Interacting with your hamster?

[Chesterspal]

My guy wakes up between 8 and 9PM. Stays active until around 6:00AM.

The only way I can see him is with the infrared camera. If I do sneak in to the room to leave some fresh veggies when he's out he generally runs and hides from me.

So, exactly how do you folks interact with your pets?

The videos I see online are all in bright day light.

[Ria P]

I introduce myself slowly to new hamsters by talking to them for the first week or two so they get used to my voice and presence. I don't have any other pets so the hamsters are very much in the middle of our household and exposed to allsorts of noises and smells.

I rustle the substrate and rub my scent in before giving them their nightly dish of fresh food while talking to them. Hamsters are nosey and will eventually come out to have a look at that human who never shuts up.

I tame outside of their cage and reward them with freeroaming in a hamster proof area where i sit with them.

Some take longer than others but i find that Syrians are the easiest to tame, generally.

[Chesterspal]

When are you doing all this? Late at night or during the day time?

With my set up as it is now, he goes deep underground with no possibility of my reaching him.

[Lilafernim]

I think a lot of ‘vloggers’ ‘youtubers’ ‘tiktokers’ who have hamsters either have great lighting, which if you were to use I wouldn’t use for long periods of time at night as even my lamp seems to make them less active and want to crawl back to bed. Or they do the unspeakable of waking them up during the day for a video, which I don’t advice!

To be honest this might fall into the debate of the benefits and disadvantages of a bigger cage. I should have a slap on the wrist as I have a female Syrian in an Alaska cage, I am looking out for a savic plaza but I’m meant to be moving and to transport everything is easier in the Alaska cage than the plaza. Just everything is taking forever! But one of the benefits I do find with this (although maybe ethically questionable) is she constantly comes to the door to see me. Always up for having a snoop around my room.

Now on the other end of the scale where people have massive cages with lots of bedding I’ve heard people have the opposite issue, where they never see their hamster. It’s a great thing for hammie because it must mean they’re super happy but it’s not so great for owners as I know a lot feel like they then miss out.

I think they also have a thing called “ghost hamsters” where some naturally are very anxious and are just happy to be in their cage.

I am by no means saying smaller cage is better because minimums are there for a reason, and for a hamster to be happy generally bigger is better. As Ria said speaking softly to them helps and from the fact you say you “sneak into the room” I presume your hamster isn’t in a room you constantly are in at night. Mine is in my bedroom so in the day she is peaceful when I’m out, but by night she constantly hears me and smells me so she understands I’m not a threat.

Again as Ria said, rubbing the bedding also helps or I’ve heard of people rubbing tissue paper and then leaving it in the cage in with snacks. This way they smell your scent but don’t have the fear of your physical hand being there, and can gradually introduce hand feeding. Either your happy is super happy with his cage and likes to be in it, or he’s a nervous hammie and just need to take the taming procedure slower. I could be wrong so anyone can correct me as I have mostly read these things but I think everything I’ve said is reasonable.

[Lilafernim]

Oh and to answer the other question, I only handle hamsters late at night when they’re awake. I think my hand would be torn off if I woke her in the daytime! The girl needs her beauty sleep

[Ria P]

When they first arrive and often they are scared and shy, i talk to their cages i suppose. Any time really, when i'm doing something inside their cages or when i'm near them. Hamsters don't sleep all day, you can often hear them munching from their hordes when they are in their houses or nests underground.

After some settling in time i add things to their cages like a new millet spray, a toy etc and create a little commotion so they come out and investigate.

Hamsters need things to go into when on the surface like a cork tunnel and coconut hide. They like a platform or shelf to sit on and under.

Taming i do in the evening, after they had a wash, pee and snack. They develop their own routines.

[Chesterspal]

Because I also have a cat and a small dog I was scolded for having the hamster in their proximity so he has been moved to the back room of my house.

I'm normally not in that room so he's alone all day. I know when he's up from the camera sending me alerts. They do not start coming until after 8pm.

In the next few days I will be in that room for several hours for a few days during the day to work on my income taxes. Will be interesting to see if he comes out to see what I'm up to.

[Lilafernim]

Do you have anyone else in the house with you? Just we also have a cat and a bird, but I keep the hamster in my room, and my partner has the cat in his room. The bird just sleeps in their cage in the living room. We even switch beds some nights to have swing shifts with them! I obviously wouldn’t encourage shutting your other pets out at night to have the hamster in your room as hamsters tend to be more solitary anyway, so unless there is someone else they are attached to it would be unfair.

Also I know some people struggle with the noise of a hamster at night. You being around them more would help them more to understand you aren’t a threat. If it’s an office space and you enjoy reading or have a computer to watch films on, occasionally once they’re up you could just sit in their for an hour for company. Again though, I’m 100% a night owl so I understand this time may be you’re time to unwind for the day.

Hopefully he does become more confident with time. Mine took ages compared to my last hamster. Weeks before she’d feed out of my hand. And even longer before I could hold her without jumping for her life. Only recently does she climb on me without sprinting to the other side to get off me again! Mine wasn’t hidden at first though just so very jumpy, it is a process but it’s fantastic when they gain trust.

[Chesterspal]

No one else. I understand it will take time.

Seeing those videos in daylight, then, appear to be staged and not what one can expect under normal circumstances.

It's all good. Maybe one day we will connect on our out of sync schedules : )

[Ria P]

Originally Posted by Chesterspal

Seeing those videos in daylight, then, appear to be staged and not what one can expect under normal circumstances.

I think that some youtube videos are staged or heavily edited but some hamsters really are daytime hamsters. Our dwarf girl often asks for out of cage time mid afternoon or just wants to sit on my hand for a while. This is something that happened very gradually. I sat by her cage with the door open and repeated her name quite a lot in a low singsong voice. I think one needs to spend a fair amount of time with hamsters for them to learn to trust us. They need to get to know us the same as we have to get to know them before we can build a bond.