Brushing shy hamster

[ZoozieTheHampter]

I got a new long haired Syrian hamster recently, and he's pretty shy because he's new. Anyways, he will eat food out of my hand but doesn't like me getting my hand to close but, he's getting a lot of bedding stuck in his tail fur and I'm scared of him getting mats. So does anyone know how to go about brushing a shy hamster or know if I even should brush him. I've had him for about a week.

[OG_Jam]

i also got a long haired syrian like a week ago, he came already tame but can still be jumpy at times. mine also gets his paper bedding stuck to him he also gets his seed sprays stuck to his tail and belly when he climbs and ive been stressing about brushing him and all the tangles stuff too but from what ive noticed it comes off easily when they run on the wheel and any that doesnt he will most likely remove when he starts cleaning himself. i was worried about the paper and a little of his poop that got stuck to him when he was running so i tried picking it out with some tweezers when he was drinking but it got lost deeper in his fun, 5 mins later he's cleaning himself and got rid of it. if he does start getting mats before you can brush him then you could always get scissors and try carefully cut it out (you might need someone to hold him if he still isnt tame)

[ZoozieTheHampter]

ok thank you!

[velma]

When I had my long haired hamster, the breeder advised against carefresh style paper based bedding as they tend to get stuck more. She was right, and I swapped to wood shavings, which got stuck less in his fur. I found that stroking him regularly made him more used to me when it came to brushing him. Occasionally he'd get something tangled in his skirt so I used to snip that off with a small pair of scissors. And you've only had him a week so it's still early days so you're still getting used to each other so you'll work out a routine that works for both of you.