Dwarven taming issues

[Lexligator]

Hi, hello, 'ey, howdy!
I've the cutest little WW hybrid named Latte- my first lone dwarf and second dwarf in general (I'm Syrian kinda guy). He's healthy, he's active and he's gluttonous as heck (yay!).

See the problems are 1) he's a big time digger/burrower. He loves to spend his time below "ground" than above it and 2) he's hardly EVER active during manageable hours. Meaning he'll get up around 8-9 AM for a snack or so- and I try to seize the moment- or at 3/4 AM.

The first day or two he were social (aka curious) and prone to being handled but now he's... terrified? I'm not sure, as he recognize my hand but try to nom on my fingers. He hasn't drawn blood yet and I'm not afraid of his bites either so I let him nibble/bite until he gets to rough and just poke his cheek and he stop.

I can pet him, he don't mind, but so help me IF I try to pick him up without stuffing his face full with treats. He'll just not have it and will go right back to his underground nest. D:

All above is IF and WHEN he's awake when I'm home. Which again, is almost never.

I really don't wanna resort to force taming him yet as I've only had him for a week but only ever handled him 2-3 times about 3-5 minutes each (until he goes berserk/hyperactive).

Halp, please! D:

EDIT
'tis my handsome little coffee, whom finally decided to grace me with his presence!

[cypher]

Coffee looks very sweet there!
It sounds as though he's doing ok for a week, not long for taming & if he will take seeds from you already that's a good start, the nibbling sounds like normal exploratory behaviour rather than actual biting, they often do that when young as if unsure where the food stops & your hand begins!
You may just have tried picking him up a bit too soon, just let him climb onto your hand for a while to begin with, when he's comfortable with that begin to gently lift your hand a little, a bit higher & longer each time so he can gradually get used to being handled.
You might find it easier to handle him out of the cage, let him climb into a tube, cup or something he's comfortable with then transfer him to a safe play area like a play bin or playpen.
What's his cage set up like?
They are often curious the first couple of days & will spend time exploring only to begin to hide again, you need him to feel safe but also keep it fairly easy for you to have access to him so it may help not to have the substrate too deep to begin with (you can always add more when he's tamer), you can try gently rustling the substrate or shaking a food bag to rouse him at a reasonable time for both of you & try to get him into a routine of waking & interacting.
If you haven't already it's always worth doing the tissue trick so he really gets used to your scent.

[Lexligator]

Hello and thank you for the feedback!

I use the tissue trick, I love it personally.
The thing with Latte is he is not afraid one bit to eat out of my hand or be carried around when he does, it's when I don't offer food he goes back to being vary, sometimes, petrified of me.

Also he only has one tube in his cage and one house as a hideaway but he rather dig himself out of "harm".

I'm open to the playpen/bin idea and will try it next time I've a chance. Thank you!

[cypher]

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding you but do you mean he just has a tube & house in his cage & nothing else? What about a wheel, toys etc?
What you have in the cage & how you set it up can play a big part in whether they come out to explore & forage or just stay in the house.
How do you feed, bowl or scatter feeding? Scatter feeding again encourages more natural activity.
It just seems strange that he would be happy to take treats or food but seems afraid of you when you don't have food, even if they don't really want to be handled they aren't usually afraid like that so I just wonder what you could change to encourage more activity in the cage & more opportunities to interact.
Definitely try the playpen, make it fun though, toys, maybe a few hidden seeds, even some substrate from the cage if you can so it has his scent.

[Lexligator]

Oh, no no! He has a wheel, flying saucer and plenty of toys. What I meant was things he could hide in and those are only his tunnel and house but he much rather dig himself a tunnel/nest.

I scatter feed him and he enjoys it. Especially when he discover a dried mealworm here and there ❤️

[Cinnamon Bear]

I think that your trying to go way too fast. Slow down and give Latte ( I also have a robo named Latte) time to adjust to his new home. I'd let him come up and around on his own terms and give him a couple weeks before trying to put him in a bin. On two occasions I let Koala Bear alone for 17 days while he hid under the bedding. Once he came out he was the most confident little hammy.

Then I let Madison (my robo) hide for 2 weeks before she came out and felt like her cage was her home and she started coming out earlier in the evenings and mornings without me needing to rush anything.

This doesn't work for all hammy's of course but I'd give it a good two weeks and wait till Latte gets real comfortable and claim his home as his own before interacting.

I have a rescue chinese, Izzy who this taming method did not work. Also, have a rescue robo, who this taming method did not work as well. These two rescue animals won't ever be tamed completely and that's ok with me. I have the others to for play time.

Good luck with yours, I'm sure you'll bond in no time

[cypher]

His cage sounds ok then, sorry for the misunderstanding!
It is still very early days & you have gone a little fast but it may also be that he's not a ham for lots of interaction or cuddles, some just aren't that sociable but if you try handling him out of the cage in the playpen you should be able to get him to the point where you can handle him as much as is necessary for health checks etc then take it from there & see how his character develops, he may enjoy playing out of cage but not want to be handled much or he may come round, only time, patience & consistency will tell, take it slow though, one step at a time.

[Lexligator]

I don't wactually want him tame NOW NOW NOW. I think y'all are misunderstanding.

What I'm worried about is not finding the opportunity to socialize/tame him since his waking hours are... off? I understand babies sleep a lot, he's only 8 weeks (not sure I should call him a baby anymore- a youngster!) but even then I've raised my eyebrows. If anything he's a glutton on top of lazy! HAHA

If he don't want to tame, that's fine. I just want the opportunity to find out first.
For now I've left him to his own. Every now and then I feed him nomnoms outta the palm of my hand and he seem happy with him. Sometimes he fears me, sometimes he doesn't.

Luckily he's healthy as I'm a worry wart and done lots of checkups, haha!

[Cinnamon Bear]

Must be misunderstanding, if I am getting this right you want to know when he will be up when you are up? If so that goes back to what I was saying about it takes time for him to be comfortable in his new home. It takes time to get to know one another. Hopefully the fear will go away and with you already feeding him treats it sounds like you are on your way. But to me it does sound like you want to know when you can start interacting with him and (that is really taming imo )

You can't find out first if he's tamable or not. It just doesn't work that way with new hamsters!

[Lexligator]

Originally Posted by Cinnamon Bear

Must be misunderstanding, if I am getting this right you want to know when he will be up when you are up?

Sort of. I'm just amazed at his weird active hours which are, as far as I know, either around 7 - 9 am (breakfast time) 3-5 pm (snack + exploration) and 3 - 6 am (most active).

I used to try to interact with him but now I'm just leaving him to his own.
Last night he were observing me closely & that was interesting. It took all my willpower to resist that adorable face! >w<