Star - thread

[ccot2020]

Hello! I am new to Hamster Central and previously owned a Syrian hamster. Now I have a Robo hamster named Star. She is so cute and VERY different from my old Syrian I had. I decided to make this thread to a) keep a journal of sorts of my experience with her, mainly on taming her and b) so that if anyone has any advice I can be well informed on this new-to-me species c) if anyone out there also is new to owning a robo hamster they can see how it is for me.

heres the updates so far, i welcome all constructive criticism and advice

Wednesday - Monday:
I barely saw Star, she would spend all of her time in her burrow and she would run away when I came near her.

Tuesday:
She ended up taking two treats from me and did not seem nearly as scared as she previously had, I was very proud of her and excited.

Today (wednesday): It has been a full week since I got her, tonight she seems more scared than yesterday and did not come to take treats from me. I am wondering if anyone knows if this is normal or should I be worried I have lost her trust tonight. If she does come and play tongiht I may try again or I may leave her to settle down again tonight. A little bit sad as I felt like we had made great progress last night and was hoping this would be consistent tonight.

[ccot2020]

Update tonight: She is out playing, i put my hand in there with a treat and she didn't run away she ran along side my arm as if it wasn't there but if she came up and smlled my fingertips she would run to the wheel. i think I am going to take one step back and continue with the toilet paper with my scent on it for a few more days. She also however, doesn't seem to interested in treats, should I try mealworms for taming i heard they are really popular with Robos. I also am planning on getting her a sand bath this weekend as she seems to enjoy rolling around in the bedding and I think sand would make her very happy.

[Petite]

I am relatively new to owning a Robo too. I've had Holly for around 3 months. Even now that I have managed to convince her I am not a hamster-eating ogre, she still runs away if I move too quickly or adjust something in her cage. It's taken a while to get her to take treats from my hand, and even now I have to be quite patient while she considers whether the treat is worth the risk of running up and taking it. I give her Rodipet food just now (about to switch to Bunny Dreams), and offer her the food in the scoop if she's up when I feed her - she seems to like that, and sometimes takes time out to sniff my fingers too.

Hope you manage to get a sandbath - Robos love their sand.

What I haven't yet dared to do is to put her in the playpen while I clean her cage. If she got out I'm not sure I would ever catch her; she moves like lightning! She's due a clean today, so I'm considering putting her in a large, heavy duty cardboard box with some toys, and see how she does.

It would be lovely to hear how you get on with Star. There is something very special about Robos, isn't there?

[ccot2020]

Update:
today is Friday, it seems she is keener on taking treats in the morning right now so the past two mornings I have been giving her treats from my fingers in the morning. This morning she took 3 treats from me and did not hide when I moved my hands. Today I added in some sand to her enclosure so we will see how she gets on with that. She is a bit nervous at the moment as she woke up when I was adjusting the cage to put sand in there so I had to move her to another bin so I could clean up a little bit. So far so good she doesn't get scared of my voice and is happy to run around the cage late at night. I normally go to sleep late so last night she emerged at about 2:30 am and was up until 10 am.

[ccot2020]

Update:
Tonight is monday night, over the weekend she was still really good in the mornings with taking treats and more scared at night. Tonight while she was out I tried to put my hand in and give her a treat and she ran away so I tried turning on the light and she froze on the wheel. While she did not come to me and take the treat she did let me bring the treat to her and happily ate it while sitting on her wheel. I may try another 15 minute session once she emerges again tonight. I have a few questions for anyone willing to answer:

1. Is the whole her letting me bring the treat right up to her and then her taking it progression or what does that mean?
2. I've been thinking about doing a taming bin but am worried that she would be more scared with that, what are your opinions on taming bins for Robo hamsters, and is that a better method than trying in the cage? I understand how it can be good because they would always feel safe in the cage and the stressor would not be associated with the cage but how has that worked for others?

Thank you so much!!!

PS: I did get her a sand bath and she seems to be enjoying it she's never had sand before so I think she is just figuring out what to do with it.

[ccot2020]

Update:
Today is Thursday, last night I did another bin taming session with Star. I started by taking her out of her cage in a mug that she crawled into and then putting my hand at the opening of the cup, she happily crawled onto my hands and she ran along my two hands for about two minutes before she lightly scratched my finger with her teeth, not a bite more of a nibble, so I put her into the bin and let her chill out for a little bit in there with her wheel. In the taming bin which only has a little bedding for scent purposes the wheel is a little too high for her to climb on to. If she was trying to get on it I would put the cup in the taming bin and let her crawl in before putting my hand on the outside between the wheel and the cup so she would crawl out onto my hand to get to the wheel which she did with no hesitation. When she would try and get off the wheel I would place my hand at the opening of the wheel and she would crawl onto my hand to get down. In the taming bin she would run around and sniff my hands a little bit. After 15 minutes I put the cup back into the taming bin and she would crawl in and then I would carry her over to her cage and then I put my hand at the opening of the cup and she would crawl out and sit on my hand while I lowered her into the cage. After being in the cage she took two treats from me and continued to run around.

This morning she came out when she heard I was up and took a treat she would sniff my fingers but I was a little nervous that she was going to nibble my fingers as I was just holding the treat and so they would smell like the treat so I slowly moved my fingers but she didn't run away.

I think it is going well and if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!! i hope this thread might help someone with their taming process.

PS: I saw her rolling around in her sand the last two days so I am so happy she is loving that!!!!