Tips for hamster taming

[emlu67]

Hamster has been with us for a week and around nine weeks old. I have been trying to tame him patiently putting him in a cardboard box (with tunnels and things to play with) and gently stroking him and he is used to my hand in his cage and stroking him too.

He only tolerates this for about 2-3 minutes though and then wants to hide (I leave either his house or a small box in the large cardboard box so he can hide if he wants too but was expecting him to be a little less shy by now. He won't come out again until back in his cage. If I watch him in his cage later on when he is happily running on his wheel he will hide after about five minutes and not come out without me even going anywhere near him.

A couple of nights ago I moved his house out of the 'taming box' to see if he would tolerate me for a little longer but he was physically shaking and then pooing everywhere which I think may be a sign of stress so I let him back into his little house. I did not get a chance to try again yesterday evening and am reluctant to wake him during the day.

I haven't tried picking him up yet and am frightened to giving his current reaction, also don't know if I should use gloves or bare hands to begin with in case he bites. Should he be tame by now or does it sometimes take weeks? All tips would be appreciated!

I would take it slow.

I think we were slightly luckier as our little ham was confident from the off. I spent all day telling ds he would have to leave it alone for days and as soon as we put him in his cage he was climbing the bars for attention.

We spent a good few weeks talking and stroking though before actually picking him up. I would suggest hand feeding with his fruit and veg to encourage trust and talk to him lots. Take your time too.

We now have a really friendly confident little hamster who has only ever bitten twice - once when ds stuck a camera in his face in the cage and once when dh was trying to retrieve him after he bolted under the sofa!

I would take it slow.

I think we were slightly luckier as our little ham was confident from the off. I spent all day telling ds he would have to leave it alone for days and as soon as we put him in his cage he was climbing the bars for attention.

We spent a good few weeks talking and stroking though before actually picking him up. I would suggest hand feeding with his fruit and veg to encourage trust and talk to him lots. Take your time too.

We now have a really friendly confident little hamster who has only ever bitten twice - once when ds stuck a camera in his face in the cage and once when dh was trying to retrieve him after he bolted under the sofa!

Oh and I forgot but at first I had one of the large plastic 'really useful boxes' and we made a hamster playground in there with toys. I used to lift his house in there in the early evening. That way we could put our hands in and he tolerated in better than he did in his own territory.

There is some great advice here .

Keep going with the stroking, offer bits of food. Let him come to your hand and run over it
My current hamster was so awful I doubted whether I could ever pick him up - now he runs to the cage door and has to be peeled off my hand to go back in

I'm not big on the take it slow approach, I think you just have to be brave and handle a lot after first allowing them to settle for a day or so. They soon get used to being handled. Try and handle him every day. Best to remove any houses he can hide away in until he's tame. Wash your hands and rub them in his bedding so they smell familiar. Scoop him up in a container and let him climb out onto your hand or lap, then lots of strokes. He will soon run through your hands (they are quite fast for some time though).

I am with bunny about not doing the slow approach.

Get some nice little treats ready, scoop him out of the cage and then feed him the treats whilst he is sat in the palm of your hand.

Ours only has to hear his food being rattled about in the container and he shoves his head out of the cage to see what's going on. He also sits there at the bars, nose pressed against them looking very pathetic when he knows we re around.