Small bit of ptogress

[shazzy]

Taming started out fairly well with willow (my chineses new name!) - she appeared confident and was happy with my hand being around. I got to touching her and picked her up once or twice for a second or two.

Then she had a sore eye and I had to bathe it - it was quite a struggle and she put up quite a fight, but I had to grab her and bathe it as it wouldn't open on it's own. She would end up with more water all over her side rather than on her eye... So understandably after that she has been really nervy of me and avoiding me like the plague

But I just got her into a little storage box i use for taming, managed to pick her up and got her tunnelling from hand to hand for well over a minute :)

I'm so pleased, it's only little but it feels like great progress in building our relationship :)

[racinghamster]

How sweet. :) My Prinny has been great with me from day one and I love her to bits. What I do each evening shazzy is once she`s running around and looking for me, I place a grain of kallo puffed rice on the edge of my hand, offer it to her and she takes it readily and pouches it. I then take my hand away and leave her for a bit. I come and go to the cage every few minutes and she does`nt bother about me using my hand or my fingers to dig in her substrate or offer her my hand while she has a sniff at it! I`ve lifted her up a few times aswell and she stays still while I lift her and is happy to stay there. :)

She now lives in a gabber rex tank and I leave the whole gridded lid off in the evenings and I have great access to her all the time. Had she been more nervous, I probably would have kept her a while longer in the Rody, but we get on so well, I did`nt hesitate to get her a bigger tank and she absolutely uses all the space. :)

Chinese hamsters are going to be a big part of my life now because having taken on Prinny, she has shown me how sweet natured this species can be and because I love mice, the chinese are very `mouse-like` anyway, which appeals to me.

If you need to wipe her eye or something else, I would say wait until she`s sitting still in your hand and gently wipe and then place her straight down again. I sometimes use a tube to lift Prinny out onto my knee and then she decides to come out on her own. Sometimes I just use both hands.

How are you finding chinese ownership? :)

[Humphrey Furball]

Willow is a lovely name :D and yes, it is great when you feel like you have made a breakthrough, that bit of trust that they put in you is really special. It sounds like you are forgiven for the eye-drama ;)

[shazzy]

Sorry, not been on much so this got neglected! Chinese ownership is lovely - I just enjoy seeing her explore her cage and enjoy her food etc. She's such a little delight to watch. I've been doing a little bit of handling each night - she soon tells me when she's had enough as she frantically tries to bury herself in the bedding! Last night I just left my hand on the floor of the box while she explored - she kept coming over to it and sniffing, then put one paw on my fingers, and then a little while later put 2 paws on, so I think I'll continue with that alternate nights so she sees that my hand isnt a scary creature.

I bought her a little hangy rope perch thing yesterday, and she sat on it and looked quite interested in it, so we'll see if she starts climbing :)

[racinghamster]

I find the `little and often` interaction works best too shazzy. I hand feed and offer my hand to Prinny in the same way and she has grown bolder by the week. :) Chinese hamsters don`t like change, so keeping that in mind, I try not to change anything around her or try to pick her up too often. I moved Prinny into a Gabber rex tank that I won off ebay recently and she absolutely loves it. I bought her a natural cork tunnel from ebay last week aswell and it arrived this morning and it`s larger than I thought, so I might saw it in half and bury it half under her substrate! :mad:

I`m a big fan of Chinese hamsters now and won`t be without one now that I`ve got Prinny and can see what special natures they have. And the fact that they are not classed as `dwarf` hamsters appeals to me as they are very mouse-like in appearance, which I like.

[shazzy]

Just wanted to update and say I am so please with how Willow is coming along - we've been taking it slowly but she really does seem to be comfortable in my company now.

If I go over to her cage while she is out she will come up to the perspex and window wash infront of me. Also, if I sit by her cage watching she'll spend ages out pottering around - if I got sit down and stop watching she'll go to bed. She's much more inquisitive and is much better with my hand in her cage. Yesterday I spent ages stroking her, using 2 fingers along either side of her body and she didnt run away once. She seems to like the sound of my voice, and sits and looks at me ears twitching if I tell her she's a pretty girl :) and...she has this fascination with my hair - I noticed her looking at it one time when it was hanging in her cage whilst I was looking in, so I brought it closer to her and she started to grab it and play with it, trying to climb it at one point!

So, she has really come out of her shell the last couple of weeks and seems such a happy little girl :) Just wanted to share

[racinghamster]

See, I told you they just need some patience and gentle persuasion! ;) I absolutely adore my wee Prinny. Chinese hamsters are such characters and yes, they do like to grab onto things and run up sleeves! :mad: Your hair will end up being an attraction to her no doubt! :)

Keep your routine going shazzy and you will soon be smitten as I am. I would insert a little red loveheart smiley here but we don`t seem to have one! :mad: