Sleep training?

[LucyNorbs]

Hi guys wondered if any one could help on the following:
Malcolm (one of my Syrians) has been with us for over a month now. He is getting much better as when he arrived he was VERY nervous. He now takes food off my hand etc.

The only problem with him (I've never had before) is he LOVES to sleep. He doesn't get up until 1am most nights and like 5am in the morning. I cant physically be around to spend time with him at those hours. So I read that you can wake them up gently and gradually (15mins earlier each time) and train them to get up earlier. However for a nervous hamster he is impossible to wake up. I try opening the door changing food etc, even take the roof off his home to find him fast asleep. Once I've eventually coaxed him out with some food he will just then sleep everywhere and anywhere until he has his amount of sleep he needs. Is there anyway I can try and alter this behaviour just so I can spend more time with him at say 9pm! We keep missing him and it's a shame as I really want to stick at taming him.

Thanks,

Lucy

[SinNyx]

As you said, some people choose to try and wake their hamsters up at an earlier time, most naturally wake at dawn/dusk hours as they would in the wild.
Coaxing him out with food may work, you could also just try talking to him so he gets used to your voice and every time he comes over to you when you are talking give him some food.
If you put his food in a bowl I would also suggest scatter feeding him, which is just scattering his food around the cage so he has to search for it - even burying some of it, but maybe do this around the time you want him to wake up and if he comes out to forage, let him hear your voice so he associates you with food and may want to wake up more.
People often do say that male hamsters are more laid back and sleep more than females as well, but I don't know what to think of this as I have plenty of females who over-enjoyed their sleep too! It doesn't matter if you maybe make a bit of noise to get his attention either.
Try and take him out for play times earlier, maybe if he has a ball let him roll around in it, or watch him in a playpen? You could also try the bathtub method if you have a bath - sitting in a bath with him so he can't get out but he has the option to run over you and get used to your scent ect and this may also help with taming him.

Good luck!

[LucyNorbs]

Originally Posted by SinNyx

As you said, some people choose to try and wake their hamsters up at an earlier time, most naturally wake at dawn/dusk hours as they would in the wild.
Coaxing him out with food may work, you could also just try talking to him so he gets used to your voice and every time he comes over to you when you are talking give him some food.
If you put his food in a bowl I would also suggest scatter feeding him, which is just scattering his food around the cage so he has to search for it - even burying some of it, but maybe do this around the time you want him to wake up and if he comes out to forage, let him hear your voice so he associates you with food and may want to wake up more.
People often do say that male hamsters are more laid back and sleep more than females as well, but I don't know what to think of this as I have plenty of females who over-enjoyed their sleep too! It doesn't matter if you maybe make a bit of noise to get his attention either.
Try and take him out for play times earlier, maybe if he has a ball let him roll around in it, or watch him in a playpen? You could also try the bathtub method if you have a bath - sitting in a bath with him so he can't get out but he has the option to run over you and get used to your scent ect and this may also help with taming him.

Good luck!

Thank you that's great! Sadly I do try most of it. I'm always chattering onto him. If I put him in his ball he sleeps. If I scatter the food he collects it and then sleeps. I think maybe it might be because he is still quite young? I mean he is very small for a Syrian. The smallest I've had anyway. I'll just keep going. Thanks for the advice

Lucy

[SinNyx]

Perseverance is the key!
Every hamster has their own personality, he will get used to it all more, some just take a bit longer to adjust. With time and patience, you will see gradual little paw print steps and you will see him improve!
As you said he is small and young, he still has room to grow and he is still not an adult hamster, so give it some time. There is a lot of information scattered across HC, even though you may not necessarily need 'taming tips', you may find this worth a read http://www.hamstercentral.com/wiki/Taming_tips

[daydreambeliever]

I've found Nibbles' sleeping habbits variable, I've had him for about the same time. I went with Nibbles' timetable whilst taming by chatting to him alot and feeding him through the cage bars. Have you cleaned you hamster out yet? Because I gave him bath time where I sat with him in a dry bath with some toys and because i clean him out during the day on Saturdays. I coax him out with some treats hope this helps

[Nush]

My hamster was like yours too. He is by nature a more nervous hamster. It took me months to get him used to getting treats. I did things gradually. If he used to wake up at 11pm, I'd give him a treat at 10.45pm for 3 days. To get him up slightly earlier then reduce the time to 10.30pm for another 3 days. Now, Maximo comes to sit on his ledge to receive his treat as soon as he hears me in his room.

But this is a process that takes a lot of time and there were times he wasn't interested in the treat (I left him and tried in another 15 mins) so you have to be very patient. Also dim the light when you are with him. I use the torch on my phone and it makes a huge difference with a nervous hamster.

Making noise didn't work for me because he was a nervous hamster, the more noise I made, the more he got scared and stayed in his nest! But if I played with the food in his food bowl, that got his attention