Syrian spooks really easily

[Mollywobbles]

I got my Syrian, Molly 11 days ago. She settled in well and didn't get spooked at all. I haven't tried picking her up yet but can feed her treats from my hand.

About a week after I got her she started to spook really easily and started to sleep and nest in her tube, where as the first week she was sleeping in her house. If I make a sudden movement or anything when she is up, she will run really really fast for a second and I'm worried that she is doing to hurt herself. So I've been avoiding doing anything other than watching tv when she is up in the same room as her as to not spook her. If I move really slowly upto her cage with a sunflower seed, she will eat it from my hand through the bars.

Have any of you experienced similar spookiness? What would the best way for me to deal with this so I can start handling her and build her confidence up?

[Kay_zee]

Some of the hamsters I've had that were previously behind glass often took a few weeks to get used to being in a barred cage and more exposed to sound etc.

Bear in particular never seemed to fully 'grow' out of it. All we could do to help was change the position / angle of her wheel so she would no longer be in an 'exposed' spot should she spook. We'd always call to her too first before switching on a light / getting close to her cage. Still the odd occasion she would freeze and take 30 seconds to herself.

I think in the end it took 3 / 4 houses in different places (and 3 potty toilets but that's another story that those who have had torts before might know all too well!) before she finally permanently settled into one and always preferred a set up that had plenty of covered space.

In the short term it's probably best to keep set up changes to a minimum while she gains confidence, but in the long term I've found it can really help.

Introducing my scent on some bedding, patience and food bribery pay off in the end. Every hamster has been different, but weeks / a month hasn't been unusual. Good luck! :)

[DrKMcK]

Hi Mollywobbles. Love the name. Is it from Harry Potter? :-). Don't worry about your hammy. My Ted E. Bear was the very same way. It took me about 2 months for him to calm down. What really helped was my allowing him to walk into a hamster ball right from his cage door. I held it right up to the door frame. Once Ted E. realized that this was out time/play time he started coming more willingly to the door. I would let him run around a bit and then I would also take him to the bathroom and let him out in the bathtub. (with the drain well blocked and a few toys and a wheel in there. I'd get in the tub and just sit with him. He was safe and couldn't escape, yet he had the chance to smell me, walk over me, run on the wheel and explore a bit. This is called the tub training method and it really does work. I think it's important to have your hammy go in the ball on her own so you don't have to touch her until she becomes more tame. She can go back in the ball for the return to her cage. Lots of young hammies will nest in tubes. You might want to block access to the tube until she makes a nest in the cage again. Ted E. did that too. He lives in two 10 gallon tanks with a critter-trail all attached by tubes. I blocked off the tube he was sleeping in, he started sleeping in the observation deck in the critter-trail and he hasn't slept anywhere else since then. Patience and time will solve this :-)

[Mollywobbles]

Thanks for the tips!
Unfortunately my cage only has a roof door which is tiny! I'm planning on making a bigger cage as I had a small starter cage attached to a bin cage for my last dwarf hamster, I just need to get some more tunnels and find a big enough space for it all to go! My lounge is rather small and don't particularly want her in my bedroom. Other than that I only have a small kitchen in my flat! Perhaps it will be a block of flats I build her.

I'm going to try and find some cheap tunnels/end pieces online and hopefully get it set up. The bath thing sounds like a really good idea to try once I manage to get her in her ball.

Yes, it is from HP :D