Hi there!
On the 7th of this month I got a new Syrian hamster that I called Remy. I let him settle into his new bin cage and he seems quite alert and intrigued who/what you are.
For the last 3 days I've been really trying to get him used to being around a human hand, first of all shuffling my hands gently through the enclosure. He comes near to sniff you but after 4 seconds backs up and stays at the other end as far away from you as possible.
He denies all the food/treats I offer with my hand, he sniffs it and walks away. He usually like these treats as well since he will eat them if I back away. I don't want to force him to let me touch him which will scare him and be even more skittish. If I go slow and he comes up to me if I run one of my fingers down his back really gently he like slightly tries to flip over and get away or makes his back arc so he like "crawls" under your finger (doesn't attempt to nip at all) which I've only done once/twice to see how he is with physical touch. Again as stated, won't do it again since I don't want to make him even more scared.
I saw this video from someone called Victoria Raechel which is the method I've tried, gently ruffle your hands through the enclosure, move on to offer a treat with your hand, move on to sitting the treat in your palm and get them to warm up to you that way. But this method does not work whatsoever.
Does anyone else have any other methods?
I'm not sure how old he is since they didn't tell me, I probably should've asked but I guess I was an adult behaving like a little kid because I was so excited to be adding him to my family.
Many thanks x
A picture of Remy, the Skittish Hamster!
His bin cage, it's 709 square inches. Since this photo he has more toys, a sand bath and an even and deeper amount of shavings for digging/burrowing. The life of luxury!
