Our New Syrian Hamster

[JodieandAlison]

Hello, me and my girlfriend are first time posters here and just have a few questions about our new hamster.

We believe she is between 6 and 8 weeks old and we have called her FiFi

My girlfriend is so excited to try and tame her but I get the vibe that she isn’t ready for this as when our hand is going into the cage she is very scared of it. She has sniffed a few times and also sniffs food from our hands and has a little bite but ends up just staring blankly or mostly just running off and hiding again, she is no where near handling.

We are going to get her a bigger cage when we have the money as ours is not big enough for her at the moment, but she has a wheel and a few things to play with and nibble on.

Can anyone offer any sound advice for beginning to handle a hamster that is very jumpy and scared of the hand?

We look forward to any replies!

Jodie and Alison

[Petite]

Hi, and welcome to Hamster Central. Hope you find us friendly folk!

Congratulations on your new hamster, FiFi (nice name!) As you begin to tame her, remember to take things at her pace, not yours. If she's nervous to begin with, give her time to build up trust in you. I'm wondering if when you put your hand in the cage you are approaching her from above? Obviously that depends to some extent on the design of the cage, but hamsters are hard-wired to sense that as a threat. If the cage dictates that you can only approach her from above, you could try giving her some out of cage time and put her in a playpen or just fence off an area with boxes, and get in with her. You say she is nowhere near handling, but she can climb on you without being handled, and you could transport her between the cage and play area by tempting her into a mug or tube with a treat. Another thing you could try is to tuck a tissue inside your sleeve for a few hours, then put it in her cage so she starts to get used to your scent.

[Pebbles82]

Hello and welcome. Usual advice is - first couple of days leave them alone to adjust. And then don't clean anything or change things around in the cage for the first two weeks. During that two weeks they develop habits and routines in the new cage, scent mark everything - so they can find their way around and mark it as their own, and decide where to build a nest and start building up a hoard.

If it gets a bit whiffy then after a week you can "spot clean" the pee - they will often choose a corner of the cage as a toilet area so it's just a case of taking a handful of wet substrate out and putting a new handful in - then mix it in a bit so it still smells familiar. If you have a litter tray you could add that to the pee corner (put chinchilla bathing sand in the litter tray) then you can just empty that every few days - but I'd leave it a week during the first two weeks. Baby hamsters can take time to develop good toiletting habits and can pee in the nest occasionally during the first few months, but don't disturb her nest during that two week settling in period. After 10 days to 2 weeks she should be more confident and curious.

Until they've settled they tend not to like a hand in the cage at all - and some hamsters never do like hands in the cage much!

So after the first couple of days it's best to start slowly (very hard on patience when you want to hold them). Start by talking to her through the bars, so she gets familiar with your scent and voice but feels secure in her cage. Then you can start offering treats through the bars of the cage till she gets used to taking those from you.

Hamsters vary in personality enormously. Some more gregarious types will be coming to the cage door wanting to come out in that first two weeks. Others will hide away and be nervy and be easily scared.

After the two weeks, you could try letting her walk into a hamster ball if you have one - eg lower it into the cage with a smelly treat inside (eg cucumber or plain cheese) then pop the lid on the ball and you can use that to transport her safely to the dry bath tub. Balls aren't that popular on here for exercise as it's hard to know if the hamster enjoys it or not and there are risks - but they can be useful for carrying them safely from a to b. They can "ping"and leap and wriggle free very easily when not tame and fall and hurt themselves so it isn't safe to carry them by hand.

The bathtub is a good place for getting them used to hand taming - its out of their territorial cage environment and they can't escape. Maybe put a few toys in there - a cardboard tunnel, a mug on its side etc. They tend to just slither up and down the side of the bath to try and escape and that's when you can start with just a gentle stroke on the back with one finger occasionally. If they jerk round as if to see you off then just wait a bit and try again later. It can be slow progress or it can happen quite quickly, but once they accept being stroked on the back by a finger without jerking round then they are getting used to touch and trust is building.

Maybe do bathtub sessions twice a week and give her a break in between by just talking and offering treats through the bars. Then move on in the bathtub, to putting your hand flat on the bottom of the bath, palm up so she just walks over it but don't try to pick her up or hold her. After a few times of that you can then lift your hand maybe a centimetre or so, but still let her walk off. Then lift your hand a little bit higher next session but still let her walk off. From there you should be able to let her walk from hand to hand - one hand in front of the other and be able to hold her and pick her up for a stroke. But take a step back if she runs or pings. Never pick them up from above like a claw! Put both hands either side of her and sort of scoop/cocoon her.

It can be time and patience - one hamster we had took two months of bathtub taming before we could pick him up but when it happened it was instant and suddenly he was as tame as anything and would sit on your knee. They just need to build trust and familiarity.

The tissue trick mentioned above helps as well. Pieces of plain white toilet paper - leave them up your sleeve (or down your bra) for a couple of hours, then tear them into long strips and add the pile of strips in the cage. She'll forage for them for nesting and then has your scent in her nest.

[JodieandAlison]

Thankyou for both of your responses we have already done the tissue paper thing and left her too it for today. We are going to get her a huge enclosure which we are excited about and we will just go at her pace and not ours, we are sure she will settle in and we will post pics to follow.

Thanks again,

Jodie and Alison