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Old 04-25-2020, 01:01 PM   #1
Presley524
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Maine
Posts: 109
Unhappy Changing Sleep Pattern to Avoid Me

I know this sounds crazy, but when I first brought Presley home, she would wake up between 8PM-10PM. I would start trying to tame her and eventually she'd crawl on my hand and come out. After about 2 weeks, she started getting up at 1AM-2AM. So because I have been stuck in the house I adjusted my sleep schedule to be able to bring her out to free roam. She then started sleeping later after 2 days of me staying up. Now, I go to bed around 3AM and sleep until noon and she gets up somewhere in there to hang out. So, I'm trying to adjust my sleep schedule once again for her to give her what she needs. However, she won't let me pick her up anymore when I do see her. She lets me pet her, but runs if I start to lift my hand to get her out. I don't know what I did to her, but I think she's avoiding come out of her cage. I don't know why because nothing has happened to her while being out. I think she's just trying to avoid me. I'm worried that she won't be getting the exercise she needs getting out of her cage. She's a Syrian in a cage that is 658 sqin so she does have a lot of room to wander in there with many many toys, so she isn't bored in there, but don't hamster need to be able to get out and freeroam? The picture is from a couple weeks ago when she would let me take her out.
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Old 04-25-2020, 03:39 PM   #2
Petite
Senior Hamster
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Scotland
Posts: 501
Default Re: Changing Sleep Pattern to Avoid Me

It's not likely she is changing her schedule just to avoid you, but perhaps responding to her environment. It's just a guess, but if you are staying up to get to see her, are you keeping the lights on? If so, that might confuse her as she might think it's "too early" to be up. To be honest, I would recommend making sure that your schedule suits YOU first, and then see if you can encourage Presley to wake up a bit earlier. If you can tempt her out with some quality time and a few treats, she might realise that it's worth getting up for and begin to get used to being up earlier for a short while.
My Freya gets up late evening just for a wee while, has supper (or breakfast) and then naps under her bridge. So she's not up for very long, and does most of her hamstering later on, but we do get to see her.
I'm wondering how long you've had her, and how old she is? If she's quite young, her schedule could well be changing naturally as she grows. It's good that she still lets you pet her, so she must trust you doing that. Could it be the way you are trying to pick her up? She might feel more secure if you cup your hands around her - if you can do that without her taking your fingers off!
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Old 04-25-2020, 04:29 PM   #3
Presley524
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Maine
Posts: 109
Default Re: Changing Sleep Pattern to Avoid Me

I have one light on across the room from her cage so it is still dark by her. I got her about two months ago and I'm not sure how old she is. Unfortunately, I got her from Petco before realizing how they stock their hamsters. She also was at the store for a very long time and the employees said she sleeps a lot so people didn't get to see her very often. I'm assuming she is pretty young, but a bit lazy. I usually let her crawl into my hand and lift her that way to get her out. Maybe she doesn't feel too secure with one hand so I'll try two next time I see her. Thank you for your resonse!
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Old 04-26-2020, 06:13 AM   #4
Ria P
House of Hamsters
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Wiltshire, UK
Posts: 7,103
Default Re: Changing Sleep Pattern to Avoid Me

Your hamster is adorable! I love her colouring. I'm pretty sure that you haven't done anything wrong and i understand why you try to adjust your sleeping pattern to your hamster's. I used to spend whole evenings and half the night sitting in front of my Syrian's cage waiting and wishing for him to make an appearance because he used to get up earlier when i first got him. In fact, all my hamsters got up earlier when they first moved in and everything was new and a bit worrying for them.
Then they started to settle in and realize that their new habitat was safe and their nest and hoard was theirs alone, the wheel and toys weren't going anywhere and they established their own routines the way they liked it.

Their own personalities started to shine through and a lot of a hamster's behaviour depends on their personalities, that's the way i see it anyway.
My Syrian prefers his own company, he's lovely and tame but will let me know when he wants to come out of his cage which happens quite infrequently. Things have to be on his terms and he makes this very clear with his bodylanguage. He likes to do his hamster stuff when the lights are out and its quiet without a human in sight or sniffing distance. My Robo is a phantom hamster i sometimes don't see for days because usually i'm asleep when he's about but the dwarfs are often up during the day and one of them likes to come out of her cage but the other prefers his cage to time spent with me.

I think its easier to have a hamster who is content and happy with their habitat than one who is constantly biting the bars, stressed out and desperate to escape.
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Old 05-17-2020, 02:05 AM   #5
OliverS
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 40
Default Re: Changing Sleep Pattern to Avoid Me

Late to the party here but this works for me. Have you thought about using a “hamster taxi”? One of my Russian dwarves will happily walk into my hand and usually let me pick her up but one will not let me pick her up at all, I can stroke her and that’s it. The one who won’t let me pick her up will walk into half an exercise ball held up to the door with a couple of mealworms in the bottom so I can bring her close to me so she can get my scent ready for when she will be able to be handled, she doesn’t like walking onto my hand from it but we’re getting there. Also, I’ve read somewhere that hamsters perceive read light as darkness (I don’t know how true that is but I’m sure I’ve read it from reputable posters on here) so I’ve bought a red lightbulb for the lamp near their cages so they might think it’s night time
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Old 05-17-2020, 03:31 AM   #6
Ithuviel
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Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Romania
Posts: 310
Default Re: Changing Sleep Pattern to Avoid Me

My roborovski went through an avoiding phase. It might just go away at some point. I hope...
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sleep, cage, shes, weeks, started, avoid, hand, schedule, start, avoiding, lift, anymore, pet, runs, hamster, bored, toys, freeroam, picture, ago, couple, wander, worried, exercise, syrian

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