Taming Advice and Behaviour

[GreenLeafSingles]

Hello Hamster Central! I'm new to the forum, and thought I'd start off with a question about taming and hamster behaviour.

My husband and I brought home our male Chewie (Chewbacca lol) two weeks ago. We have him in a 20 gallon fish tank with screen top.

He is very shy. He only comes out once all the lights go out and we are in bed. If we get up during the night, he freezes and returns to his burrow.
Sometimes, though, he is curious and will do a very low to the ground, slow crawl around the tank. He occasionally takes food from our fingertips. He seems to be fine when we stick our hands in to change his food, water, or sand bath.

How can we tame him in the least stressful way possible for him? Even when we stay up late, he hides. It's a little discouraging :/

[velma]

Hello! Welcome to the forum first off, two weeks still isn't very long to have him home - he's still settling in so don't worry! The tissue trick is a good starting point - put some loo roll up your sleeve/down your top for a while & then put it in Chewie's cage for nesting material. He'll get used to your scent a hit quicker. And talking to him when you're in the room gets him used to your voices. He's taking food so yin just need to find something he really wants so he'll be brave The main thing is to be guided by your ham, they are more of a cat than a dog personality so it has to be on their terms. Don't rush him as you'll set back your progress but let him get comfortable with each stage before moving into the next and he'll soon trust you. There's no one definite winning technique as each ham is different but with tons of taming threads there is plenty to read and work out the best fit for you & Chewie. Keep us updated

[HenriandHobieHammies]

Velma basically took the words right out of my mouth on this one... The only thing I can say is that after Chewie has settled in a bit, put him in your bathtub and let him run around (never too long) After a while you can stick your hand in there with his favorite food. Be sure to remember that if you don't know his favorite food, he most likely isn't ready to be tamed yet. Before this, definetly try the tissue trick and all of the other things mentioned above.

[Cinnamon Bear]

When I brought home my new dwarf I adopted last month I had a cold so I didn't take him out for the first 17 days. He was more than happy with this cause he hid underneath the bedding for the first 14 days. So it was perfect timing, he was ready to interact & it has paid off as he fully trusts me now. Except I haven't tried lifting him off the ground yet? Somehow I don't think he'd like that too much so I basically let him crawl around on my hand & feed him treats in a taming bin...maybe we could eventually work up to being lifted up but not quite yet.

He was the most nervous hamster I brought home. He peed in his box a couple times on the car ride from Pet -Co to his new home. He was a mystery hammie for while, a little frustrating cause I didn't know if he would ever stop hiding? He's completely adjusted & it's been about 1 month now.