hello, intro and thanks

[NAM]

Hi all
I had hamsters as a child many years ago - I look back now with a great deal of sadness for what we then thought was ok (rotostack prisons)....

So 3 weeks ago I got a little Syrian male pup, part long haired. He was about 6 weeks old from a reputable breeder. He has an alaska cage which he seems to like and we recently upgraded his 8" trixie wheel to an 11" one after he suddenly seemed to be trying to tell us something by biting the bars when we spoke to him. He has not bit them since he's had his new wheel.

We gave him 3 days to settle in then gently began to get him out for a play in a play pen (large tub) for small amounts of time. He quickly took treats from our fingers and has never bitten though tried to nibble our hands a bit when we put treats on them for him to get used to getting on our hands. This nibbling has made my very sensitive conscientious 10 year old very worried about being bitten. So we are going really really slowly, just letting Nam get used to our hands being around or near him.

We transport him from cage to playpen in a clear jug and he now comes straight into it, very sweet.

I'm probably over anxious, as I've been super engaged in researching and trying to make his life as comfortable as I can given the fact he is a pet born in captivity....I've spent a small fortune to that end and we don't have a massive house at all - our bath tub isn't suitable to sit in with him for taming as it's a small corner one. Anyway, I'm now wondering how to get to the next step with taming.

Nam is a great personality - confident, but quite instinctual. He does get jumpy but he seems to recover fast. He lets us stroke him a bit while he's munching a treat - he loves to run around and dig and scared us a few times by trying to jump (from the top of a hay house in his playpen)

....we just haven't held him in our hands yet. He's probably 9 weeks ish in age now....he's grown loads already and i'm a bit worried that we are taking too long and that his life is OK as it is - that he has no reason or motivation to be tamed. At first he used to come to see what I was doing when he heard rustling near his cage, now he just does what he wants which is: sleep, run on wheel, explore his enclosure and forage, and dig a bit.

I've read endless taming guides and watched videos and done the tissue thing...perfectly happy to try to go at Nam's pace, but am aware I'm a bit anxious/cautious and maybe that's holding things back??? Any ideas? He will sniff the back of our hands with little interest but he seems to chase our fingers a bit eagerly which makes my son scared of getting an inquisitive bite. Luckily, although he's jumped and looked a bit cross, he's never seemed to try to bite us out of fear or annoyance (so far so good, right?)

PS - thank you to all the great contributions on this forum. It's been a fantastic resource for info!

[Dessi]

Congrats on your new baby ! I understand being anxious about getting bit, I was too with my new dwarf baby, but you need to start picking him up today. No more waiting. It needs to be done everyday, even if just for 2-3 minutes at a time to start.

Wash your hands before handling him. Sometimes they might think our hands are food because they smell like it. With mine I don’t have to, but since yours isn’t used to being picked up, he might at first. And it will give you confidence.

You’ve watched videos, so you know how to do it. Wear gloves the first times, or as long as needed, so feel confident and have no fear. Buy special uncuttable gloves if you need to. But don’t delay anymore. Hamsters don’t live long, and 9 weeks is past adolescent stage almost. It’s not too late, you can do this !