overstimulation?

Juliebrei · 09-07-2016, 09:48 AM

We are having a pretty much constant discussion in our little household. we have 2 hamsters, a syrian male, and a whinterwhite/hybrid female. syrian is just 2 months old and still very timid and it is a constant battle to try and tame him.
The whinterwhite/hybrid however, 4 months old and a bundle of energy. she is so happy to see us whenever we get near her cage that she will stand on her hindlegs and sort of pitterpatter towards our position in joy that someone wants to talk to her/give her a treat.

My boyfriend keeps trying to moderat her, not giving to many treats, not giving her any new toys, not interacting with her too much, because he thinks she will get overstimulated and therefore stressed.

I need some advise here. I say enjoy that she is so happy and spoil her rotten, but in my little syrian bing so timid i might be biassed in thinking that.

how would you handle her?

HellsBells · 09-07-2016, 11:37 AM

As long as she's coming over herself, it's not a problem at all, she wont be stressed. Don't worry

My own winter white boy wants to cuddle every night as well. I have one Campbell lady that doesn't like it to be touched at all... so I leave her be as it stresses her too much. I've tried for a while to get her used to me, but it didn't work at all. My other two Campbell girls love all attention!

cypher · 09-07-2016, 11:03 PM

If she want attention then she isn't going to get stressed by you giving it, not giving too many treats is something I would agree with but if she wants to be handled or have time out of her cage then just go ahead, if she's had enough she'll soon let you know.
I've had Russian dwarfs that would be up & about a lot during the day either being handled by me or out in the play pen just having fun, one girl would get seriously miffed if she couldn't spend the whole day in the play pen sometimes!

Juliebrei · 09-07-2016, 11:43 PM

Oh, she WANTS attention if not even demanding. She is just barely inside the adult weight group at 42 grams, so I don't think limiting treats is going to do anything for her, but it's more the giving her new toys and stuff when we get them or limiting that to a maximum of one new ting a day that has us divided, he says giving her new stuff falls under the major changes to her cage category and stresses her.

AmityvilleHams · 09-07-2016, 11:48 PM

New things can be given frequently,however every single day can be a bit too often if they're very large things which can be intimidating.Putting a new piece of wood or cardboard foraging toy is not going to be harmful,but adding large elaborate things can be harmful if done every single day.

Pebbles82 · 09-08-2016, 12:51 AM

I wouldn't change things in the cage too much. Adding the odd new toy once in a while (eg after a few weeks) is ok, but moving things around and changing layout isn't a good idea really as they make scent trails to find their way around. They do have different personalities and some are more tolerant than others of changes, but generally keeping things the same, in the same layout is best for hamsters. We have a Syrian and he hates any change - even if something has moved an inch! Although he accepts the occasional new thing being added (as long as nothing old is removed or moved). But not all Syrians are that fussy

I guess what you're thinking maybe is some of her excitement is over-excitement due to changes/new additions maybe? If she is happy to come and want attention, that's fine, but yes it can be a case that they want to keep coming out because they don't feel comfortable in the cage after a change.

Just a case of working her out as you get to know her really! Our Syrian has never been a bar chewer, but after we were on holiday last year and left him somewhere else for 10 days, then brought him home again, he started being very active, running circuits in his cage and bar chewing and wanting to be out all the time, and this clearly was a sign of stress - it settled eventually after a couple of weeks and a cage clean. Normally cage cleans can be a stressful experience, but on this occasion it was a distraction from his stressful behaviours.

I like Erin's Hamsters cage cleaning tips video - not sure if I've linked it before!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww

So over excitement can be a sign of stress - particularly rushing around frantically, but it sounds more like she is just sociable!

Our Syrian was also very timid and it took about 2 months before he was fully tamed,handleable and comfortable with us, but even then he was always a bit independent and tended to get stressed and shy easily. Once he turned 1 year old his confidence grew a bit. We found a couple of taming sessions a week was about all we could manage with him - partly due to the time involved but also because he needed to retreat and "recover" in between them. We did the bathtub taming

cypher · 09-08-2016, 12:52 AM

There are no hard & fast rules, every ham is different & if she enjoys the stimulation then that's fine, maybe stick more to things like new ways to hide her food, cardboard boxes, toilet roll things etc so she has lots of foraging & work to do1
Her weight is good, neither high or low but regardless of weight giving too many treats isn't good as she won't get a nutritionally balanced diet & most treats, even natural ones, tend to be high in fat.

ETA cross post with Serendipity, I do know how much you like Erin's cleaning video

but as I've said before if she is a very busy ham & enjoys digging that technique doesn't really work, it's more suited to syrians.
Spot cleaning & just partial cage cleans work better for dwarf hams generally.

Pebbles82 · 09-08-2016, 12:53 AM

Lol just read your first post again - you and BF sound like new parents deciding on what's best for a baby

All fun! As Cypher says there are no hard and fast rules. Maybe BF is just trying to curb purchase of hamster toys? Lol.

cypher · 09-08-2016, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Maybe BF is just trying to curb purchase of hamster toys? Lol.

lol! You could be on to something there

Fluffagrams · 09-08-2016, 02:28 AM

I've found that different hamsters need different levels of stimulation and attention and it's fine to give in to that providing that they're not resorting to negative behaviours such as bar chewing in order to get it.

If you find that you're giving her a fair few treats, you could always feed her pieces of her usual hamster mix. Some hamsters won't accept that but others might so it's worth a try.

One of mine is an attention seeker and needs things to keep her occupied and one tip that Vectis shared with me was to put her food in little boxes such as the ones that medications come in and then put some small holes in it so that they are able to get the scent of the food. Jessie loves 'rescuing' her food from the boxes and it keeps her busy.