Hi everyone,I recently got my first pet and he is an adorable baby Syrian hamster named Rocket. He has been with me a week and a half (he is 8 weeks old) but doing well and currently going nuts on his wheel.
I over worry about everything since it’s hard to tell whether he is happy or scared half the time. The first few days I had him he was bar biting a lot but for the last few days that seemed to have stopped. He has a 1m by 0.5m cage in case you were wondering!
He is eating healthily and already taking food from my hand but is scared to lean or go on it.
My breeder who has a lot of experience with hamsters said i should try handle him in a play pen so he gets used to being held as he is still quite young but the messages from online forums and videos seem to say otherwise and to let things go at his pace.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Rocket is such a great name! He's absolutely adorable. Breeders do tend to say handle them straight away because they handle them from birth and they think that you should continue with that to keep them tame. My experience is that the hamsters behave completely differently once they get to a new home and in a new cage and with a completely different human being and it really is like starting from scratch. So I think it's best to do the usual thing of giving them two or three days alone while they adjust to their cage and then not trying to do any taming for a couple of weeks Unless they show signs of wanting to come out. Even then it can take a bit longer. After a few days you could start by offering treats either through the bars if you have barred cage or lowering your hand. After a couple of weeks you could try offering him a tube to walk into or some other kind of taxi and do some out of cage time. I tend to start with the bathtub which is smaller than the playpen with just a blanket in the bottom Maybe a spare wheel a couple of hides and a tunnel and some treats or a chew stick. And then just take it at the hamster's pace It could take a few weeks or less or more before you can handle them comfortably. I tend to move to play pen after about a month depending on how the hamster is doing. There's also a taming article on the homepage if you haven't seen it that has some tips 
. I’m not keen on the term - it seems to have emerged in the last few years. I think a lot depends on the right set up for the right hamster and then having chance to bond with you. I have one Syrian who was very shy at first and would hide or stick his head in the bedding. When I gave him an extra large cage with 10” of bedding he just disappeared for weeks! Didn’t see him at all.
Welcome to the forum 
