So I'm not exactly new but...

[freyashamsters]

Hello everybody!

Gosh, i haven't been on here in a while! Unfortunately, school has all been very...um...full-on (!!!), and i jut haven't had time for Hamster Central, but now i'm back!

Since i was last on, a lot has happened in terms of my hamsters.

Firstly, my dear Willow passed away at just 1 year and 5 months old. We have no clue why this is and currently have no explanation for why it happened. Come to think of it, I think i did a post about this just before my break.

A few days after Willow passed, I got a new Syrian, Peanut. Unfortunately, i've tried for weeks and weeks now and he doesn't seem to be any closer to becoming tame :(

here are some pics of him:
http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j416/freyaestevens/IMG_0324_zpshnqblcm9.jpg (http://s1084.photobucket.com/user/freyaestevens/media/IMG_0324_zpshnqblcm9.jpg.html)
http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j416/freyaestevens/IMG_0322_zpsgarowh7j.jpg (http://s1084.photobucket.com/user/freyaestevens/media/IMG_0322_zpsgarowh7j.jpg.html)
http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j416/freyaestevens/IMG_0323_zpsjqmrtxct.jpg (http://s1084.photobucket.com/user/freyaestevens/media/IMG_0323_zpsjqmrtxct.jpg.html)

So, for a few weeks until yesterday, I just had Peanut. But when I arrived home yesterday, I found Harry, my first ever Russian dwarf, sitting in a cage on my desk! Coming from a rescue, he is most likely a Hybrid, and being quite unexpected, I haven't got all the correct supplies for him yet as i had to kind of throw something together. Being a hybrid, he is diabetes prone and i'd be really grateful for any suggestions to help with a diet for a diabetes prone ham!

I haven't taken any photos yet as the lighting was bad last night and i didn't want to use the flash in case i scared him, but i'll get some up as soon as i can.

The robos are also doing great, they've settled in really well and they seem to like each other more than they like me and we haven't got any further with taming, so i don't think that there's a great chance of them becoming tame.

[chesca_27]

Welcome back! I normally choose HC over school work :rolleyes:.

I remember you posting about Willow. I was very sad to hear this :(. He

I'm sorry to hear you are having trouble with taming Peanut, but he is very cute!

Congrats on the new ham! Burgess Dwarf is an excellent food for diabetes prone hamsters, so I'd try that. The other option is making your own food. I can't wait for photos! :)

Most robos don't end up very tame anyway, so I wouldn't worry.

[cypher]

Welcome back :)

Good to hear the robos are doing well & still enjoying each others company.
Peanut is a lovely little man, it's a shame he hasn't become tame yet, some do take a long time & some are just never too keen on interacting.
Congrats on your new hybrid!
Feeding a diabetes prone species isn't really difficult at all, as chesca says about the best mix is the burgess dwarf hamster harvest, they can still have fresh veg but not to much of the sweeter veg & no fruit or very rarely (I do treat mine to a blueberry once in a while but not often at all), extra seeds make good treats, burgess has lots of millet so he probably won't want more of that but in moderation sunflower, pumpkin, hemp & flax seeds, really tiny pieces of nut once in a while are all good, oats often go down well (dry not porridge) & monkey nuts, most hybrids go made for mealworms again in moderation if you can resist the begging looks!
Just avoid shop bought treats that are packed with sugars of various kinds.

[SKB_Hamsters]

Welcome back to HC

Lovely pictures of Peanut - he is such a handsome hamster. Peanut may need a little more time until he becomes tame. Glad to hear the Robos are still doing well and enjoying one another's company.
Also congrats on you new hamster, Harry.

[freyashamsters]

thank you, I'll get a bag of Burgess Dwarf very soon :D

[Hamsterita]

Welcome back!

I remember reading about Willow, I've just joined the community.

Sorry about Peanut too! But don't loose hope, maybe he only need more time.

Looking forward to know more about our hybrid! I'll pay attention to his thread.

[Drago]

What an adorable little ham! Definitely agree with the suggestion of burgess dwarf, it's a very good food for the diabetes prone species. Keep working with the robos, chances are, they'll tame down with time!

[Thin Lizzy]

So sorry to hear about Willow, I so loved reading her thread and had many lol moments and her pics always melted my heart.
Congrats on Peanut, from the pics he looks very expressive, so looking forward to hearing more about him. Don't be down about the taming, every hamster is different and he may need a bit longer but, you'll get there.
Lovely to hear your little robos are doing great.

[Pebbles82]

Hello again :-) So very sorry about Willow - I do remember. How long have you been taming Peanut? It took us two months to tame Charlie. I thought it would never happen but when it did it just happened in minutes! So keep positive. We just did bathtub taming twice a week. Not that there was actually much taming, but we did take him to the bathtub with some toys in twice a week and little boy sat in with him a few times. We couldn't touch him at all or pick him up because he'd either jerk his head round (as if threatening to bite) or ping 3 feet in the air.

So we let him play in the bathtub and after various bits of advice and time for him to get used to our scents, we just would try using one finger to gently stroke him on the back while he was slithering up and down the side of the bath (as they do). As soon as you touched him his head would jerk round again and we'd pull back. And leave it for another day or two. Then try again. And then one day his head didn't jerk round. He kind of half thought about it and started to move his head and then it was if he was thinking (oh it's just them again) and carried on with his slithering.

That was the turning point and things happened really quickly after that. He accepted touch from us and felt safe with us. The next stage (I got the tip from a video and I can't remember who made it - someone on here who was quite experienced with hamsters) - was to cup a hand under him while he was walking around in the bath tub. So I just slid my hand under his tummy and let him walk off a couple of times. This was accepted straight away once he was used to being touched. And then put the hand under his tummy and gently life about 1cm and let him walk off. From that point we picked him up - and he was tame.

Lovely the Robos are doing well. I second (or third or fourth) the Burgess dwarf hamster. It's a rare combination of suitable sized pieces for dwarfies, good ingredients and sugar free.

[freyashamsters]

Thank you so much for your advice Serendipidity, I hadn't actually thought of bathtub taming! I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem :rolleyes:

[Pebbles82]

Here's my little video on our bathtub taming :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyEme2xcq4