Ragna - coaxing and spot cleaning

[Schwartzie]

Hi everyone,

Been a hectic last two weeks!

Ragna is doing well and busy doing hamster things...he is however still very shy! Lol!

I put together a video to ask advice on how to clean his nest and how to coax him out. Any advice would be so appreciated.

https://youtu.be/K6PDhWUTMfA

[Ria P]

Hi Schwartzie, great to hear from you again.

I'd put a small piece of cheese into Ragna's mug and then lift him out to do a quick health check. You could put him in his travel box while you do the check. Wear gardening gloves in case he decides to bite and only keep him out a short time at first before you move on to bath tub bonding etc.
He did poke his nose out in the video and hamsters are nosy.

He may even surprise you and not kick up too much of a fuss when being handled because he feels safe by now and knows your voice.

You could do a quick spot clean while he's in the travel box with some sunflower seeds to keep him occupied.

[Schwartzie]

Originally Posted by Ria P

Hi Schwartzie, great to hear from you again.

I'd put a small piece of cheese into Ragna's mug and then lift him out to do a quick health check. You could put him in his travel box while you do the check. Wear gardening gloves in case he decides to bite and only keep him out a short time at first before you move on to bath tub bonding etc.
He did poke his nose out in the video and hamsters are nosy.

He may even surprise you and not kick up too much of a fuss when being handled because he feels safe by now and knows your voice.

You could do a quick spot clean while he's in the travel box with some sunflower seeds to keep him occupied.

Thanks Ria...how you been? How’s Henry doing? Will go through the threads to catch up on the news.

I will do that tomorrow evening. Will let you know how it goes☺️☺️☺️

[Schwartzie]

Luna’s G...thanks so much for the advice. I will do that tomorrow evening☺️☺️. Cross fingers☺️

[Ria P]

While i watched Henry gobbling up his porridge this morning i had an idea!

All we could see in the video was Ragna's lovely head and he may not be ready yet to hop into the mug.

You could offer him a bit of baby food on a teaspoon (apologies to your baby) when he pokes his nose out and pull the spoon back a fraction to hopefully see a little more of Ragna.
That way he doesn't have to worry about a hand close up and you don't have to worry about your fingers.
A long handled latte spoon would be ideal.

My finger got bitten this morning which was entirely my fault. So be aware of hamster teeth, lol.

Henry had barricaded himself in when i came back from the garden with his early morning snack of a dandelion leaf calling out his name. I thought he was in bed, so made a small whole in the door with my finger to push the leaf through like a letter.
Next thing. Ouch!!
He had been sitting by the door waiting for his leaf and either expected my finger to be the leaf or acted on instinct, what's that?? let's find out. Chomp!!

Will i ever learn?

[LunaTheHamster1]

Oh Ria, I am laughing, sorry - but it was the picture you painted. Hope your finger is ok

[Schwartzie]

Originally Posted by Ria P

While i watched Henry gobbling up his porridge this morning i had an idea!

All we could see in the video was Ragna's lovely head and he may not be ready yet to hop into the mug.

You could offer him a bit of baby food on a teaspoon (apologies to your baby) when he pokes his nose out and pull the spoon back a fraction to hopefully see a little more of Ragna.
That way he doesn't have to worry about a hand close up and you don't have to worry about your fingers.
A long handled latte spoon would be ideal.

My finger got bitten this morning which was entirely my fault. So be aware of hamster teeth, lol.

Henry had barricaded himself in when i came back from the garden with his early morning snack of a dandelion leaf calling out his name. I thought he was in bed, so made a small whole in the door with my finger to push the leaf through like a letter.
Next thing. Ouch!!
He had been sitting by the door waiting for his leaf and either expected my finger to be the leaf or acted on instinct, what's that?? let's find out. Chomp!!

Will i ever learn?

Hahaha...you make me laugh as always. Ok, so I will start off slowly. We are going to attempt it later this evening or tomorrow. The household was busy today so wanted to do it when it was quiet. I am really glad that he has made another tunnel for his entrance because I also was scared of being bitten..hahaha! I don’t have baby food right now but can place a small amount of cheese cut up in tiny bits in case he grabs and runs.

[Schwartzie]

I saw the whole of a Ragna! Hahaha...yay!

See my video below...Luna G has a good idea of scouting round the sides of the house...the hunt for the pee..lol!

Any advice would so be appreciated!

https://youtu.be/zD0bNFXPIyg

[Schwartzie]

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Bosse_Hamsterdam]

I don't really have any advice, but I do have a similar problem. Bosse the syrian hamster has been with us for two weeks now and he is a burrower just like Ragna. Also, he likes to sleep in and doesn't get out until midnight. So the middle of the night is when I do the taming, which is moving forward somewhat (he takes treats from my hand and is in general curious of me!), but it's exhausting to get up in the middle of the night. Also, since we are still building up trust, the last thing I want to do is ruin his burrows while he is right there "watching". But surely there must be pee in there, since he only recently started using his sand bath for toilet purposes. So at some point I need to get in there...

I'm thinking that I should try to get him into his carrier so that I can do the cleaning in peace the first time. But I'll wait another week or so. Could you try that with Ragna? Put a tube from where he pokes his nose out, with som treats in it, and then hope he moves into the tube so you can lift him out? And then clean?