Hello everyone!

Barnard · 07-14-2018, 03:21 PM

Hi all! Ive had my baby hammy Barnard (or Barney for short) for 3 weeks now (picture of the little fluff ball below)! Taming is going ok, progress is quite slow and he's still very skittish and quick and still won't come near me when he's in his cage (but bathtub bonding is seeing some positive changes). I'm mainly putting this down to the fact that he's still only young (8 weeks) and is a very small Syrian hammy (65g) which I think adds to his speed

(is this correct or are some hamsters already calm by this point...?)! He's never bitten me though as his breeder did do handling with him.

So I'm basically starting this thread first to say hi

, but also I have one question, I'm going away for a week in a few days time and my mum is going to be looking after him but she won't handle him and will probably go to bed before he even wakes up as he doesn't usually make an appearance until around 10:30 ish! What I basically am wondering is whether this will be detrimental to his progress so far? Its going to be sad if he regresses back to the beginning again as he's so skittish still I feel like its going to be a long time before he calms or is fully tame!

Thanks guys!

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Sasha04 · 07-14-2018, 03:44 PM

Hi Barney his owner and welcome to HC!
That’s great that your starting to make progress with taming! He is such a cute little Syrian! I personally think that all hams have different personalities and as Barney is young he is probably just full of energy and he may just be an active hamster in general. As when you are going away, I wouldn’t worry about it. It may set your taming back some but, I’m not 100% sure. Hopefully someone else on the form will be able to help! Can’t wait to hear more about him!

Thin Lizzy · 07-14-2018, 06:54 PM

Hello and welcome to HC. Barney's so fluffy and a little cutie!

Barnard · 07-15-2018, 02:54 AM

Thanks guys, hopefully it won’t backtrack taming too much!
Also is there any way to get him to put on weight or should I just let him grow as he is. I’m feeding him a mixture of Harry Hamster and Burgess dwarf hamster harvest (couldn’t find the Syrian one anywhere but luckily he seems to enjoy the dwarf one, although I have now sourced the Syrian one so will probably swap to it when the dwarf runs out), he also gets fresh veg most days and sometimes a bit of dried pasta or the odd little bit of boiled chicken. He also gets quite a few sunflower seeds as they’re nice and small so I use them for when we’re taming! I saw someone say a quarter of a slice of whole meal bread would help but wanted to double check before I started feeding him that. If so would brown, seeded (granary) bread be ok?

cypher · 07-15-2018, 03:17 AM

Hi & welcome to HC

Barney looks adorable!

I wouldn't worry too much about going away & leaving him, it may put taming back a little but a week isn't too long & he'll catch up again soon enough.
You could put some tissue with your scent on (plain toilet tissue, put some up your sleeve or somewhere to get your scent on it) before you go, that might help a little.

His diet sounds fine, he'll put weight on as he grows & I don't think you need give him more than you are.

Barnard · 07-15-2018, 03:24 AM

Thank you cypher, the toilet tissue sounds like a brilliant idea for when I go away, do I shred it up or just put it in whole and let him do whatever he wants with it?

cypher · 07-15-2018, 03:30 AM

I would shred it up a bit, you could start doing that before you go then just add some more, he may take it into his nest but even if he doesn't he'll still be getting used to having your scent around the cage & it won't be so strange when you come back.

Barnard · 07-15-2018, 10:06 AM

Okey dokey, will start doing that tomorrow! Thanks for all of your help I’ll keep you all updated with his progress

Barnard · 07-15-2018, 03:55 PM

So I tried the tissue trick tonight and good news!!! As soon as I started putting strips in his cage he came waddling over to investigate and He immediately starting stuffing the whole lot in his pouches!! He had to do a few trips to his nest though as his pouches weren’t big enough! I’m so happy though and it was so cute!

Also more bath time and cage bonding- he’s definitely getting braver! Ive discovered that he seems to absolutely love mealworms and I was wondering if too many mealworms are bad as I’d like to maybe use them during taming seeing as he loves them so much! If so where does everyone source dried mealworms from (I’m in the UK) as at the moment I’m just picking some out of his food and hand feeding them to him!

Pictures attached of him in the act with his tissue

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Sasha04 · 07-15-2018, 06:05 PM

That’s great news that Barnard is going for the tissue and is getting braver! I would suggest giving 3-5 mealworms a day because they are pretty fatty. I may be wrong though. If you are looking for other taming treats I would suggest flax seeds (linseeds), pumkin seeds, sunflower seeds, a bit of daily veg, and a tiny bit of walnut (not to much). Keep in mind all of the nuts and seeds have to be unsalted and can be roasted but typically hams turn their noses up at roasted seeds and nuts. I normally get my mealworms in the reptile section of my petstore and freeze the bag. If you are having a hard time finding them I would order them online. Keep up the great work with Barnard and keep us updated!