Rescue ham training help needed please!

[SweetDee]

Hi guys

This is my first post here - so hi! :-D

I adopted Ezio on Christmas Eve 2014; he was a rescue ham who had been left at the pet shop by his breeders who were moving house. The pet shop reckoned he was a few months old, though definitely less than 6 months old.

We have been trying to tame him every day, and we are now able to pick him up out of his cage - but the problem is that he NEVER wakes up while we are around. We stay up pretty late, 11pm - 12am on most nights, and he hides while we are around.

Almost as soon as we go to bed we can hear him running on his wheel - so he is being quite crafty in avoiding us...

We have bought him a massive cage so that he has plenty of space to run around and but even so I feel very sad that he seems to actively want to avoid us. I've never had a hamster before that had no desire for human interaction. :confused:

He seems ok when I get him out of his cage but then after about 10 min he gets a bit agitated, so normally when I put him back I feel even worse for making him scared :(

We've tried handfeeding, leaving him on his own to recuperate, picking him up every day - alternating approaches cause we don't know which one is right.

Help!! Any advice would be very welcome!

Dee
xx

[CPalmer]

I find it best to disturb my girl early, I tend to ruffle the wood shavings around her house to get her attention, then hold out a meal worm or treat for her to take. Then I leave her 10 minutes or so and i'll lift the house away from her. I wait for her to have a walk about them I take her out for handling. I try to do this early evening, so after a bit of handling she can get food and drink back in her cage. I usually find she asks to get out again a bit later on.

In the wiki it says to handle a hamster several times a day to get it used to handling.

I find that Freya loves her ball, I usually put it in her cage and she'll run straight into it. I use that for her to run off some energy first otherwise when I'm handling her she's almost too fast for me to keep up with :)

Good luck

[Nush]

It takes a bit longer to tame skittish/scared hamsters. I normally played with my hamster's food bowl and he'd come out to investigate. As soon as he was out, I give them a treat. I normally cut the treat in 2 or 3 pieces so that it takes longer for him to pick them and pouch them.

But in the beginning, I used to give him his treat then leave. As I did this routinely, the hamster would wait for his treat every night at the same time, so there are no unexpected surprises.

I'd also dim the light in the room and talk to him in a gentle voice while you give him his treat. As time goes on, give him each treat separately and take a few seconds longer so that he waits for you and smell around etc. He'll get used to your presence gradually.

If he likes a ball then it's quicker to tame him because he'd want to come out and explore. Otherwise I used to have a second wheel in a playpen for mine and a sand box which my hammy used to love. I also had a little house that I presented to him every time he looked uncertain. He moment he went in the little house, I'd take him back to his cage. So he learned that when he wanted to go back in, all he had to do was go in the little house. Give him plenty of covered areas in a playpen. Good luck.

[tolennaki]

Hi SweetDee and welcome to the forum!
My hamster was also a petshop ham and he was doing exactly the same. He was never coming out when I was around, but when I was turning the lights off and stayed still and quiet he would come out of his nest right away! I was concerned like you that I wouldn't be able to tame him at this pace but I thought that being patient and gaining his trust little by little was better than scaring him by trying to tame him when he is not ready. What I would do is keep talking to him every day and encourage him to take his favourite treats from your hand. Maybe avoid picking him up for now. When he starts feeling comfortable coming out of his nest when you are there and comes to take food from your hand, then it 's the time to start taming. When I first got my hamster I was feeling that we were making very very slow progress, but we got there in the end!

[AmandaJoy]

I think you have some great advice here already and I'd just add that daily handling even for a few minutes is best so they get used to you. a set routine will help and also monitoring their routine to see how it could best fit in with you. I've had very handle-able syrians who are still 'secret wheelers' and can be heard but never seen on their wheel! Finally the way to any skittish heart is (in my experience) always through their stomach. I'd try a range of treats. Rattling and opening a bag by the bars so they smell the mass of treats usually works, followed by grabbing at a treat through the bars and pegging it back to bed. Over time and again, if you get a routine going they should associate you with the treat bag, hopefully followed by affection. I think patience on your part can be the hardest bit. Very best of luck.

[SweetDee]

Haha - 'secret wheelers'! - glad Ezio is not the only one.

Thanks so much all of you guys for your advice - all of it has been really helpful!

He had a few huts in his cage and I've had to take them all away because he just hid in them and wouldn't come out :sad:
Thankfully removing the housing seems to have helped a little bit - it's easier to get him out of bed, though he does tend to just take a treat and then march straight off back to bed. At least we're at that stage.

The wheel in the playpen is such a good idea, I'm gonna try that - we did put him in the playpen but then he was slinking around low like a snake and trying to yank the bars so we put him back as he didn't look like he was enjoying it. Another time we did put a hut in there as well but he just hid in there the whole time. A very shy ham indeed.

The good thing is that he is very very docile, never aggressive - so I am able to get him out I would say 3 or 4 times a week, and I hold him until he seems fed up and wants to go back.

I really want to get to the stage where he actually wants to come out - or at least doesn't mind being awake and active in his cage in our presence. Right now I feel terribly guilty, like he's scared of us and spends all his time hiding until the scary people monsters are away. I think I'll look into the wheel option as well - we've not tried that yet - maybe he'll find it fun?

Thanks so much you guys!!
x

[CPalmer]

You sound like you're doing very well. :) Taking your time not too push him too hard. As for the play pen I find that Freya wants to get out when she's bored... she can even climb the vertical bars lol. I put in a large plastic bendy tube, some cardboard loo roll middles, a ball with bell in and a climbing frame. I find the more in there the better.

I was the same with the houses. I had to take out all the hidy holes at first. They're all back now though as she's much more comfortable being out with me.

Keep going :)

[Nerys]

Hi :) I haven't got much practical advice here but just wanted to let you know that Ned, my big Syrian was the same for the first 6 months or so that I've had him. He's now a lovely, confident boy who loves coming out, I think it just takes longer with some shy hammies...and lots of bribery with treats! :D

Keep going as you are and he'll settle down with you, you sound like an awesome owner :) He'll realise that soon enough!

[AmandaJoy]

Glad you liked the secret wheeler thing :) Sounds like things are progressing for you. One thing I've always done is get them out for handling when they're already up and awake. It can be hard waiting and figuring out their routine but even with my softest soppiest hamsters I've always made it a rule never to disturb them in bed. (However I always use bedding not plastic houses etc). My only exception to this is gently waking up ill hamsters on medication.

[DrKMcK]

My Ted E Bear took about 2 months to tame. I find that if you let him lead you as to how much interaction he has with you, he'll slowly get used to you. Ted E now flies to his door to come out some days and there are days he wants nothing to do with coming out. I let it be his choice. It does sound as if you are getting there. :-)