after my daughter picked him up.

Anyway, we will leave him alone now for at least a week following your advice. However, a few more questions (all related to the issue if we should interfere with his environment at all):

1. Should we put the shelf back or leave the cage as it is now?
2. Should we put more toys in? We have a little wooden climbing "block", a crunchy tunnel, and my daughter could make him a hammock - the school hamster loves the one she made for her.
3. We also have seed and fruit sticks. Would it be a good idea to hang them for the new hamster?
4. Speaking about the toilet - we tried to toilet train the school hamster. Bought her a toilet and added some soiled bedding there, and keep doing it every time we clean the cage. She absolutely loves her toilet. Only she uses it to groom herself and to hide food there

Have not seen her use it as a toilet at all, she still wees mostly in the tiniest corner behind the house and poos everywhere. We also have a toiled for the new hamster but were waiting to see where he chooses to do his business so we can set up toilet area there. But since he seems to be doing it in his house I do not see a point in putting the toilet in, or am I wrong?

PS Before you ask - we all do wash our hands very carefully after we handle each hamster.

PPS Another quick question - I forgot that we have alarm sensors in all rooms which will glow blue when there is movement. I am wondering if I should cover it up, it may be a bit freaky in the night if it reacts to hamster moving... Need to somehow check if it does actually

Nube · 08-26-2015, 05:26 AM

Have just had time to watch Erin's video completely, which is again reassuring. My daughter will watch it in the evening.

Am looking forward to advice on the above questions from experienced colleagues