[Pebbles82]

Agree - keep talking to him through the bars - sounds silly but you can just chat away and they get familiar with your voice and scent. Offer the odd treat through the bars initially.

After he's been in the cage a couple of weeks you could get him out for some taming sessions and they do behave completely differently out of the cage than in it. They're territorial in the cage.

To do that you'd need a secure area like a playpen - with a few toys in - a couple of hides and tunnels maybe and a spare wheel or flying saucer wheel (30cm for a syrian, 6-7" for a dwarf).

And a means of getting him there safely. One good way is a tube and a hamster ball.

Have the hamster ball and lid next to the cage. Pop a tube in the cage with one end near his house and a smelly treat at the far end (eg cucumber or cheese). He'll go in the tube to get the treat. Put your hands over either end of the tube and lift him out inside the tube. Then put one end of the tube inside the hamster ball so he walks into the ball then pop the lid on the ball. You can then carefully carry the ball to the playpen area, set it down and take the lid off so he can walk out.

Once in the playpen he can run around and explore and you can put your hand flat on the floor palm up so he runs over it a few times, or give him the odd stroke.

Gradually he'll get used to your hand. There are quite a few tips on hand taming on the forum and youtube. That can take anything from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, but once hand tame, you can just pick them up easily and they're fine with it - without panickijg and trying to wriggle free and leap away.

Even when fully hand tame they still don't really like a hand in the cage but may accept it and just follow your hand suspiciously to see what you're doing messing about in their cage! Eg for a bit of spot cleaning and to add food.