Interacting with your hamster?

[Stanza]

Similar here, our hamster starts to steer around 8pm, I pop his fresh food, clean water in then, do a little tidy if needed and he’ll appear for some strokes. Only if it’s later after 9pm ish does he show interest in leaving the cage for some playpen roaming so this doesn’t happen every night as sometimes it’s just too late for me

[RalphsNan]

I sit on the sofa in the evening, side on to the dining room table (where Ralph's cage is on) he will make a huge kerfuffle of getting out of his house so I can hear him, and out of the corner of my eye I will see this little head popping up and down (as hes got a bit older he can't climb the cage anymore) looking in my direction Then when I open the front panel of the cage he climbs up a bit gingerly and sits there (we have a big cardboard roll wedged in the substrate so he can climb up easily in that part of the cage) and its like I know what he wants, if he wants out he will look down as if he is about to jump out, if he wants a snack he gives me the puppy dog eyes (see photo) ! For something so small this hamster has a personality as big as a house - he gets into a mood and will sit in his tubes and close his eyes and ignore us totally - then he rockets out of there and back in to his home, then sometimes he shows off by going backwards and forwards in his tubes at high speed. Makes us smile every day!

[arnoldshirl]

Interacting with Cinnamon Bun was great in the beginning. Strangely there wasn’t a long waiting patiently bond between her and I. I was able to have her get on my hand and eat. I was able to pet her lightly from head to tail. I was even able to cup her in my hands and bring her up to my chest.
Recently that changed. Now I am only able to place her food in, freshen her water supply, clean crusty build up off her wheel, remove some messies and straighten her sand a little WITHOUT interacting or even attempting to go near her. It’s during these times she is having what I call ‘downer day’, and it’s because I am forcing her, I think, to live in the 20 gallon tank now. She scurries fast between her cardboard tubes to be unseen, makes her way to her peanut house and disappears into the hole she dug. When I see the toilet tissue strips being pulled in by her and then her starting to plug up the opening with toilet tissue strips, that’s when I know she is ‘removing the welcome mat’ and ‘shutting the door’ and needing to be left alone.
I am giving her time to further adjust. I continue talking with her when she emerges for a snack and drink periodically during the day. I still wish her a good night before retiring myself for the evening, knowing she will be more active after I go to bed.

[RalphsNan]

Originally Posted by arnoldshirl

Interacting with Cinnamon Bun was great in the beginning. Strangely there wasn’t a long waiting patiently bond between her and I. I was able to have her get on my hand and eat. I was able to pet her lightly from head to tail. I was even able to cup her in my hands and bring her up to my chest.
Recently that changed. Now I am only able to place her food in, freshen her water supply, clean crusty build up off her wheel, remove some messies and straighten her sand a little WITHOUT interacting or even attempting to go near her. It’s during these times she is having what I call ‘downer day’, and it’s because I am forcing her, I think, to live in the 20 gallon tank now. She scurries fast between her cardboard tubes to be unseen, makes her way to her peanut house and disappears into the hole she dug. When I see the toilet tissue strips being pulled in by her and then her starting to plug up the opening with toilet tissue strips, that’s when I know she is ‘removing the welcome mat’ and ‘shutting the door’ and needing to be left alone.
I am giving her time to further adjust. I continue talking with her when she emerges for a snack and drink periodically during the day. I still wish her a good night before retiring myself for the evening, knowing she will be more active after I go to bed.

I would say that her going into her house and sealing up the entrance is not personal its just what they do - my hamster is very social and he still likes to 'dam' himself up in his coconut shell house. As others have said you could try the bath tub training it does help a more reluctant hamster to get used to being touched,

Something drastic has changed for her to feel scared or timid. Did you continuously touch/pet her when she was out and about? Or was there a time when you didn't? It could be that she needs to be socialised again or she could have a health problem - it might be worth chatting to your vet

[arnoldshirl]

Originally Posted by RalphsNan

I would say that her going into her house and sealing up the entrance is not personal its just what they do - my hamster is very social and he still likes to 'dam' himself up in his coconut shell house. As others have said you could try the bath tub training it does help a more reluctant hamster to get used to being touched,

Something drastic has changed for her to feel scared or timid. Did you continuously touch/pet her when she was out and about? Or was there a time when you didn't? It could be that she needs to be socialised again or she could have a health problem - it might be worth chatting to your vet

The only drastic change was moving her from her comfy 10 gallon to the 20 gallon long. I gave her time to adjust, kept talking with her when she was awake, continued to hand feed the same time each day too. She did manage to stop scratching endlessly in the corner as well as stopped pouting in the corner too. However today she came out and enjoyed a cucumber I placed on her favorite rock perch. (I'll be adding that photo to Cinnamon Bun's photo album in the gallery).

She seems healthy. Just upset at probably because I am making her leave her comfort zone of the 10. She needs to upgrade! If I could seal off this entire room and make it hers I would. But that would get costly LOL