Pooky Won't Shut Up!!!

[Skeever]

Today, Pook was having a battle with his water bottle. Pulling on it and so forth....which he has done on occasion. Usually I doublecheck and make sure its unobstructed and it drips easy enough, and he drinks. Today I'm finding he may be more manipulative than I thought previously.

Since he knew I was awake after tapping the bottle on the outside, he ran to the door without drinking and did his little happy dance with paws banging on the door....Why? Because he knows it works. He knows I would call in sick for work if he did it long enough.... :D

Fine, since all that banging had already woken me up.....He rushed out, full of that vile, egocentric, naivete often found in young hamsters. He was, dare I say it, bubbly? I decided not to beat him. This time. 8-[

In the course of playing less than an hour, he was chuffing, sneezing, clicking, and some manner of squeak/chirp/snort non stop. With all that running around, and making so much huff and puff sounds, I wondered if he could have a cold or something, but he's the picture of bright eyed and stubby tailed hamminess. The clicks sounded a bit like on and off bruxing, and as for the rest of the sounds, no word fit.

Is being happy and frisky and at play a reason for a verbal assault? I've never heard him talk so much in such a short period of time. Back in his cage, he's his normal self, the rare chuff or squeak....I'm guessing if he was alarmed or bothered, he wouldn't have played so much, coming back out three times for more?

:p

[Willow Wisp]

Oh that's so not fair, I want a hamster that talks while their playing too, why should you have all the fun??? :) :) :)

[Skeever]

It's not just while playing...since his screaming nightmare and he found his voice, he tends to comment on things lately. Like trying to get him to come out when he wants to sleep? His 'Pffffft! Begone Fool!" squeak is withering.... ;) Harder to translate today's chatter....prolly closer to 'Ooooooh, ooooh, hmnnnn,aha!ooooh, heheheheheehe, weeeeeeeeee , ooops hahahaha, oooh, aaaaaah, hmph, tee hee"

I just wonder if this is the beginning of a highly vocal phase! LOL....

[Thin Lizzy]

Another vocal hamster, Twinkle my syrian likes to chat and when I talk to her she makes noise and nods her head - so sweet! He sounds happy and content and nothing to worry about, if he was unhappy he would probably stand on his back legs baring his teeth and screeching.

[Teddy001]

I'd be concerned with his sneezing and clicking sounds. The sneezing is a sign of irritation in his air passage- the clicking in some cases, can be the sound made due to respiratory reasons. How long has he been sneezing and making the clicking noise? The vocal sounds could be for many reasons- but with the symptoms of sneezing, that does sound like a vet check would be best. I've heard of hamsters being vocal, most I've read about were dwarf hamsters, although, I'm sure there are a mix of hamster species that are vocal for what ever reasons-- however, typically, Syrians are not vocal unless there is a reason, scared, hurt, ill, startled, and in some cases, overly excited.

[MylosMom]

Sounds like Mylo & Pooky are cut from the same cloth when it comes to asserting their opinion. Mylo is not so noisy as he likes to make sarcastic remarks under his breath. Such as the "Do you really need to pet me now?" clicks, or the "I'm sleepy, GO AWAY!" sneeze like noises. He also makes under his breath grunts and shreads things after I have picked him up, as he is tolerant of attention but prefers it is hands off.

Mylo also learned that banging the water bottle against the glass produced favorable results. Namely waking me to adjust his wheel he knocked over while realigning the Feng Shui of his cage. Thankfully this phase did pass, so hopefully Pook is going through some teenage angst he will out grow.

[Skeever]

The Plot Thickens. As for the sneezing, I was given a lesson by Pook in what a sneeze was, versus what a chuff, or snuff is. Namely, a sneeze gets snot on you if they're near enough. Pooky did sneeze once yesterday....in my face. :p

So whatever else he's doing is a huff of some sort, or snuffle. And the clicks sound erraticly like chewing sounds, not a rythymic breath based sound.

This morn, around six am, he was raising hell and I happened to have his cage near the bed to watch him while falling asleep.....he was tearing things up he never even played with before, loudly as possible.

When I opened the door, he practically RAN into my hands.....and since I didn't put the light on right away, he did his usual running around and being petted. Except I could pet him longer. Between an extra heavy wheel session, and the petting, he got to the point where he was lying down next to me like a cat and dozing.....when he wasn't sitting in the palm of my hand meerkatting for sometimes five minutes at a clip. We both meerkatted at our noisy morning neighbors and said vile things about them under our breath......

Overnight, he suddenly can lie in my hand and be petted until he's practically snoring, and chilling outside the cage to sit next to me ? He still runs a blue streak when he's of a mind to....as he did later in the day....but he was sooooooo hamster like and cuddly I thought he was a Pixar creation. We'll see if he continues to be this mellow. Maybe I'll try more often around dusk and dawn and leave off the lights....?

Pretty sure Pook is a heart ham :D

[Pebbles82]

Skeever - you should write a book - you are very readable! It is the stuff of literature! As for Pooky - lol! He's a character. Sounds like he was trying to talk to you.

[Skeever]

He was going for telepathy this time I think. He'd be sitting on my hand, and a sound would catch his attention. So he'd stand up on my hand, meerkatting. For a long time, he'd do the listening 'freeze'....then we would hear another noise in the building, and ....like a comedy routine, we would stare at each other for a good ten seconds....then we'd both look in the direction of the latest noise......and freeze......repeat as needed.

It's like he stopped seeing me as a person, and started seeing me as a ginormous hamster... :)

[Hopefullygettingahamster]

You have been accepted as a rodent of unusual size! XD

[Shannonmcn]

You have been accepted as a rodent of unusual size! XD

Yes! :D

I'm jealous skeever, I love chatty animals. Pook seems to have a human sized personality so maybe he's convinced he's just a tiny person?

[Skeever]

ROFL!

True....I just don't know if the blood brother pact I had in mind will freak him out :D Maybe I should just give him a Cub Scout ritual instead ;)

[Shannonmcn]

How good are you at sewing? A hamster sized cub scouts badge might be tricky!

[astrohamster18]

Well, I know this because my little furbaby, Squirrel, does this all the time. I think I know what you mean by clicking: repetitive little half-barks half-clicks, right? Okay, so hamsters do this as a result of annoyance, frustration, or wanting something really bad. So use some investigating skills to find out what Pooky dislikes so much. Some questions:
1.Has there been a change in the family (Death, birth, moving, vacations, etc)?
Because if you're partner/friend/person you live with has spent time with Pooky, and they are gone, there will naturally be some separation anxiety.
2.Have you been having stress/grief?
Hamsters, I believe, have the capability to have empathy. So, if you get upset, they will naturally get sad and upset.
3. Have you gotten angry at him lately?
I'm definitely not saying you're an animal abuser, but have you gotten upset with Pooky? Because if so, he might have actually reacted the opposite way you wanted him too. Either because he is rebellious :) or he just got stressed a bit. The best training method are positive reinforcement, and conditioning.


If you answered yes to any of these, your Pooky might be acting out, so be patient with him, okay?
Hope this helped!

[Pebbles82]

I think it's lovely that he has such a bond with you! Charlie just tolerates me I think. I know what you mean about the sound thing though. It is the only time he snuggles up to me and looks at me - when he hears other half coming through the front door and it bangs, or someone comes in the room. He snuggles up and sits very still and looks at me as if to say - well I only tolerate you but I know you will keep me safe.

It's a bit like children I think sometimes - they might call you a sucker and a loser and ignore everything you say and manipulate you into buying them sweets, and give you the cold shoulder if you say no - but if they are scared they jump into your arms.

Yes I can see 'sucker' coming out of Charlie's looks sometimes!

[Hetty]

Awwww.....such a chummy ham! It's amazing how our fluffs bond and tune into our behaviours. I swear they learn to become vocal in order to communicate with us verbal humans, like cats did.
Stench and vibrations are not getting their messages across!!!! :)
I've had the experience of not one but three highly manipulative hammies! Well, not evil manipulative.....( or so I innocently think) but they get/got what they wanted!!!!
Daisy has learnt that her metal food bowl makes a thoroughly satisfying bonking clang clang sound that really wakes Mummy up fast! She gets very demanding....if her breakfast bag is not rustled, food scooped out and bowl lifted up by 6.00 am sharp......the bonging begins!She has learnt what weekends are though.....:D.....the clanking commences at 8.00 am then. Then she needs a petting, a cooing ohhhh from me, more face stuffing or the bowl is clunked clunked CLUNKED! She'll then gorge herself, lift the bowl up and carry it to her stash, clanging it merrily along the way. I've tried to replace this bowl with a heaver ceramic one, but it was subjected to an epic dirty protest.....bleck!!! The metal bowl remains....

[Shannonmcn]

Daisy sounds amazing, I think I like Daisy :D

[Skeever]

Well, he's still the ham he was a day ago....lounging on my hand, propped up on one elbow....we spend a lot of time meerkatting together now...it's like he's entered Deep Taming or something.... :shock:

[Skeever]

@Astrohamster...nope, I think a half bark I could hear and describe, and it would stand out. This is like a mumbling ongoing monologue when he's excited and exploring...that is, when he is being highly vocal, which is only sometimes. Kind of how people sometimes mutter to themselves.

Usually its the odd sound in response to things, like surprise, or annoyance, or something he finds fascinating.... :)

[MylosMom]

Is he making the same noises now that you have come to this acceptance? I do notice that Mylo is one moody little dude & somedays, at times correlating to the time he gets up, he will be more cordial & accepting. I have been wanting to push some boundaries with Mylo lately as he does seem to eager to interact, just it has always been on his terms. So your progress with Pooky has inspired me! It amazes me how they assert their personalities. :)

[Skeever]

He is normally not as vocal as the night that started this thread. Or hasn't been, though he has his moments. Tends to be when he is having fun and 'forgets' himself, lol.....

It's been a suprising month to say the least. First he talks a blue streak, then he suddenly hangs out with me like a cat with the brain of a dog, or is that vice versa? I think its always on their terms, maybe he's just figuring his terms have been met, and I passed his security clearance and background check... :p It's like he's saying , okay, I think I do trust you now. And you finally learned that Squeak!Squeak! means SqueakSqueak. :D

[Pebbles82]

Charlie is the silent type. He has squeaked twice - once when he thought my hand was an owl while he was in his pet carrier, and once when something stabbed him and it clearly hurt. Otherwise he is totally silent - always. Silent but deadly - those are the looks I get! Occasionally the vibrating but that is speechless! I think really he must be a talking hamster and he is trying to hide it.

[Skeever]

Pook just squeaked when he saw the grain,cheese and artichoke. Four or five chirps. Given him, I'm not sure if it meant "Wow! Thanks! Hamster gourmet dining!" or....." ACK! OMG! Must hide from new strange inert green food and smelly cheese!!!"

If only I had a Ham/English, English /Ham dictionary at times like this.....

[Pebbles82]

That sounds like an interesting Dictionary - could be worthy of a whole topic with contributions! Or a game.