Taming my new syrian

[JustAwesome]

Hi all

Not sure if this is the right board for this but here goes!

Our new Syrian, Monty, came home with us on Friday night. He lives in the same room as Pickle but how their cages are positioned they can't see each other - they can definitely hear each other though (the first couple of days freaked Pickle out but he is fine now).

I've put some kitchen paper with my scent on in Monty's cage and gave plenty of food initially so as not to disturb him too much. He has been having a little fresh food just left on his shelf too, and uses his wheel at night.

Monty is very unsure about coming out of his tubes (he sleeps there and has his food store there too) - I've been talking to him and just sitting with him but I wonder if he is getting made more nervous by hearing Pickle? Do you think I would be better off moving Pickle out of the room for half an hour or so each day when Monty is awake, so it's quieter?

I've never kept two hamsters at the same time before so would appreciate any advice!

Thanks in advance

[flowerfairy]

I have a syrian in my bedroom and have just got two roborovskis. They are quite nervous and also have tissue with my scent.

I would just leave both hamsters in the same room. They will soon adjust to each other being around.

[Thin Lizzy]

Keep both hamsters in the same room. They might not be able to see each other but, they'll be able to smell and hear. I kept both of mine in the same room and had no problems.
Monty is still adjusting to his new home, keep an eye on him with the tubes, usually when they start too sleep and store their food in them it can be hard to get to them should they become ill and it can be hard to clean which then causes them to smell. It might just be temporary him using the tubes this way. Does he have a house for his bed area?
As for the taming, just keep doing what you're doing and praise him each time he comes to you, this will give him confidence.

[cypher]

I agree about keeping them both in the room all the time, they soon get used to the scents & sounds of another ham & it really shouldn't prevent Monty from settling in.
I also think tubes can be a real problem, if a ham is nervous it can make it very hard to get them out or interact with them without stressing them & they do often tend to eat, sleep & pee in them which gets really unhealthy so if there is anyway you could remove the tubes I would, it might upset him a little but he'll get over that soon enough.
Other than that just keep going with the tissue (I would use toilet tissue rather than kitchen paper btw as it's safer) just spend time talking to him & he should soon begin to get used to his home & become a little braver.

[Bertiebobbins]

My two Syrians have got used to each other now, although Glowy (newest) was never phased by hearing Nibble, it's taken Nibble a while longer to get used to hearing another ham in the room but he's ok now. Definitely leave them in the same room!

[JustAwesome]

Thanks everyone for your replies. He does have a house but prefers his tubes - Pickle was the same and it hasn't caused problems so far, but I will definitely keep an eye on him in there. I sat with Monty last night just talking to him and he came out to get the fresh food I'd left him and go on his wheel. Pickle was very unimpressed at the lack of attention and spent the entire time chewing his cage :-/

[JustAwesome]

Any ideas on how to get Monty out of his tubes long enough to cap them off? Was thinking I may have to do one end so he's forced out the other to get water etc but there's no guarantee he'd do that when I'm in the room! Don't want to stress him out.

[Thin Lizzy]

Offer something tasty like chicken and bribe him. If no luck, then tip the tube over loads of substrate and wait for him to slide out, you may need to push him out. Whatever you do don't put the tubes back in the cage.

[JustAwesome]

Thank you he doesn't seem to be that food motivated, we ended up popping him in his exercise ball while we removed the tubes and he seemed to enjoy that