Is this something I should worry about?

[monalipschitz]

I'm very new to hamster keeping and I had a bit of a scare with my Russian dwarf this morning. He'd only been with me for about 24 hours but he comes out when he hears my voice and I feel I ought to spend quite a bit of time feeding/holding him so waking up during the day pays off.

Anyway this am he was running over my hand, nibbling food, running in his wheel etc when he went over to his food bowl. He picked up a larg-ish piece of peanut and it vanished in one go. A few second later he looked up and just froze.

He wouldn't move. He just sat there, nothing would budge him - not even a chin tickle. After about 5 mins I decided to cover him with a towel to make him feel safe & leave him alone. When I came back about 10 minutes later he'd turned round and was sort of padding at his cheek with one paw and working his jaw.

I watched him for a while and he started eating again ok a few minutes later. He seems fine now too.

Is this normal behaviour, or something I should worry about? Did I do anything wrong?

Thanks :D

[Spacemonkey]

I would say something scared him into freezing, it doesn't take much, just a random small noise that we can't pick up.

My Syrians often freeze, sometimes you can comfort them by tickling them and saying 'Hey you' but other times they run off and head for cover, house/bed.

He obviously got a bit freaked out hence he pouched the peanut, when you came back the padding at his cheek was him trying to say "ok, panic over.... now wheres that yummy peanut, its in 'ere somewhere" :wink:

[monalipschitz]

Thank you so much, it's good to know it's something hamsters do. I was worried I'd done something wrong.

[babyboos]

Hamsters do freeze when startled or they hear a noise they don't recognize. I think they reckon if they stand still the prey wont see them as if they were Chameleons...