Newbie with questions...

[TriciaB209]

First time hamster owner (Syrian named Trixie) here with questions. I've had her about 2 weeks and am curious on a few things:

(1) I've been working with her on taming and I think we're doing great. When I talk to her she comes right to the door of her cage and I can open her cage and she'll walk onto my hand. I try to hold her and pet her but she doesnt seem interested in being loved on. She'd rather crawl up my arm and try to get away. I see peoples pics where their hamsters fall asleep on their lap, etc and I dont see Trixie ever doing that. Any insight?

(2) I've made a playpen for her with different toys, tunnels etc but all she tries to do is find a way out.

(3) What is the reason behind rocks under the waterer??

(4) When I clean her cage - is it ok to clean her den or should I try to leave that alone?

Any advice and/or insight would be greatly appreciated!

[cypher]

She's young & full of energy, young hams want to explore, even some older hams don't sit still for long, it's early days yet so you'll get to know her character better as you go along, she's doing really well coming to the door & climbing into your hand so I'd just let her enjoy what she wants to do.
Rocks under water bottles can help to keep nails trim.
For the first few weeks or so try to avoid cage cleaning & just spot clean where necessary, that may or may not be in her house but just check for anything damp or smelly & only remove that!
Full cage cleans are rarely needed, when you do clean leave at least a third of the old substrate along with some of her nest material & food hoard, you can always replace the hoard with a little fresh mix if it looks a bit old.

[Bertiebobbins]

Do you have anywhere you can let her free range? A totally hamster proof room? I find mine has more fun that way, whereas they always try and escape from a playpen.

Regarding the falling asleep, it's part age part personality as cypher says. One of mine is nearly 9 weeks I got him at 4 weeks and he has just started to sit still in my hands for a minute to have a stroke and then he's off again, places to go, people to see! My other one who's nearly five weeks is so different, he liked a cuddle from day one and he will sit on my knee to be petted, and likes to sit in my pockets.

With the cleaning, I check them every now and then but unless the little one wee'd in his I leave them well alone.

[Shannonmcn]

I can feel your pain seeing other peoples cuddly hams! My girl is extremely active, won't sit still for 10 seconds together, it's just her wee personality and tbh I find her extremely entertaining, I wouldn't really swap her for a lazy cuddly ham no matter what I tell her sometimes! It's just their natural instinct to explore and try and find ways to new places

Cypher is bang on with the rest welcome to the forum!

[greysome]

cypher I think pretty much covered the gist of it and as she said, you're doing well with her already coming to you and climbing your hand.

1-- I pretty much allow the hammie (or whatever animal) to control the pace when it comes to taming as it's about them learning to trust you. Still, I have hammies who are always eager to explore and others who will go for a cuddle though all do want a chance to climb all over me or explore at some point. Like cypher said, some hammies are cuddlers, others aren't --Hazel Nut is not a cuddler--or really a sit still when there's a world out there to explore sort of ham-and the only time she allows me to pet her has been while she's in heat, which was also the case for the, I think, two instances where she allowed a cuddle (of course, she was also super stinky at this time--Hazel Nut is particularly odorous whilst in heat)

2--She's just being a hammie. While some hammies may be perfectly happy being distracted by the toys in their playpen, I don't think I've ever met a syrian who doesn't want to see what's on the other side. I've noticed my syrians all try to escape their play pen whilst my dwarf and robo are both on the more skittish side and prefer to remain inside the pen as I keep most of the hides towards the middle of the pen (precisely to keep them inside the pen).

3-- I use rocks/tiles for a couple of reason--1, like cypher said, it helps to keep their nails trimmed. 2, I prefer having a hard and elevated surface under a water bottle rather than substrate or hay that can get wet/moldy from absorbing water in the case of a leaky bottle. In instances where I've had substrate under the water bottles rather than rocks, I've had some problems where the hammie would create a nest under the bottle, reaching up to the nozzle and the bottle would then "leak" and wet the entire area-which explains why the hammie would never actually sleep in that particular nest. I also prefer having a large rock or two underneath the bottle over tiles because my hammies will just nest over the tile but haven't tried to do so with (larger) rocks. If you have a sandpit/litter box and your hammie is anything like Hazel Nut who isn't happy unless the sand is hidden by the pit itself, you'll find it's more convenient to just weigh down part of the pit with rocks so it can't be tipped over than to zip-tie or velcro it in place.

4-- I would just spot clean. As cypher said, full cage cleans are rarely needed; spot clean where necessary (so basically, their bathroom and possibly any buried fresh food that can spoil). As for the den--if that's where they're pottying, then yes, you do need to clean it though save their clean bedding. I think most hams will, in time, avoid peeing in their nest itself, though. Most of my syrians will use their litter box where there is sand to do their business although Hazel Nut did pee in her den/house in the beginning though that stopped once she was settled and comfortable. I do have one, Sgt. Pepper, who likes to burrow an area adjacent to his nest to pee in but his actual nest itself tends to be relatively clean (well, free of pee). My general rule is if it smells or is wet, it goes. I never completely take away a hammies' hoard--I find it just stresses them out and more likely to hoard a larger amount.

[TriciaB209]

Many, many thanks for the replies! Such a wealth of information here. I've attached a couple pics of Trixie.

[Pebbles82]

She's lovely! A cute little baby! What cage is that - it looks quite tall?

[Pygmypuff]

Trixie is very cute!