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Old 03-27-2023, 09:36 AM  
Lucyhamsters101
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Mar 2023
Location: Scotland
Posts: 7
Default Re: My hamster is terrified of me no matter how much I handle her

Hello,

From the sounds of things, your hamster is unfortunately not comfortable with your scent nor being picked up and handled. I relate to you with my past hamsters being really quick with their taming progress and having one which is still nervous around you can be a worry. My hamster at the moment is the same and doesn't yet fully trust me completely but we are getting there slowly. You just need to stay patient and let the hamster learn to trust you in their own time.

What I can recommend is rubbing your scent on things in their cage such as mixing the substrate around and their bedding material in your hands. Let them be able to smell your scent on a lot of things in their cage and get them used to having your hands inside of the cage. When they are comfortable enough try feed them treats or food from their own mix and allow them to take the treats from your hands. Do this for a few days and slowly transition to having food in the palm of your hand and allow them to eat from your palm, and they will eventually be comfortable enough to sit in your hand. You must do this as regular you can like once or twice a day as it will start to become a routine and your hamster will begin to expect it. Once they seem to be okay with climbing on your hand, slowly raise them up on your palm and let them get used to the motion of being picked up - they may be skittish in the beginning but they will get used to it. Once he seems comfortable with eating from your hands and being held slightly in the enclosure, try taking them out for bathtub bonding. Bathtub bonding has been a huge success with all my other hamsters. Using food is probably your strongest tool to get any animal to trust you - along with time and patience.

Also I will recommend to maybe add more hides or some sort of platforms in their enclosure that they can hide under as hamsters are prey animals and if there is a lot of empty space in their cage and not a lot of shelter this can make them feel under threat.

Apologies if you are already trying this method and nothing is working, all I have to offer you is just to wait. It may be a slow wait but you have to take your time as if you rush your hamster into things which they are not ready for, this may damage their trust for you in the long term.

Hope this helped
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Lucy | 19 | She/Her
Current Hamsters: Aerys
Past Hamsters: Puzzle, Cinnamon, Peaches and Frodo
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