Hi!!

littlepeanut · 12-28-2009, 03:58 PM

Hello, thought I'd introducde myself.

I bought my son a hamster for Christmas (I can hear the tuts from here!) and yesterday Peanut entered the building!!

He is a dark grey Syrian with a white band round his middle, our Saddleback Peanut!

We bought him from a small local garden centre, but forgot to ask how old he might be. Does anyone know how old 'new' hamsters are likely to be?

Glad to have found this forum and look forward to getting some pics of Peanut up for you to see - he's gorgeous!!!

Fluffy · 12-28-2009, 11:18 PM

Hello and welcome.

While others might think differently there is really no way to know for sure. If he is smaller then a full grown you might be able to say he is a young hamster, but there is really no way to say he is say "two months old" for example. As hamsters mature fast and there is no way to ask them.

Jason

littlepeanut · 12-29-2009, 07:10 AM

Thanks for the reply. He is small, a lot smaller than others I've had in the past, so I'm guessing he's quite a young 'un!

Another question - he is currently residing in my sons room, but he'll come into the lounge in the evening as he keeps my son from going to sleep.

He'll emerge at 4pm when he has fresh food put in, and will stay out and play, but come 7pm ish he goes back to bed and will not come back out until I go to bed.

Do you think this is just him being shy and still a little nervous? He has been out once - last night when he had a little supervised run around the hallway.

I'm going to have a few questions as its been a good 6 years since I last had a Ham, so am a bit rusty!! Thanks in advance for your patience.

souffle · 12-29-2009, 10:31 AM

Welcome to the forum
Peanut sounds lovely. Baby hamsters on sale at this time of year are normally 6-7 weeks old so I imagine he will be around that age. He sounds like a Silver grey banded syrian.
Youngsters often get up and down at different, and rather odd times, to a settled adult.
Start now encouraging him to come out when you feed him by calling him and rsutling the bedding so that you train him to get up. This is important when you have a youngster as once settled they will sleep really late if you let them and your son will miss out if he waits till Peanut gets up. Don't feed too much fresh food as it can give them loosness. Just a fingernail sized bit every second day or so. Other things that help growth are little bits of chicken, egg, porridge, cheese, mealworms and baby food

Start with the taming now and do lots of handling while he is young. He will be fast at first and keep running him hand to hard. There is a taming tips article with pics in the WIKI that we wrote which may help.
Looking forward to meeting Peanut

littlepeanut · 12-30-2009, 02:03 PM

Right 'o! I've officially picked the laziest hamster in the tank!

We've taken to feeding him at 4.30, when we'll rustle his bedding and call his name (great advice, Souffle!) and he'll pop out for a sniff, but all for about 2 minutes!! Then it's back to bed!

Tonight I removed his middle layer of tank, the bit he sleeps under (felt really mean doing this...) but my son has yet to see him, so thought it best he got into a routine of getting up when it's dinner and coming out for a play once fed.

He's been up for a while, but has now scuttled back to bed. I noticed last night that he was sneezing a bit. Once he'd been up for a while he stopped, but I'm worried he's poorly. No crusty nose, runny eyes etc, so hoping it's nothing serious.

So.... please reassure me that waking him at 4.30ish is ok. He doesn't come out at all when he goes to bed at 7am, so would think he is getting enough sleep in all!

Flissy · 12-31-2009, 10:48 AM

Waking him up should be ok i think, just be aware of the fact that he might be a bit grumpy and could want to bite you if he doesn't want to come out! I can get all of my hamsters out any time of day, I usually lure them out with food so they have an incentive to come out :P

My hamster Sausage sneezes loads, I have never figured out why, at first I thought he might have been allergic to the woodshavings I was using and he got a lot better after I started using carefresh paper bedding but he still sneezes occasionally so it must be normal for him I think!

suga · 01-01-2010, 02:28 AM

Hi and welcome from me

.
Young hamsters are very sleepy i find. Keep going with the routine and hopefully in a week or so he will be more inquisitive and want to be awake a bit more. I often take out the shelf or the area that hide under so I can see whats happening. That way Peanut will also become more associated with the goings on in the house. Does your son spend lots of time in his room where Peanut is during the day or more in other areas of teh house? I know you said you move the cage into the lounge during the evening so he can sleep. I have our cage in the lounge, that way we see when they come out for food or drink or wee durnig the day and as its the room we use the most have found that the hamster will want a nose at what's happening beyond the cage. So we have a chat during the day, maybe a snuggle if they are "awake" enough. Maybe worth a try?

littlepeanut · 01-01-2010, 06:23 AM

Good idea about moving the cage - think I'll bring him into the lounge permanantely. Then he'll always be around us, the noises of us etc. Thanks all for your help and info! He was making me laugh yesterday when I was holding him. I'd cut myself on the finger and he was attacking the plaster that was wrapped round the cut :S !!