First hamster owner panicking over everything

Alvin · 04-13-2018, 04:13 AM

Hi, my name is Alex and my hammie is Felix (Campbell's dwarf hamster). My hamster is amazing, taming process was really fast and easy. I have him 3 weeks and he is already playing with me,eats from my palm, he will let me pick him up, he likes to climb on me. But sometimes he gets jumpscares when I place my hand into the cage, for no reason. I don't understand why. It happend 2 times so far. He run and hide and makes whining sound and I feel like the worst owner in the world. So I'm confused does he like me or not? I don't want to cause him so much stress. PS: sorry for my english

Caity · 04-13-2018, 07:12 AM

He'll be ok, some times it takes time for hamsters to get used to you and if you suddenly appear in his cage, he may get spooked. Ways to avoid this are to talk to him as you get nearer to his cage, this way he wont be as surprised by your presence. You can also make sure he sees your hand before you pick him up. If he runs away, don't worry, just keep taming him as you have been and all will be fine

cypher · 04-13-2018, 07:48 AM

He sounds as though he's doing fine & maybe you just startled him or scared him a little the couple of times he reacted like that, he'll get more used to hands coming into the cage with time but just be sure he knows you're there first so you don't give him a bit of a scare.

SKB_Hamsters · 04-13-2018, 09:08 AM

Hello and Welcome to Hamster Central. You and Felix sounds like you are making great progress with taming.
Don't worry you aren't a bad owner, most new hamsters behaviour like this it does take them a little while to get comfortable with hands being place inside their cage - as they often mistake hands for being a predator therefore gets spooked. With a little bit of time Felix should get comfortable with your hand being inside his cage. Just make sure when you are placing your hand inside his cage that you do it slowly without any sudden movement this should help to get him more familiar with it.

Pebbles82 · 04-14-2018, 04:27 AM

I find generally they just don't like a hand in the cage

Until he's a bit older or more confident you could try putting a tube in and letting him walk into that then lift the tube out, with your hand over either end so he can't jump out till you've put the tube down where you want to put him. As long as you don't have to carry the tube too far from the cage.