new hamster

kate singler · 12-16-2015, 08:19 AM

hi

last Saturday we got a Syrian Hamster called Cookie! he is my 12 year old daughters pet and she has already fallen in love!

a few questions if that's ok!

1) he has now been out of the cage 3 times, he sits on us, runs in his ball, my daughter made a huge play pen for him with toys etc however.... he spends loads of time in huge tubes and weve only been able to get him to come out of the tube 3 times to get him to come out.. we did this by offering cucumber and then lifting off the cage and getting him out that way.. any other ideas how to get him out.

2) he has a lovely bed and has made a next at the bottom however for the last 5 days he has been sleeping in the tube and has taken loads of bedding and food in there... last night when he was out playing I cleaned it out as it had poo in and thought he would spend the night in his bed but today he has taken more bedding up and is a sleep in there.

he doesn't seem scared when he is out, doesn't hiss and lets us hold him although he likes to get down but is that ok

3) finally his pattern is that he wakes around 9pm, my daughters bed time so since we got him shes been going t bed at 10.30/11 so she can spend time with him which is much too late.. it says don't wake them so any ideas how to get his pattern changed a bit??

thanks so much

velma · 12-16-2015, 04:41 PM

Hi. welcome to the forum

Are the tubes attached to the cage? (Rather than lies inside the cage) . External tubes can be a problem - a lot of them can be a bit small for the hamster when they grow but also, as you're finding, some can nest in them & it makes taming more difficult so it might be easier for taming to remove them for the time being. What cage do you have? If you can post a picture that would be helpful. You'll probably get some good advice of how to make a good layout for Cookie that might work better for you both.
With taming hamsters, try & get him to want to come out, rather than taking him out of his "safe" space - ie, when he's hiding in a tube. (Again this can be where not having them makes it easier). He's only been home a few days really so he's still settling in. Give him time & don't rush him & he'll trust you more in the long run if you go at his pace. You can try and encourage them to wake earlier. You need to be consistent with a set time every day. You don't want to wake him straight up & disturb him but if at the same time every day you make a little rustling noise in his cage & change his food/chat to him etc, hopefully he'll slowly wake himself up & come & see what's going on. But give him time to fully wake up, get himself a drink first. Or he might be a bit grumpy!
I'm sure you'll get some good advice & will be getting on great with Cookie in no time at all

flowerfairy · 12-17-2015, 10:39 AM

I used to wake my childhood hamster, Horace every day as soon as I came in from school. He had sunflower seeds and a good old run around as a reward so was always happy to see me!

Hopefully your daughter will get into a nice routine with him soon.

Gemma_xo · 12-17-2015, 01:55 PM

Welcome all to HC =]
x

kate singler · 12-17-2015, 03:51 PM

Thanks.. He seems a lot happier and tonight had a good play when we took him out. We have the pets at home Laura cage but have also made a huge playpen with lots of toys.. Have put a tissue with my daughters scent on and tonight he spent a good while on her lap.. She is so in love with him it's gorgeous to see.... But there are so many poo droppings and a smelly were corner! Is it ok to keep cleaning that bit when he's out playing ?

Scargirl · 12-17-2015, 03:55 PM

Welcome to HC Cookie!

velma · 12-17-2015, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kate singler

Thanks.. He seems a lot happier and tonight had a good play when we took him out. We have the pets at home Laura cage but have also made a huge playpen with lots of toys.. Have put a tissue with my daughters scent on and tonight he spent a good while on her lap.. She is so in love with him it's gorgeous to see.... But there are so many poo droppings and a smelly were corner! Is it ok to keep cleaning that bit when he's out playing ?

The droppings aren't so bad because they don't smell but they are tiny pooping machines! If he pees in one place that's really good as it's easy to clean - lovely litter trained hammies!

you can put something in that corner, a ceramic dish or i use a glass biscuit jar, & put some chinchilla sand (not chinchilla dust) in it for a hamster toilet,which it makes it dead easy to spot clean. If you over clean, they will mark more to put their scent back so you have to be a little careful about over doing it. But the smaller the cage, the quicker they whiff & I'd say your cage is a hit on the small side so as Cookie grows, I'd consider upgrading him - he'll have plenty of space & need less frequent cleaning - win/win

Although hamsters can have shelves & tunnels as additional space, they seem to do better with one large area of floor space as their basic starting point (rather than a couple of smaller ones joined up) The other downside of a smaller cage is that they come with a small wheel & don't have space for much bigger. As cookie grows he will need a much bigger wheel so that he doesn't arch his back (nose in the air) when he runs, it can cause spinal problems. There are lots of awesome threads on great cages that aren't too expensive or how to DIY your own as well as good wheels with good sizing so it's worth having a good look through the boards for inspiration

Thin Lizzy · 12-21-2015, 10:04 PM

Hi Kate and Welcome to HC. A big welcome to Cookie too!