Cowering and grooming a lot

[Nush]

I managed to take a video of Maximo cowering yesterday. Here it is:

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l547/Nushroy/th_64BA1FBE-ED19-44E7-A113-CBF9935F9515-634-0000007F5BA230D2.jpg (http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l547/Nushroy/64BA1FBE-ED19-44E7-A113-CBF9935F9515-634-0000007F5BA230D2.mp4)

Maximo, our 3 months old Syrian, has always been a bit of a nervous hamster. He is not too active by nature but sometimes when he comes out he can he quite inquisitive. Except often he gets scared, backs up in a corner and cowers. He doesn’t come out of his cage on his own, I have to trick him to come out. The times I’ve left him to come out of his own accord, he didn’t come out at all. It looks like he wants to come out but he’s too scared to.

He is very happy to be out usually. He likes his sand bath and digging box. But if he hears a noise, he hunches down and almost shuts down. My old hamster used to freeze for seconds then when she felt that there wasn’t any threats, she’d go on exploring but Maximo doesn’t. He can stay like that for a long time - 15 to 30 minutes!

Also when I take him out of his cage, he grooms for ages. I know they are supposed to groom when they first get up but he grooms for 40 minutes to an hour!

I’m worried he’s not making the most of his time outside the cage and not getting enough exercise. Also I should mention that this is not a medical issue. I have taken him to the vet and he has a clean bill of health. I have also checked him for diabetes just as a precaution. He has been like this since we got him 6 weeks ago and I feel it’s more of a behavioural issue.

Has anyone encountered this before? Any suggestions would be very useful.

[kyrilliondaemon]

It might be that he's just nervous. We have a syrian who utterly hates playpens and isn't a fan of completely free range floor time either. She has to be physically near us and knowing that we'll keep her somewhere we can reach her or she gets scared. If we let her go down directly next to us then she'll race around really happily, constantly trying to see how far she can go... But if she actually gets too far and notices then she goes and hides somewhere - and then she will hide for as long as we'll let her.

[Mona's Humans]

Personally i'd try dimming the lights a little....

[Nush]

I put him on the dining table with all his toys. It's not a big space and he doesn't jump off the edges, which is good. I also put him on the bed. When I put him on the floor he acts like Kyrill described. He's excited at first then goes in a dark corner which is difficult to reach and hunches there.

We've had him for 6 weeks and we're well bonded now and he does feel safe with me. I notice if he's on the bed and I'm sat nearby, he'll come near me and groom. But when he's enjoying himself with his toys, he doesn't like being fussed over so I give him some space.

I'll dim the light and see if it works. I leave the light out in his room because when I used to put it on, he never came out to play in his wheel. Once we put the light out, we would hear him in his wheel. Not everyday though - he's not that active.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Maybe put his toys on the bed? We do, and then the ham can either play with the toys or be near you. It might help him be a bit happier - Scamp sits and grooms by us sometimes too :) She has a particular little spot she likes to sit in when she's on the bed and fancies a quiet few minutes lol

[Nush]

I usually alternate between the bed and the dining table on the same night. I sometimes put him in the bookcase too. It's an enclosed space and he loves biting the 'Learn Spanish' leaflet:)

He is generally better on the bed so I might do that tonight and see if that works. The last time I tried though he peed on the bed so I'll take my precautions this time:)

[Nush]

Just a quick update on Maximo. I have been starting his play time in the bedroom. He does better there but he does freeze. So I’m trying a new method which is working well on him. If he starts to go quiet, I pick him up and change his location e.g. from one bed side table to another or I lie on the bed and put him on my chest. This method has worked so well that his confidence has increased. He managed to jump off the bed on Friday and did the same when I put him on the dining table on Saturday.

It took me completely by surprise because he pretends to be slow then he rushes to the edge and jumps. I don’t have time to react. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt. In fact, he looked very pleased with himself so I left him to explore. He was very active and only hunched once or twice but I picked him up and changed his location.

I think when I do that it transforms his fear to curiosity - once he’s in a new location, he needs to smell around to know where he is. I’ve had to watch him very closely and it’s been quite exhausting but I’m glad that, for these few days at least, he’s making progress. On Sunday he even came to the door of the cage wanting to come out, which he has never done before.

I’m not sure if it’ll continue but I’m hoping if I don’t let him go into full fear, he’ll learn to enjoy the time outside his cage.