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Old 12-30-2012, 02:56 PM   #1
sparklyfluff
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Default Taming guides/advice?

Hi all,

My friend bought her son a hamster about 3 months ago from a pet shop, it somehow managed to escape on day 1 and was recovered on day 3 via a bin trap. However since then she's had huge problems attempting to tame her.

Initially the hamster would scream every time she went anywhere near her but this has now stopped. Now every time she puts her hand anywhere near her she jumps up at her and attempts to bite.

As she's not getting anywhere with her and i've got a couple of weeks off she's going to drop her off here tomorrow for me to see if I can tame her.

However all the hamsters I currently have I bred myself or acquired from breeders so haven't had to tame a difficult hamster for quite a few years!

Does anyone have any advice or know of any good taming guides for difficult hamsters on how is best to approach this hamster and manage to tame her fairly quickly? Could it be possible that she may be just untameable?

Thanks in advance
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Old 12-30-2012, 03:12 PM   #2
Lougarry
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

There are helpful taming tips in the Wiki.

My Storm used to scream at me, ad Fluffy Stanley was described by a breeder at a show as 'a screamer'. It just takes time and patience to build up trust.
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Old 12-31-2012, 01:03 PM   #3
sparklyfluff
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

Thanks I shall try and find that now. I'm not bothered by the shouting, i've had hamsters in the past do that to me but by the sounds of things this little lady is wild and i'm not sure where to start if what i'm being told about her leaping for your fingers is true, i'd rather keep them in tact if possible!

Sort of a last ditch attempt at sorting her out really because it's got to the point where the son is scared of her and is thinking about giving her up and I wouldn't take her on myself as i'm dwindling my own numbers of hamsters off too so I really need to try and get her sorted out for him if I can.

Last edited by sparklyfluff; 12-31-2012 at 01:09 PM.
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Old 12-31-2012, 01:19 PM   #4
Vectis Hamstery
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

I think you're doing right by starting over again with the taming. I've had some 'interesting' characters come here for fostering and taming from the rescue and starting again with moving gradually usually does the trick. Getting her out of the cage using a box/ball may help if there's cage aggression as well as trying not to respond to nips or screeching. She may have now learned that such behaviour gets her out of playtime or whatever she doesn't want to do!
Good luck
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Old 12-31-2012, 03:19 PM   #5
NotsoLittleOlive
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

If she's particularly aggressive towards hands you could try taking them out of the equation for a bit.
I had the same problem with my Chinese and was getting nowhere until I resorted to taking her out of the cage by carrying her in her bed and then sitting in the bath with her. I let her climb me and get used to my smell and chatted to her. Eventually she let me stroke her and would walk on my hands and take food. Unfortunately, she passed away at 5 months before we got any further. It was a long slog
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Old 12-31-2012, 03:37 PM   #6
kyrilliondaemon
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

Our Fwirl used to go for hands, Lucinda can tell you all about the bites she gave too...
We tried to teach her that hands are just more "floor", so we used her ball to get her out, then let her walk herself to the bathtub. Then we let her go from the ball to the bath where we'd have a few toys set out - usually puzzle playground, a box she could climb out of and her chinchilla bath.
When she was leaving the sand bath or on a platform we put our hands where she was going to walk - pretty much forcing her to cross the hands to get elsewhere. We also tipped the box on its side, let her walk in, then tipped it back to normal. When she started to climb out we put our hands in the way again.
At first she leapt over our hands as fast as possible but over time she realised that they were just staying there and started to get more confident. Then we started to introduce a second hand to walk onto from the first one, leading to a few seconds of walking hand over hand. We always had to keep it short or she'd leap off. In time that started to last longer and we started to be able to scoop her up as she was trying to climb the bath itself, then just started to scoop her anyway sometimes.

She actually tamed really fast with us which was a big surprise, never tried to bite the "floor" and within two weeks we were letting her free range on the bed like our other syrian.
We got her at the end of April and while she stayed easily startled on hands for a bit she quickly became great with people. She can still get jumpy if she's not picked up quite as she likes, but she's getting better about that too. This week she's amazed us and Lucinda by behaving really well at the vets and tolerating twice daily meds without a fuss. Never thought it'd have happened given how bad she was before we got her.
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Old 01-01-2013, 02:16 PM   #7
sparklyfluff
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

Thanks everyone for your advice so far

The little lady arrived here today and seems constantly on edge, as soon as she hears anyone near the cage she charges out of her bed and sits on her shelf chattering her teeth, i've never known a hamster to do this before and i've had 18 myself! I guess somehow I need to calm her down before I even attempt to touch her but i'm not sure how when I don't understand why she's so on edge all the time.
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Old 01-01-2013, 02:56 PM   #8
Vectis Hamstery
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

Some of the rescues I've had have been like this. My quarantine area was a quiet room and I would let them be quiet and get used to the smells and sounds in a less active area where people weren't walking past all the time, but usually with the door open so they could still hear what's going on. I would then sit by them, with the very nervy ones not even talking initially. I took it very slowly. The most nervous hamster was one I brought back from Holland for another breeder, strangely. She found the cage I gave her too open and I put her in a smaller, more enclosed tank-style cage until she became more settled (and stopped spending all her time squashed under the wheel hiding). I started handling when she was calmer, using a ball to transfer her, and went slowly. I also increased the size of her cage as she became more confident. It wasn't a fast process but she improved significantly over the month or so she was with me (even becoming confident enough to escape on her next leg of the journey!).
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Old 01-01-2013, 03:02 PM   #9
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

I have also found, like Vectis, that moving these nervous hamsters to a smaller, tank type cage while taming does help. Something like a mini duna, just for a couple of weeks works wonders.
It may be that she has had a bad experience that her owners have not told you about such as the kids poking things in at her or the cage being knocked over. It would also be an idea to give her a good health check as hamsters that experience pain when being handled will be reluctant to come out.
I'm sure you will manage to win her over with time and patience however she may not be the same when returned to her former home if she has indeed encountered something there to make her this way.
Good luck with the taming and gaining her trust.
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Old 01-02-2013, 04:15 AM   #10
sparklyfluff
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Default Re: Taming guides/advice?

Thank you both, she is in a Cambridge at the moment, I do have an empty imac bingo but she is a big plastic chewer and i'd be a little concerned over her chewing her way out! She did come out last night whilst I was munching crackers and she happily took a bit of that off me so she doesn't exactly run away from you when she is out but she does still seem to be on edge.

I've only got her here for 2 weeks as i'll be back to full time work after then so won't have anymore time to keep at it so I guess the aim is to get her as tame as I can in that time. I think her escaping experience when they first got her probably hasn't helped things.
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