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Ria P · 04-23-2021, 12:36 PM

It's heartbreaking to see hamsters living in such terrible conditions. Well done you for rescuing those poor little souls.

Like humans, hamsters can get traumatised by their past and it can affect their mental health and behaviours longterm. They haven't lived a normal hamster life so it's impossible to say what is normal. I have a hamster i rescued from a bad situation and he was very nervous and scared at first but he was a baby which helped him to overcome his past and establish new and more positive behaviour patterns in a matter of about 6 weeks with a lot of input from me.

I don't why Yggrid is still so stressed after 4 weeks but i can voice a few guesses and they could all be wrong.

She is generally stressed and affected by her past but time, reassurance and patience should help with that.

She has a lot of unspent and built up energy because she doesn't have a wheel. I had a foster hamster who jumped up the walls of his cage frantically, tried to get out all the time and raced around like crazy when out. He had a wheel but didn't know what it was for until i taught him to run on it. He calmed down then.

After living in a very small cage for half her life she may feel overwhelmed by the large space of a detolf. You could try sectioning part of the detolf off and then gradually increase the space as she adjusts.

As i said, i could be completely wrong and i'm also aware of the reason that she has no wheel.
I wouldn't take the sandbath out because she loves it and it would upset her.

As for Gudrun, you could give her things like porridge or scrambled egg. Maybe some babyfood as well as her regular hamster mix.

Sometimes with rescue hamsters it's easy to think that there is little hope for them to live a stressfree and happy life because they are so traumatised but time really helps. As time goes on their trust grows and eventually most of them start to relax. It is a wonderful thing to watch when it happens.

04-23-2021, 12:36 PM
Ria P House of Hamsters Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Wiltshire, UK Posts: 7,103	Re: Adopted hamsters Yggrid and Gudrun It's heartbreaking to see hamsters living in such terrible conditions. Well done you for rescuing those poor little souls. Like humans, hamsters can get traumatised by their past and it can affect their mental health and behaviours longterm. They haven't lived a normal hamster life so it's impossible to say what is normal. I have a hamster i rescued from a bad situation and he was very nervous and scared at first but he was a baby which helped him to overcome his past and establish new and more positive behaviour patterns in a matter of about 6 weeks with a lot of input from me. I don't why Yggrid is still so stressed after 4 weeks but i can voice a few guesses and they could all be wrong. She is generally stressed and affected by her past but time, reassurance and patience should help with that. She has a lot of unspent and built up energy because she doesn't have a wheel. I had a foster hamster who jumped up the walls of his cage frantically, tried to get out all the time and raced around like crazy when out. He had a wheel but didn't know what it was for until i taught him to run on it. He calmed down then. After living in a very small cage for half her life she may feel overwhelmed by the large space of a detolf. You could try sectioning part of the detolf off and then gradually increase the space as she adjusts. As i said, i could be completely wrong and i'm also aware of the reason that she has no wheel. I wouldn't take the sandbath out because she loves it and it would upset her. As for Gudrun, you could give her things like porridge or scrambled egg. Maybe some babyfood as well as her regular hamster mix. Sometimes with rescue hamsters it's easy to think that there is little hope for them to live a stressfree and happy life because they are so traumatised but time really helps. As time goes on their trust grows and eventually most of them start to relax. It is a wonderful thing to watch when it happens.