♥ Banoffee's Thread ♥

[Chezzu]

♥ Introduction ♥
Hello everyone! I'm Chezzu and this is a thread about my dearest hamster Banoffee! She is a gray and white banded Syrian and was brought home on the 20th of November 2015. She is sweet and curious and likes to play in her sand bath the most!

♥ I'm very excited to get to know her better and I hope that you feel the same! ♥

[cypher]

She is a lovely girl, look forward to seeing more of her as she settles in.

[Pygmypuff]

Yay! So glad you made this thread, I'm very excited to learn all about Banoffee and her little quirks! She's so gorgeous!

[Chezzu]

♥ Chezzu's Taming Method ♥

Many people have their own personal taming methods and I am one of them! It's important to remember that you are essentially bonding with your hamster and you should not rush things. You are looking to form trust between you and your hamster that will last their whole life and that takes time.

It's also important to remember that all hamsters are different and they all take different amounts of time to develop trust. They won't all be able to reach the same level, some hamsters just don't like being picked up and if that is your hamster it's important not to push it.
Now then.. let's get on with my methods!

Step 1
Introduce yourself to your hamster; talk to them softly and put your hand in their cage. Slowly touch the substrate and toys to get your scent on them, try not to startle your hamster, remember to keep movements slow.
Put a clean old sock or an unscented tissue in your sleeve and keep it there all day. Just before you go to bed take it out of your sleeve and put it in your hamsters cage, it should have your scent on it by now!
This method lets your hamster know you are there and you're a presence.

Step 2
Now that your hamster knows your presence and is starting to get more familiar with your scent you can start putting your hand in their cage more often, I'd recommend a couple of times a day for short periods of time. You should do it slowly as not to startle your hamster, shuffling the substrate under your hand when you put it in the cage let's your hamster know you're there. Ideally you should be talking softly to your hamster at this point too even a simple "hello" will do! Your hamster may come up to you to smell you it may not. It all depends on your hamster! I usually refrain from moving onto the next step if my hamster hasn't sniffed my hand yet, I'd recommend you do the same.

Step 3
Now that your hamster is a bit more used to you and your hand being there, start offering treats to them! A lot of people say holding out the treats for them in your fingers is the best way to do it but I think starting with just putting your hand on the bottom of their cage with the treats on works just a little bit better. Keep talking to them like you had been in the previous step. Chances are the first couple of times you do this your hamster won't come over and take the treats from you, but that's okay! Just be patient! Slowly they will start coming over to you and taking the treats. Do this a couple of times a day as it will be easier for your hamster to trust you if you are visiting it a few times a day. As they get more comfortable with this, start lifting your hand up highter so they have to climb on your hand to get the treats, this will help you in the next step! Remember not to overfeed your hamster treats, I usually find seeds work best so they aren't eating lots of sugary unhealthy treats.
Don't move on from this step until your hamster is fully comfortable with you putting your hand in, and is comfortable climbing onto your hand and taking the treats! If your hamster is scampering away as soon as they've taken the treats they are not ready to move on to the next step.

Step 4
You can finally start picking up your hamster in the form of gentle lifting. You start using the same method as the previous step, holding you hand just above the ground so your hamster has to climb up to get the treats. Once your hamster is comfortably on your hand slowly lift it up a bit highter than it was previously. At this point your hamster should at ready used to having your hand somewhat off the ground so lifting a bit higher shouldn't be too much of an issue! Once you've held them higher for a few seconds, lower them to the ground again so they can get off if they wish. Try to do this at a height that if your hamster does jump, they won't get hurt. As your hamster slowly gets more familiar with this, lift them up a bit highter, until you're just lifting them out of the cage a little. Once your hamster is perfectly fine with you doing this, that's the sign that you can continue to the next step!
Don't move on from this step until your hamster is fully comfortable with you lifting them up and putting them back down.

Step 5
Now that your hamster is being lifted just out of their cage you can slowly transition this to taking them out of the cage and into a different container, like a small box or something similar. Remember to be careful! You are taking them out the cage and although they are used to you lifting them higher they are not used to being took out of the cage. Be ready for the possibility of them jumping or panicking and trying to run out of your hands, just remember take it slowly. If your hamster jumps, don't try this step again, go back to the previous step until the next day, then you can try again. If yoy are successful in taking your hamster from their cage to the container, leave them in the container for a few seconds just for a small break and then put the container in their cage so they can climb out back into their home. When they are comfortable being taken out of their cage and put into the container, slowly you can start lifting them back over into their cage out of the containter so they get used to you taking them both there and back! I recommend slowly taking the container away so it will become you picking them up, and holding them for a few seconds then you putting them back in the cage. Once they're fully comfortable with this, you can start holding them for longer periods of time until they are fully comfortable with you!

Whilst you are doing steps 4 and 5, you should be sofly talking to them and attempt to stroke them. Even when you're not having a taming session you can still talk to your hamster and stroke it, they like your attention!

This will be the method I use to tame Banoffee as long as everything goes to plan!

♥ There you have it! That's my taming method! I hopes it works as well for you as it does for me! ♥

[Chezzu]

Originally Posted by cypher

She is a lovely girl, look forward to seeing more of her as she settles in.

I'm really glad to hear you think so! ♥

[Chezzu]

Originally Posted by Pygmypuff

Yay! So glad you made this thread, I'm very excited to learn all about Banoffee and her little quirks! She's so gorgeous!

You're so sweet! I think I'm just as excited as you heehee!~ ♥

[Chezzu]

♥ Banoffee's Cage ♥



Banoffee's cage is a 90cmx40cm recycled fish tank. The story is pretty funny for how I got it! I was at my girlfriend's with another friend of mine, after a long night of playing video games and telling scary stories we were all exhausted but we were still somehow awake. We decided it was too late to go to bed so we should go and make breakfast, my girlfriend went towards her bedroom door and I followed close after. Being the tired zombie I was, I didn't notice she stopped and I bumped straight into her. I apologised quickly, as that's the type of person I am, and I went to look up at her face but she was focused on the ground. "What? Is everything okay?" "The floor is wet, Emma". I inspected the ground and she was right, in fact, it was soaking. It was coming from the fish tank. I went over to it and saw that a tiny but of the glue holding the glass together had peeled off and water was gushing out of it.
Long story short, we got her a new fish tank, I fixed her old one and thoroughly cleaned it then took it home for my old Syrian, Cinnabun.

Now, little Banoffee lives in it! It contains:
9" Trixie silent wheel
Small ceramic hamster bowl
Crystal de-luxe mini drinking bottle
D.I.Y toilet roll tube and mug bottle holder
Honey and seed treat wheel
Wooden gnaw lollipop
Chew sticks X2
D.I.Y. sandbath
toilet tube tunnel
Woodland play sticks - Small
Syrian crinkle tunnel
Woodland play sticks - Large
D.I.Y dig pen

♥ She seems to really like it so far atleast! ♥

[Pygmypuff]

Your bonding tips are fantastic

Also, I absolutely love your cage. It looks really modern and smart.

[Chezzu]

Originally Posted by Pygmypuff

Your bonding tips are fantastic

Also, I absolutely love your cage. It looks really modern and smart.

Thank you! I've owned hamsters practically all my life, ever since I got my first one for my fourth birthday I've never been without one! I've picked up a few tips over the years to form a strong bond ♥

Thankyou about her cage too! Most of the time I just pick up whatever is useful and affordable for both me and my hammies ahah~ ♥

[Chezzu]

November 24th 2015 - Day 1



Today is the first day of Banoffee's taming! Of course, I'm going to be starting on step one from my taming method. I've got tissues up my sleeves ready to go for before I go to bed! I've felt around the cage a few times but mostly whilst she's been asleep! She's been up to investigate me moving her wheel around, as pictured above ahah~ She's sniffed at me but she hasn't braved coming up to me and sniffing me yet, but honestly I don't expect that just yet! ♥

Update - 17:47

I put a tissue in each sleeve at around 10am and I've decided to put the one from my right sleeve in her cage early! This means when she wakes up again, there will be the tissue with my scent in there so she can roam around and get used to it! I'll be awake so I can still occasionally pop my hand in but I don't want to overwhelm her since she seems a little bit jumpy. I have another piece of tissue to put in before I go to bed! I'll update again if anything else happens! ♥

Update - 20:00

Banoffee is very vocal in her concerns for me putting my hand in her cage, she's curious but very nervous. She's easy to fright, and even the slightest movement can make her jump slightly. She has also tried jumping across the cage to get away from my hand. I can tell I'm going to need to be very patient with her, of course that's okay though! I hope we can develop a bit more trust soon! I have all my faith in her and I'm not the slightest bit nervous of her and I know we can both do this.. we just need to take it slow!