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Old 10-16-2018, 02:28 PM   #1
SnowballJ
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 1
Default Intro and Question

Hello everyone,

My son and I recently became the owners of our first Syrian hamster, a cute little white and tan guy called Snowball.

I'm a complete beginner when it comes to hamsters, so I did lot's of research first (this forum has come in useful more times than I can count for answering all the questions that we came up with before we bought our little friend.) And I have to say, I thought I was doing pretty well.

We got a nice big cage with lots of things to chew, tubes to scuttle through and places to hide. I found out all about what to feed him and what signs of illness to look for.

I thought I covered it all. But, of course being a total newbie, I've still managed to find a problem, that completely flummoxed me.

So, I was hoping you guys might be able to give me some advice.

Snowball and I are getting on very nicely, he's comfortable with me being in the room, comes over to investigate me and is happy to take food from my fingers. He's climbed onto my hand a couple of times quite happily (I should say we've had him for just over 2 weeks). The problem comes when I try to bring him out of his cage.

Today, he sauntered over very confidently when I opened the cage to do a bit of spot cleaning, and started climbing up to the front of the cage. He got onto my hands and I lifted him out. However, he then started to scuttle about very rapidly, slipped out of my hands and ended up on the floor (Which I was sat on, so he didn't injure himself). We then had a panicked scramble, where I tried to catch him and he tried to get away. I eventually managed to get hold of him and put him back into his cage. He wet himself because he was scared, and I felt awful, for freaking him out. (He is fine now, he's playing on his wheel, happy to take food from me and be stroked).

I think I have two problems, one that he's so fast and wriggly, that he's really hard to keep hold of and two that everyone I spoke to before we got the hamster told me tales of how their hamster escaped/got lost/disappeared under the floorboards/ended up in next door's kitchen, etc.

I guess I'm freaking out too much because of all these tales of woe, so I was hoping for some sensible advice from some more experienced handlers.
How can I approach little Snowball and get him out of his cage, without stressing us both out?

Thanks in advance
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Old 10-17-2018, 11:19 AM   #2
JennySTL
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Join Date: May 2018
Location: United States
Posts: 214
Default Re: Intro and Question

Hi and congrats on Snowball - he sounds adorable and I look forward to seeing pics.

I'm not an expert, but it sounds to me that maybe he just needs a little more time. Maybe try again in a week or so (keep doing what you are otherwise doing) and maybe set up a small playpen on the floor for him to get used to the "outside." Good luck!
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Old 10-17-2018, 12:10 PM   #3
cypher
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 24,789
Default Re: Intro and Question

Welcome to HC & congrats on Snowball
It's sounds as though he's settling in really well & you're doing fine with him.
You just need a safe play area like an escape proof playpen to begin handling & interacting out of the cage, you can either buy or make playpens.
If you can get him to climb into a tube or something you can safely transport him in you can use that to carry him to the play area, another option is to have the playpen on the floor right in front of the cage if you're a bit nervous about carrying him to begin with.
Put toys & things to explore in the playpen & if you have space sit in with him then he can run around & you can start to handle him without having to worry about escapes.
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Old 10-20-2018, 04:09 AM   #4
Thin Lizzy
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Location: Lanarkshire, Scotland
Posts: 15,575
Default Re: Intro and Question

Hi and welcome to HC. Congratulations on Snowball.
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