I have a new baby Syrian called Clover!

[elusive]

That’s lovely to hear, he looks really adorable & a very handsome little ham.

 

[Doro]

do you guys think I could already try and take him out tomorrow…? He seems quite confident and chilled now but maybe I give it a few more days?

 

[Maz]

Maybe play it by ear - I would think if he is fine with you and eating from your hand it would be good to start some hand taming maybe every second or third day. Do you have a playpen? Or you could do bathtub hand taming. I'd suggest letting him walk into a tube rather than trying to pick him up from the cage. Put a smelly treat at the far end and he'll walk in to get it. Put your hands over either end of the tube so he can't jump out. You'll need something like a box next to the cage so you can put the tube down in the box straight away and let him walk out, then carry the box to the taming area. It needs to be high enough he can't jump out.

 

[Maz]

Food, a tunnel and a hide and a wheel or flying saucer usually go down well in a taming area - so they have something to do.

 

[Member ID2]

Clover is lovely!
I'm guided by the hamsters. Clover can either walk into a tube to come out or he may run away from it in which case i'd try again in a few days. See what he does and take it from there.

 

[Frida]

It's lovely to see Clover. Very cute

 

[Doro]

Hi I took Clover out today for the first time - but it was really hard to get him out of the playpen! I wasn’t sure whether he was enjoying himself or scared - he was very frantic running around like mad, on the flying saucer on and off. He didn’t react to any treat anymore at one point. When I finally managed to get him into a box and back into the cage he was frantically running around and climbing up the cage walls and down again… I worry I took him out too early? So hard to tell!

 

[Maz]

Aw - It does sound like he was a bit stressed if it was frantic running. Although at least he was using the flying saucer and not hiding in a corner. If he was ignoring treats then he was probably a bit stressed or maybe it was a combination of stress and excitement. Next time it will be more familiar to him so he may be less stressed, but probably best to give him a few days to settle down again now. Was it easy getting him out of the cage? ie did he just walk into a tube or something? Maybe gauge how he is over the next few days. He should calm down again and start taking treats from you. Sometimes we just have to go at their pace and he is very young so will get scared easily, even if he is settled into his cage more or less.

 

[Member ID2]

I would wait a few days now before taking him out again unless he comes to the front of his cage asking to come out.

See what he's like in his cage and how he reacts to your hands. Has he calmed down?

Don't worry if it was too early for Clover. It can be difficult to know what they are comfortable with and when. It's not possible to forsee their reactions either. If it was too early for him he may go into hiding for a while to process what has happened.

 

[Doro]

Aw - It does sound like he was a bit stressed if it was frantic running. Although at least he was using the flying saucer and not hiding in a corner. If he was ignoring treats then he was probably a bit stressed or maybe it was a combination of stress and excitement. Next time it will be more familiar to him so he may be less stressed, but probably best to give him a few days to settle down again now. Was it easy getting him out of the cage? ie did he just walk into a tube or something? Maybe gauge how he is over the next few days. He should calm down again and start taking treats from you. Sometimes we just have to go at their pace and he is very young so will get scared easily, even if he is settled into his cage more or less.

Yes he walked straight into the tube even without any treat in it. He definitely explores the play pen and went into the labyrinth and many times on the saucer. Definitely not hiding although there was a hide in the playpen. But he didn’t take any food or eat it - he was following its scent but then not touching it. So I had to sort of scoop him up in a box to get him back, which wasn’t voluntary and took him by surprise. Am sure he didn’t like that, but I felt he was getting too frantic in the playpen. And then when back he was just running around like crazy. But I just went down I check again and it’s al quiet now, he’s gone back into his house. Prob sensual overkill! I’ll see how he is tomorrow but will defo give it a few days before trying again.

 

[Maz]

It sounds ok. He was probably just being a whizzy baby with excitement at all the new things. Maybe a bit of fear with the excitement but it sounds like he was just being a baby hamster in a playpen The scooping up might have stressed him at the end. The thing I've found over the years is, they can be quite independent and like to do things on their own terms - so maybe for trying to get him out, when he's in the playpen next time, have something in there you can just pick up when he goes into it. Although maybe he was just too fast for that! I bet he loved the flying saucer. How long did it take him to get the hang of it?

 

[Doro]

He managed to stay on the saucer for maybe 5 seconds but then flew off a few times or came down by himself again. But he went back to it again and again! I don’t think he’s using his wheel in the cage yet so the saucer must have been doubly exciting. I wanted to take him out like you suggested Maz but he didn’t go back into the tube and everything else in the playpen was upside down (boxes etc) or sth to climb on… I will give this more thought next time when arranging the playpen. Thanks guys - so good to get the reassurance! I’ll keep you posted - might actually move this thread into the individual ones for Syrian hamsters…

 

[Maz]

It sounds like he was enjoying the saucer They can be very fast! Getting them back again is not easy . I'm sure you'll find something that works.

Yes you could start a thread for him under Syrian hamsters and we can follow his progress

 

[Doro]

Hello I have now started a new thread for Clover in the Syrian hamster forum for new updates

 

[Zara]

It’s so lovely to see Clover, what a cutie, love his colouring. Sounds like things are going well

 

[Hamster Haven]

What a cutie!