Average length of time to tame young hammy?

[beccapenny]

A colleague of mine decided to get a hammy himself after I constantly regaled everyone with stories and cute pics of Vince.
He got Suki from the same pet shop as Vince so I'm guessing they've had similar experiences.
However I gained Vince's confidence in about a week and had him completely tame in about 2. Suki is proving a challenge to him by all accounts. She will only come out of her house when he's turned out the lights and they're just not making friends.
Not counting ones who have had a hard time, do some hamd just take longer to come round, or is it more likely he's not taking the best approach with her? I think perhaps he thought he knew what to do, but has now realised he didn't!

[Nat]

I think it depends on the individual hamster most of the time. Plus the amount of patience and effort from the owner. Some hams are just more nervous and need a lot kore work with taming, some may never even be able to be fully tamed. It took a few weeks to tame Dolly, but I've had nervous bitey hams in the past that I just couldn't get anywhere with...

[kyrilliondaemon]

Some hamsters do take a while to tame but often changing methods can help. Our Fwirl was a great example of that, she bit hands on sight for weeks in her foster home with only slight improvement, we changed taming methods and had her fairly tame within two weeks.

[velma]

All hams are different but I think the environment makes a big difference as in the room where they are kept too. A hamster in a constantly "populated" room would get used to people quicker where-as a hamster in a room that's not in constant use would most likely take longer to warm to people. My hams live in my study/craft room as it's one of the few rooms I can keep my cats out of but it does mean I'm not always in there so took Cleo a lot longer to settle down to people being around. And as she only ever really sees me (my boyfriend if I'm ill but 95% it's me) she is very wary of other people.

[Thin Lizzy]

Each and every hammie is different when it comes to taming, some tame quickly while others need some reassurance.

[Pebbles82]

I don't know what the longest time is, but it took two months with Charlie, and a lot of effort! It sounds like the Hamster is a bit shy too. Also I think they pick up on your vibes. He needs to do some oochy coochy coo talk I reckon! My other half is quite quiet and it's taken Charlie longer to get used to him, whereas he kind of listens to me.

[Fluffagrams]

I've found such a variance in the length of time it's taken to tame hamsters.

We were able to pick Meat up and give him a cuddle a few days after we got him whereas his brother Stitch took a week or two longer. My sister's hamster Sooty is still not really all that tame and my sister has had her nearly six months although I'm not sure of the methods my sister is using to tame her.

[beccapenny]

Unfortunately I don't think he is using the best methods to tame her. He told me she wouldn't come out of her house, so he took the house away!! I tried to explain that this was not kind and would probably make her more nervous.
I think he also gives up for days when he doesn't succeed with her each time. He said she leapt out of his hands so he didn't try again for almost a week.
I think I have been very lucky with my Vince, he's a very sociable little guy. But I do get the impression it's more the methods used than the nature of the hammy in this case.

[Naraivi]

I got pretty lucky with Maurice, he was very inquisitive and if he ever bit me or something I didn't want him chewing like my watch strap he'd stop for good if I just tapped him gently on the head! I did find what really really helped when taming him was that whenever I fed him a snack or re filled his food bowl or bottle I'd make a clicking sound so now if he ever gets nervous I make that sound and he is usually okay! Something else I did was when feeding him a snack I wouldnt let go and just let him have it I'd just hold onto it whilst he ate and that seemed to get him accustom to me very fast. Hope this helps!

[beccapenny]

Thanks for all the tips! I shall pass on all the good advice!