Taming a new syrian hamster?

[Bubble56755]

Hi guys I'm a new hamster owner and have a few questions.
I have recently bought a baby Syrian hamster (Stitch) a few weeks ago and was wondering if you have any taming tips for me?

Stitch is wonderful, I love him, I just want to make sure that I'm doing everything I can to help the taming/ bonding process. At the moment he doesn't mind being touched or stroked, however he won't stay near my hand if I place it flat in the cage. All advice would be appreciated.

[Millie]

Hey welcome :)

I also recently got a baby Syrian, two in fact! called Maisie and Lula. So far Maisie is a lot more tame whereas Lula is very timid still. Some helpful things that I have been doing is the tissue trick, where you put a bit of tissue up your sleeve for half an hour or so (as long as possible) and then scatter the tissue around their cage. This helps disperse your own scent around them so they can get used to your smell.

I also offer them food directly from my hand, between my fingers or from my palm. Each hamster is different, Maisie takes food from either way with no problem and will sit and eat it there and then, whereas Lula is always hesitant to take any food from me and when she does she will pouch it and run back to her hideaway with it.

Keep up with the stroking, if you have a playpen a lot of people tame their hamsters by getting in the play pen with them and waiting for the hamster to smell them and approach them. Also a lot of people do this in the bath too.

Taming can be a process and often disheartening at times as I have figured out but don't give up with it :) Good luck!