New hamster, not sure what I'm meant to do?

[Opheliasgoldenwine]

DP and I were in Pets At Home (meant to look at the fish ) when we walked past the 'adoption' bit for animals who had been put in the shop for various reasons, not the ones 'for sale' (not too sure what the difference was?). Anyway, we walked past and I saw her and I couldn't leave without her. £90 later, we were walking out of the shop with her, the cage, food etc. My questions are: A) How often does she need fed and B) I want to take her out of the cage (the person who worked there said to wait 24 hours) but I'm worried that I'll either drop her or she'll run away- are either likely to happen? She's a Syrian hamster Here's a little pic

Is this any help? There is lots of info online if you Google "looking after a hamster". Maybe you should have looked all this up before deciding to take on the responsibility of a living animal though?

DP knows what he's doing, he's had three before but during the day I'm the only one here. Thanks for the link, I'm sure soon I'll be fine

She will hide all her favourite things to eat in her bed and around the cage but I tend to top up the bowl every few days. Our fine ham also likes a nibble stick hung from the top of the cage to give him something to do. If you pass her tasty things to eat she will associate you with yummy stuff and get very tame quickly. Ours is so tame he likes to have his tummy tickled when he's having a snooze!

When we had hamsters when the children were younger, we used a handling tube at first to take the hamster out of the cage. (They usually don’t like a hand descending on them from above.)
I used a Pringles tube, cut short, and put it in the cage, the hamster would run in and it can then be gently lifted out of the cage. Sit down with it on your lap and wait patiently and the hamster will come out in its own time to explore your lap.

Hamsters don't do anything in the day! They're nocturnal.

lovely! hamsters make lovely pets. If you would like to handle it, it's a good idea to start by wearing gloves in case he bites. What I did was to prepare a large cardboard box, pick up the hamster gently (not grab by the back bet let it walk on your hand and lift gently - their predators come from the sky and they really don't like being grabbed on the back if unexpected and still nervous) then put it in the box, stroke gently, feed by hand bits of their food or small bits of lettuce leaves/carrots. After a few days you might want to try without gloves if he doesn't bite. We handle our hamster daily and he is very gentle.

I never thought about using a tube of pringles! (empty of course)

Ahh I love syrian hamsters I had one, He was amazing, So gentle.
I fed him once a day, Also make sure you wash your hands before handling her as she might bite if she smells food, lots of handling in the beginning makes them friendly.

Thank you all so much! I did have a little hold of her yesterday and she was very gentle, the lady at the shop said she's quite good to handle. I'm just worried she'll be able to run away 😩

I just started a thread about kicking my dds Syrian hamster across the room this morning. She's very good at escaping cages.
As others have said she will sleep all day but might get a drink or something.
Feed once every couple of days.
Change water regularly.
Clean out cage about once a week.
Get some thing for her to gnaw on.
Ours also loves empty loo roll tubes and pieces of paper shoved in cage and will rip them up to make bedding

My poor little furbaby died last week, he was a Syrian and was 3 years old, its silly what an impact he made on our life! funny little thing!

Anyway, I didn't wait 24 hours to hold him, I put my hand in the cage after about 5 hours of him settling in and just let him sniff me I didn't touch him until my hand had been around him for a few minutes then I gently stroked him and let him kind of walk onto my hand before lifting him out.

He was very tame and loved people! he never bit any of us and didn't act like a normal hamster, he'd sleep out in the open instead of all hidden up in bed and he'd even sleep on the sofa if I had him out and had a fave spot he'd go to to have a sleep!

Just keep the water topped up and fresh and remove old food and poo's from the cage a couple of times a week. They like nibble sticks and they help to keep their teeth healthy! oh and an exercise ball or wheel! x

Oh yes I forgot about the escaping they do try to escape, mine escaped twice and so did my nieces one, Also so did my friends ones.
If you have any tunnels that go on the outside of the cage make sure they arent loose also even if your cage door is up the top of the cage make sure it is secure. We used to weigh it down.