Walnut the Robo hamster!

[Lilly1]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the warm welcome to the forum!
I've recently adopted from a friends relative. Walnut is around 1 years old, and is a roborovski dwarf hamster. He loves to burrow and has recently moved into a new house! Here's a picture of him with his signature white eyebrows image.jpg
Any tips to help with taming or general feedback is welcome!

[velma]

Hello Walnut! Not sure when you brought him home but best thing is to let him set the pace. And I found with My Hector that putting him in a playtub helped with taming. I use a jam jar to transport him (put a few sunflower seeds in and he goes in quite willingly). I have a plastic tub that has less stuff in than his cage. I put a couple of handfuls of his substrate in so it smells like him, a wheel so he can run off any energy if got stressed and sometimes his sand bath, sometimes a box if he wants to hide. But less hideouts means he has to interact more. From there I put my hand as flat as I could in the tub, with a sunflower seed on my palm & let him come & take it (he's greedy so food orientated it but you can just out your hand in and see if he'll walk on it anyway.) when he's comfy you can try lifting your hand a little and taking it from there. each ham is different though so there is no hard and fast rule. Just don't try and rush through the stages or they'll get freaked out and it'll set you back. There are plenty of boards to with good taming advice so I'm sure you'll find the right technique for you & Walnut

[cypher]

Congrats!

A lot depends on how much interaction he's had before but at a year old he may take a little while to settle into a new home so go slow with the taming, let him settle in quietly, just cosy up to the cage & talk to him so he gets used to you for now!

[Pebbles82]

Hello and welcome! He looks adorable. As the others say, take it slowly. Give him a few days to settle into his home/cage and make some habits. Start talking to him daily so he gets to know your voice, and you could use the tissue trick as well. Put some tissue or toilet paper up your sleeve, leave it there for a few hours then tear it into strips and put it in his cage for nesting material (helps get them used to your scent). Other than that I have not much advice as I know nothing about Robos lol! We have a Syrian hamster. Except they are very active and need a good sized cage. You could also feed him the odd treat through the cage bars while talking to him. Tricky to do that with a tank though.

[Loretta]

Aww he looks like a total cutie! Seconding the advice to take things slow to start with and just talk to him for now. When you come to hand-taming, I actually found with my rescue robos that the usual tub/bath taming methods did not work so well - they got really stressed by the strange new environment and spent the whole time either hiding or trying to escape! I ended up just taming in their cage as they were a lot calmer and more inquisitive in safe, familiar surroundings. Mine are also much more confident if the lighting is kept to a minimum. Robos have a poor eyesight and a strong startle reflex when approached suddenly, especially from above, so keep your movements slow and close to the ground. Try offering Walnut some treats pinched between your thumb and forefinger and seeing if he'll take them. I used to pick the sunflower seeds out of the hamster food and use them as taming treats, as they were the only things my two really went crazy for and robos are IMO less food-orientated than greedy Syrians. Dried mealworms are also great. Be patient, back off if he seems a bit overwhelmed and don't be disheartened if it takes a while to tempt him onto your palm. Good luck!