I introduced myself elsewhere and posted the first picture of J. F. (points to anyone who knows where the name is from), but I thought I'd come here to discuss him a little more and perhaps allay some of our worries.
Oh, and to shamelessly post another picture of him
(see below) That's him with an egg box and a tissue that smells of me (probably).
According to the shop he's about 12 weeks old (ok, approaching 13 now) and for now he's quite timid; we've had him here in a starter cage since last Sunday at this point.
Right now he's spending most of his time in the corners, hoarding his food, and when we're not about running on his wheel - that much we know as you can hear it all over the house!
We're trying to follow the advice on taming, although at the moment he's still not brave enough to really run onto our hands if we lay a hand in the bottom of his cage. He'll take treats from us but that's about as far as it goes at the moment - though we may have suffered a slight set-back when he shot out of his 'burrow' at my better half and she shrieked and whipped her hand away out of the cage.
On the plus side, he doesn't bite - he has the occasional nibble if your hand is in there but never to break the skin, just to check if I'm food or not I think. A soft "No" makes him stop and he goes back to sniffing and exploring.
I'm guessing at this point we should probably leave him be (obviously provide new food and water daily!) and just talk to him when we're nearby rather than trying to invade his space again...
Anyway, advice and reassurance gratefully accepted
J. F. Sebastian, our new Syrian baby..
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