I held Percy in my arms for the first time, today! He was comfortable and curious.
In the future I think that when he is used to being held outside of the tank, he will have fun being curious and exploring around the house with me. Like, I hold him, but we can walk around and sit on the couch and walk on the tables hehe. We have lots of boxes lying around, too.
I wanted to ask how often all of you hold your hamsters, and what do you and your hamster do during that out of tank bonding time?
The last hamster I had that let me hold him, we mostly lied in bed and sometimes walked around the house.
Piccolo is very friendly, but he has absolutely 0 chill so it's impossible to hold him for long. I usually just walk around with him and put him on a safe surface, or I let him climb up on my arm and trot around on my shoulder/back (usually when I sit on the bed so if he falls he will be ok).
I hold Myachick from 11pm till 12:30 am to let him sleep and wake up from my sweater. He is 120% lazy and very used to human.
For Dumpling I usually play with him outside of his cage for 10min per day cuz he is too cautious and he is not that interactive with human.
For Kiwi girl, it is terrible because it is impossible to hold her! Usually around 2 min and that's it.
I play with all of them on the bed since it is super cold in Canada. How long you should play with your hamster is really up to his/her personality and your time.
How lovely Percy liked being held in your arms. I would be careful though if he is being newly held as they can still "ping" (ie suddenly twist away and leap in the air) and fall and hurt themselves, so I keep handling to safe areas. Wouldn't recommend walking around with him just yet - just handle him while on the sofa (where he can't fall far and just land on the sofa) or bed, or in a playpen (you can get into the playpen too!). Our last Syrian was quite lazy and cuddly and would fall asleep on my knee under a blanket and liked lying in the crook of my arm for a stroke - but even then he wouldn't stay there for too long. And would sit between us on the sofa! Our current Syrian will sit for a stroke but only for about a minute and is active and off exploring behind the cushions and up the back of the sofa so they do need constant supervision. If I carry him anywhere I do it in a hamster ball, or a large tube or pouch with my hands over the end, just for a very short time from a to b. Even then he pushes quite hard at my hand sometimes and tries to get past it and jump out! They can be startled by things when moving around and just do a kami kazi leap, so best to do it while sitting down and over somewhere soft to be on the safe side.
But the more you get to know each other and the more used he is to being handled, the more you'll know how he is
Aw, congrats! I held my hamster for the first time ever today! I am so happy because being a first time hamster owner I was worried he wasn’t going to trust me and seemed to be biting an awful lot. But then today I had a major breakthrough with him and was able to not only handle him for the first time, I was then able to play with him again later on for around 30 minutes!
Holding hammies
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