Scared Hamster

Hi All

My Fiance bought me a Hamster for Christmas, we brought him home Christmas Eve around 6:00 when we put him in his cage he was busy exploring his cage and running on his wheel. We have 2 cats that were very interested to see what was in the cage so we moved him to anpther place so we could keep a closer eye on them. That night he didn't find his bed as it was on the top floor (his cage is over 3 floors) so he slept on the floor. On Christmas day he was walking about his cage but didnt get on his wheel or anything but seemed happy and was wating and drinking. On Boxing Day morning when we woke up we noticed that he had found where his house was and since then he has stayed in there until we have gone to bed, one night we was up past 1 in the morning and he still hadn't come out of his house. We have been putting treats on the 1st floor so we can tell he is getting up in the night while we ae sleeping.

We have been trying to cox him out with treats and have been stroking him to get him used to us but he seems to be coming around slowly but I just wanted to know if there was anything else I could do to tame him. I am really worried that he isn't coming out of his house and getting enough excerise, any tips would be much appriciated.

Thanks in advance

[suga]

I would imagine he is just finding his way and that if he is eating,drinking and weeing/pooing then at least health won't be a worry. I would get in the habit of calling his name and encouraging him to get up in the evening a little earlier. Our hamster gets up at around 6.30pm and we initially started to entice her out with a treat and her name being called. She now comes out at this time as usual.

Hopefully if you get the little one to wake up earlier, you will be able to interact more and see him using his wheel and doing the things that he normally does whilst your sleeping in the dead of night.

[souffle]

Hello and welcome. It does sound as though he is acting quite normally for a baby hamster and settling in and finding his way around. We have written a taming guide and you can read it here
http://www.hamstercentral.com/wiki/Taming_tips
I would teach him to get up when you want him too rather that waiting up all night for him to rise. It is actually better if the water bottle and sleeping house are on the bottom level as it is easier for access and also as hamsters get older they find it less easy to climb up high to nests. Until he is tame it might even be worth removing one or even both levels so he easy to get out of the cage. Follow the guide and I'm sure he will soon be friendly and tame