Handling/Taming

[BeccasHams]

Sorry it'skinda long and rambly...

I've seen a lot of posts lately on taming hamsters and people saying they're "not ready to be picked up" or they cannot pick them up?
Can someone please enlighten me as to how someone could not be able to pick up a hamster?

I've owned many and never had this issue and am beginning to wonder if it's more an issue with the owner being afraid of the hamster? I'veseen a few of mine snarl a bit if i would disturb their sleep but even then, Give em a minute and you pick em up. In the many hamsters I've owned I always found give em a treat and get on in there and pick em up and just start handling them really and soon enough they'll get used to you and sit in your hand, I've had some even come when called.
I feel quite bad for these people who "cant tame their hamsters" but i kinda think they have to just pick em up...

Even with hedgehogs,another timid animal, you wouldn't wait for it to come to you.. you pick it up and spend time with it, with time they'll grow to like you more and sometimes even seek you out.

Mainly I'm confused why we are encouraging people to tame hamsters the way most people seem to? Because all of my hamsters are very tame and I use quite different methods

[kyrilliondaemon]

I use a variety of taming methods (often different ones to those I see suggested on the forum), but I've had a few hamsters who weren't ready to be picked up straight away. The first two who've come to mind are Nelly and Nut. They had different reasons to not want to be picked up but in both cases we avoided picking them up until they were ready, we could have picked them up from the start but Nelly'd have bitten and been scared of us, Nut would've been terrified. It just seemed far kinder to tame them slowly and avoid picking them up before they were ready.

I don't always avoid picking a new hamster up and sometimes picking them up early on can work really well, but I do think its best to adapt your taming methods to suit the individual you're working with.

[velma]

Sometimes people are bit timid about picking up their hams from fear of being bitten (me included), the hams will pick up on that and get nervous themselves. But mainly I think it's good advice to let your ham guide you as to when they're ready to be handled whether that's 3 days or 3 weeks so your hamster will trust you. If that mans waiting, that means waiting. Different hamsters require different taming techniques but you have to start somewhere so we tend to recommend things that have worked for us. At the end of the day you want your hamster to enjoy being handled and comfortable about it, not just tolerate it or even worse fear it.

[Ann333]

I have had the same issue not just with hamsters but with small pets. Before the internet I always tamed my pets by just picking them up and spending time with them. Eventually they learned not to fear me and started seeking my attention. Now that the internet is readilly available, and there are taming guides all over the place, I have tried the different ways of taming. Most guides say wait a few days and start really slow... but i find that the animals never really gets there or is "ready" so I usually end up just picking them up the way I used to. I am not scared of being bit, and I understand every animal is an individual, and they do need to adjust, but at some point you have to be able to pick it up and handle it.