Hamster beginner, taming advice needed

sniffles · 07-31-2017, 02:55 PM

Just wanted to check if I'm taking the right approach with trying to tame our first hamster. He's a male Syrian about 9 weeks old (according to the pet shop). When we brought him home we left him alone in his cage the first 3 days. The third day I put my hand in the cage, near him, with a treat and he bit me o_O I've since read that he might have confused me with the food?!
Since then he's developed a routine where he's active in mid-morning, drinking water and collecting food, then sleeps all day then comes out again at night and uses his wheel. Whenever I can I put my hand (without food!) in the cage when he's active. He doesn't try to bite me but tends to avoid my hand if it's placed in his path, even climbing the bars to avoid it. I've been putting tissues with my scent on it in the cage. I can stroke him a little but he occasionally startles when I do it. I haven't tried picking him up.

I've had him just over a week now, he seems healthy and settled. I just want to know the best approach to start picking him up. I don't want to scare him and set back the taming. On the other hand my kids were expecting cuddles by now! Am I doing it right, I feel maybe I'm going too slow and should just scoop him up? Don't fancy getting bitten again though!

Ruth Edwards · 07-31-2017, 03:24 PM

Sounds like you're doing it right, but I'm not surprised the family are impatient to cuddle their hammy.
Could you set them a challenge? Like how to hide a hammy treat in a toilet roll tube. Or finding out which smells will tempt your ham out of his nest?
You can get some good lists of weeds, veggies and other foods you can find in the kitchen and garden. The youngsters can feed things like chickweed or dandelion and I bet your ham will soon be keen to show himself when he hears the cage rattling. Patience will pay off.

sniffles · 07-31-2017, 03:36 PM

Hi, many thanks for the advice. He does seem to go for the apples and cucumber so that could work. I had read to avoid using food as he might get confused/associate hands with feeding rather than play? And my biting experience seemed to confirm this?

I'm also worried that he might get used to not being handled and then we have an uphill struggle. He does seem to come out of his nest when at times we're not around so I will get creative and try to get him on our schedule! Is it a good idea to give him less food in his bowl for a while to make him more likely to come out when we offer food? I think he's got a large amount of food stashed away in his nest already.

Ruth Edwards · 08-01-2017, 02:22 AM

There are many posts on the behaviour forum about using a special taming box where you gradually get him used to you. I don't know yet how how to put a link into the thread but should be easy to find

cypher · 08-01-2017, 02:56 AM

I wouldn't avoid giving food by hand, sometimes they have an exploratory nibble until they learn what's food & what isn't but it doesn't normally lead to biting & an empty hand in the cage can seem quite threatening & may even be more likely to cause biting from fear.
I would begin just offering something like a sunflower seed from finger tips then move on to food on the palm of your hand.

sniffles · 08-01-2017, 11:07 AM

Thanks for all the replies. We're making progress now. I managed to entice him to climb out of his cage into into a small box using treats, and now he's climbing over my hand to get into and out of the box, taking treats from our hands, and seems quite happy. Thanks again!

CMB · 08-01-2017, 11:35 AM

Keep using the method you are using. Taming outside of the cage is often easier than taming inside the cage. Hope the progress continues.

Turrican · 08-03-2017, 08:41 PM

Hiya, great to hear you've made progress. I find that littlw and often is working with my new hamster. I make sure to find time for a quick session every day at approx the same time if possible. Also I have learned that patience is the key and they will adjust to handling at their own pace.

sniffles · 08-05-2017, 03:27 PM

Thanks folks. Things are still going well, he comes out every evening for about 15mins at a time, and is quite calm considering the amount he gets poked an prodded by the kids. He still mainly sees hands as a route to somewhere rather than enjoying being handles and sea to enjoy roaming about on the floor, he's very food motivated and I think he wants to get at the bags of food and treats we keep on the shelf under his cage!

sniffles · 08-17-2017, 12:31 PM

So our hamsters been with us roughly a month now. He is used to us and happy to come out of his house/cage when it's play time. He's also cool with being picked up and stroked. However, he's always scurrying, when he's being handled he runs from hand to hand continuously seemingly wanting to get onto the floor/sofa/away from us! In his taming box he runs about trying to climb/dig his way out. Sometimes he poos when he's in his ball or if he gets a little fright. But he doesn't poo when being handled or in taming box, so I don't think he's frightened at all. In fact he seems quite inquisitive about his surroundings. But ideally we'd like for him to calmly sit on a hand/lap - how can we encourage this?