Hello Me and my Hamster Murmel here
So, about 2 months ago I got a long haired Syrian hamster from a breeder in the country where I live (Germany). I set up his cage and he loved and is still loving it. Just, there are a few mistakes I made when handling him, and I just want to know if I can still correct them.
First I let myself get pressured by my surroundings to try and put the little guy into the outside area after only 6 days. For example, through my mother telling me that she hadn‘t gotten me the boards if I wasn‘t going to use them and that I should use them already. In the end, it was still my decision and my mistake though, I am not pushing the responsibility away, that was me.
On day 4 he had already started eating out of my hand, and on day 6 I had set up the area, not seriously thinking about it, however suddenly Murmel jumped on my hand and he freaked me out. In the end it was a lot of stress for the both of us and I realized immediately that I had done a mistake. However, Murmel was, and still is, very patient with me and ran back to me the moment I put him back in the cage eating the „I am sorry“- Shrimps treats out of my hand.
I left him alone for the next 2 days, however a family emergency led to me having to take him with me to my hometown not too long after. He took it surprisingly well, he was not stressed at all when I put him in the cage my mother had set up at home to my instructions.
However my parents were.. difficult. I had told them since we didn‘t have the means to put him up on a table yet if they should approach him they should kneel down so he wouldn‘t have gigantic shadows looming over him right after the travel.
They didn‘t listen to me and made quite the fuss, tried to make me drop him out of the box into the cage (which I didn‘t do don‘t worry). They also raised their voices, it was horrible for me with a certain level of Anxiety and after everything going wrong on the travel home.
And it must‘ve been for my friend as well, because after that my hamster didn‘t come out with electric lights on and only when it was just me inside my room. If my parents were inside he just didn‘t come out at all. However, due to the emergency I spoke of (I don‘t want to talk abou it), I couldn‘t spend a lot of time with him as I was very tired in the evening and he had started to only come out around 1/ 2 am. I couldn‘t really continue taming him for 4 weeks. And once again I let myself get pressured into putting him into a bin outside area my mother had built him by my father (he can get violent and loud when he‘s drunk, I thought that it would be stress freer for Murmel if I did what he asked. Still my mistake, I need to become a better guardian I know). But turned out it wasn‘t escape proof, and I had to spend the next 2 hours trying to get him to go into his corc tunnel I used as a hamster taxi, while I had constantly people walking in and scaring my hamster as I had just managed to calm him. My father didn‘t pay attention once even, and our dog got in for a few seconds which really broke a fuse and I kicked both out, my father pretty harshly. I am still angry thinking back on it. Especially at myself for letting myself get pressured like that.
In the end I did manage to get him into the tunnel and safely put him back. But that scared me a lot as well, and freaked me out so much I didn‘t have the courage to pick him up, do anything but give him treats up till now.
three days ago he seemed to want to go out for the first time again since day 6 so I put him into my entrance area of my apartment by hamster taxi. I had university the next morning, but I didn‘t mind. My apartment is also an old building so just putting him inside my room is a nono sadly, I don‘t want him to get hurt on sharp edges which are EVERYWHERE. However, when I wanted to use the taxi again after 40 Minutes, he didn‘t want to go in it, he managed to decide he wanted to be carried back in the largest bag around. Meaning he did wait for me to pick him up and carry him back, just in a gigantic rich and royals bag. If I tried scooping him out he was inside a second later again. So finally I thought maybe I could put him in by hand the short distance. No. I did manage to -somehow- in the end put the bag inside the cage and he got out, but it was the first time I have ever seen him clearly agitated. Up until now he was only ever mildly irritated by me making the mistakes before I talked about, it was the first time he was stress running.
Now, I was very scared of him falling ill because, as it is getting summer, and while it was still about 18°C warm when it happened, the next day it was suddenly 25°C outside (it was supposed to be only up to 20°C this week from the weather report. The thing is: My room does NOT have an AC, and I had been searching for a fitting ceramic house for weeks, also while being home, but had not found anything. I finally found one 3 days ago on the internet, and it arrived today, however in the meantime I had to manage somehow.
What I did and still do: I put sand in the fridge for a short period of time, I put it inside a ceramic teacup and placed it near his house during the day, together with his water and fresh carrots and cucumber. I also rushed over to the pet shop the next day, got more sand, a loam house from the fish section as a bridge until the ceramic house arrived which had the appropriate size, healthy treats and also more hay. Lastly I also got a Celsius thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature inside the cage. I have also used cooled water bottles, cool towels over the cage (not too cold), ice cubes (secured) on top etc. just so it will stay bearable for my little buddy. I have also aired when it got cooler so he could be comfortable a natural way throughout the night.
However, I was worried that it would not be enough to keep him healthy after that stress, up till now he seems fine though, obviously he is sleepy right now, but his fur is shiny and soft, and he did come out at one time and he was looking fine then, his ears twitching and him curiously sniffing around. I will keep an eye on him though.
I want to start taming him again though,get him used to my hand after this weekend. Slowly of course, and I found a methode that is sure to not stress him too much I have seen from a veteran hamster owner. Mine is approx 4 months old. Is this still possible? Can I still correct the mistakes made before?
He is not scared of me, at least I don‘t think, he does eat treats out of my hand and my voice calms him down when he is agitated by something. For example if he suddenly wakes up agitated in the middle of the day and I talk to him, he falls back asleep fairly quickly. When I spot clean his cage, he came running yesterday and rummaged around my hands, smelled them, put his paws on them, then sat everywhere he was entirely in the way. He just won‘t run over them. And while he was outside in the entrance area that is hamsterproof he did run around me no problem, he smelled my legs and clothes. So I think I might still have a chance.
My friends say I worry too much constantly, but I just can‘t turn it off, but I guess that‘s what‘s gonna make me grow as an owner and never make the same mistakes again. However, I wonder if he is too old now to be able to ever fully trust my hands. What do you think? Do you have any more tips to help cool him, too by the way? He is at the coolest place in the apartment and a Granite stone tile is coming along soon.
I know I was clumpsy up until this point, I can guess it must‘ve been frustrating to read this, but I don‘t want him to stay my first and last hamster. So I am trying to become the best hamster parent I can be, also for future hamsters. He has given me so much and improved my own life so much in only this amount of time. He has been so sweet, curious, so caring and patient. I want to give something back. And I am just scared it‘s too late? I might be panicking, but he is very dear to me, so there is nothing I can do about that from time to time…
Thanks for everything in advance and for the patience of reading this.
Fairly new Owner and firsttimer having a bit of Anxiety, help would be appreciated
I was also an anxious hamster parent when we got our last Syrian! Try not to worry. We all make mistakes and worry we have freaked our hamsters out, but they soon forgive you xxx It sounds like you have a lovely bond and trust with your hamster who sounds a real character!
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