Eric!

[Clairealex]

He is starting to come round now

He had quite a stressful night last night! We had crazy wind and rain that woke me up from 2am to 5am. I went to check on the hams as I was wide awake anyway. I got into the room and heard chub jogging on his wheel, totally unfazed. I had a look into Eric's cage and could just see him speeding around the cage frantically. I've never seen anything like it. I spoke to him and turned on a lamp and he froze completely. I just soothed him gently and gave his back a couple of wee pats before moving his cage to the hallway which is much much quieter. He seemed to relax after this and went back into his nest.

When I got home today he actually popped his head out his nest when I spoke to him, came and got a few pieces of peanut and then walked onto my hand to take one he was very responsive to my voice!

Who knows - maybe he remembers that I made the scary noises go away last night!

[racinghamster]

He`s getting used to his loving new mum! He sounds lovely and things can only improve for him now. x

[DrKMcK]

Hello Clairalex what a great job you are doing with this delightful little Chinesy. The thread is wonderful. It's just so great that he's with you. If your goal was to give him the greatest life possible, I'd say you are succeeding tremendously. I look forward to seeing how this little man does.

[fluffydd]

I'm so pleased that Eric is settling in so well

[Clairealex]

Thank you all. It's really nice to hear that I seem to be doing things right. I'm complete newbie with Chinese's and proper taming!

Little Eric gave me a nasty bite earlier. I've started to do little 5-10 minutes sessions in an empty box with one tube and substrate. I started yesterday and everything went perfectly, he was sitting on my hand and attempting to climb my arm, so I was confident when I got him out in his transport tube tonight. He started to get a little agitated after a couple of minutes so I decided to just let him go back to his cage for the night. I had had my hand flat down for him to walk across and before I could lift it he leaned over and bit my pinky quite hard. My finger was dripping with blood haha. He still did very well up to that point and I had sensed his agitation, so he really just wasn't in the mood.

I visually checked him over when he got back into his cage and he seemed fine so I'm happy he wasn't hurt or ill at all. Swings and roundabouts I suppose he's doing brilliant in general so this hasn't worried me. We'll just try again with some hand feeding and finger sniffing in his own cage tomorrow and attempt a little box session maybe Monday or Tuesday . But to be honest, even if he wanted to take chunks out of my hand and never wanted to be touched, I can deal with that. As long as I can give him a safe and happy life, I'm happy! And he's came on leaps and bounds in only a week so I'm sure he'll be completely tame one day! Here's a little pic of him enjoying a shrimp cookie after giving my finger a beating!

[racinghamster]

Hi Claire. Seems as though he`s maybe not ready yet to be lifted out of his cage. He may have felt stress and reacted in the only way he could and that`s by using his teeth! Such a shame this happened though but my friends male Chinese wasn`t too human friendly either and he lived to just over two years old and was happy to have a Gabber Rex and plenty of digging fun regardless!

Baby steps are needed, so keep going back a step to re-assure him and let him dictate his actions. My Prinny would shoot up my sleeve and end up inside my top! I had to stand there while she rummaged around and then came out again! This turned into a game for her and she was such an intelligent little madam! x

[Clairealex]

It must have all been a bit overwhelming for him. Two months of pretty much no human contact, and I'm assuming a horrid wee life before that, and suddenly he has a big scary human trying to play with him! He did very very well the first night, but two nights in a row was probably a bit much for him. Now I know, I won't make that mistake again, and we're now back to hand fed treats and chatting to him in his cage until he tells me he's ready to try again. When I got Chubs it really was just mild taming I had to do as he was used to humans and although he nipped, he was never scared of me and was always tolerant of being handled. With Eric, he's completely untame so I'm learning here too and I feel bad that he suffered because I thought he was ready when he wasn't! But I've learned from this, and learned a bit more about him and his needs. That was his way of saying 'wooooooow, slow down!!'

But, he's still my wee pal when there's mealworms involved



He's quite happy to run on his wheel infront of me now, which he was too scared to do the past week. He also had his first taste of fresh veg in at least two months today. I cut him a tiny tiny cube of red belle pepper and he loved it!

It makes me sick when I think that someone literally threw him out with the bins. I hope he feels safe now. He deserves to feel safe and happy. My poor shy guy

[ANGELBABIES]

This sweet little guy is going to be fine now that he has got you. Well done for giving him the love he deserves xx

[Kiki_3173]

My little Chinese girl, Pippa, is my best bud when it comes to mealworms, but only live ones. She's been much like Eric when it comes to taming (except for the biting). Slow & steady

[Hambobs]

Aw, poor lad...what a start to life. Good job he found you

Hand feeding is definitely one of the best ways to make friends with a shy Chinese. As racinghamster says, they soon learn where the treats come from. I can now just say 'want a treat?' to my two girls, and they go and stand underneath the cage door & wait for it to be presented!

I've also found a snuggle pouch helps. Let them hop into the pouch, then place it on your lap and let them come out in their own time & explore. Giving them somewhere safe to run back to seems to calm them down (and a bit of their favourite treat helps encourage them to explore...)

I find Chinese to be less demanding of your attention than other species (mine usually only want to come out about twice a week) but once out they are nosy & playful hams that love to find somewhere comfortable to snuggle up. I'm sure Eric will soon become more confident & easier to handle. Just takes a little time...