Playpen time for a not very social hamster

[Ana Rebeca]

Hello everyone! I have a 5 and a half month old male syrian hamster. He is not the most social hamster, he accepts treats from my hand but doesn't really like being pet or held.

He wakes up at around 8pm everyday but doesn't come out to play/explore if I or my boyfriend are around. I have worked with him everyday for the past 4 months to tame him, the one thing I managed to do is that
every night I call him and he comes out of his hideout, gets some treats and goes back inside. Then he waits for us to go to sleep and as soon as we are gone he comes out. He doesn't seem scared of us, just kind of prefers to be alone.

Lately he has been trying to come out of his cage a lot. I think he would benefit from more playtime outside of his cage, but I don't know how I should make it happen. We have a pen for him, and the way we took him outside before was using a tube when he came out for treats in the evening. But when we put him in the pen he usually collects the little treats if there are any and then starts to run around looking for a way to get out, ignoring whatever toys I put in there. I assume he is trying to get back to his hideout, as he usually does after i give him treats in the evening.

I think the problem is that we get him out of the cage when he would normally want to go back to his hideout. But I can't get him out if he only wants it when I'm gone

Is there a way to make this work? As I see it we are kind of forcing him to be out, and I don't want to stress him, but he obviously wants to get out and explore later at night as he has tried to escape a few times. I will try to give him more things to do in his enclosure, in case he is bored, but I really want to let him wander a little too.

I would really appreaciate any suggestions or tips.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Hello and welcome to the forum. It is so lovely to hear how much you care about your hamster.

Have you ever tried providing different substrates in boxes in the playpen? I do this for my hamster and hide bits of his seed mix for him to dig and find.

I was also wondering if you have tried a very dim light to help your hamster feel a bit safer.

If you post a picture of the cage and playpen that it can help members to give any tips.

You have done a great job because he will now take a treat from you.

 

[Ana Rebeca]

Hello and welcome to the forum. It is so lovely to hear how much you care about your hamster.

Have you ever tried providing different substrates in boxes in the playpen? I do this for my hamster and hide bits of his seed mix for him to dig and find.

I was also wondering if you have tried a very dim light to help your hamster feel a bit safer.

If you post a picture of the cage and playpen that it can help members to give any tips.

You have done a great job because he will now take a treat from you.

Hello! He has two sandbaths and a portion of the cage is covered with coconut fiber, although he has cartied all the stringy bits in his hideout so now there's only the dust and the hard bits on the ground.

He has a lot of bedding on the right side but he rarely showed any signs of wanting to burrow, so I am planning to build a big sort of multichamber hideout to put underneath the one that he has now (the carboard box on the right). I always scatter the food and hide some in the bedding or in cardboard tubes/boxes for him to find. I think maybe I should add more things to climb or hide under.

Thank you! I am also glad that he accepts treats, although I do wonder if he would prefer for me to just leave them in the cage and never touch him again. But this way I can see him everyday and make sure he is all right.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Your set up looks great!

Sorry, I meant have you tried dig boxes in the playpen. I wondered if he may spend more time in there. I am very bad at explaining what I mean.

I can understand you wanting to interact with him and provide him with time in his playpen. I have found having a camera helps me to find out what my hamster gets up too.

What is your hamsters name?

 

[elusive]

It can be difficult as although quite rare some hamsters really don’t seem to enjoy human interaction very much but you need to be with him if he’s out of the cage so a bit of a dilemma.
You could try different things in the playpen to see if he does get interested in those, as Rainbow suggested many do like dig boxes with different substrates in.
What does he have in the playpen at the moment?
Have you tried having a red light on? Hamster really can’t see well at the red end of the light spectrum so it seems to work with hamsters that are reluctant to come out sometimes.

 

[Ana Rebeca]

Your set up looks great!

Sorry, I meant have you tried dig boxes in the playpen. I wondered if he may spend more time in there. I am very bad at explaining what I mean.

I can understand you wanting to interact with him and provide him with time in his playpen. I have found having a camera helps me to find out what my hamster gets up too.

What is your hamsters name?

Oh, you did say "in the playpen", I just missed it, sorry! I never thought of that, that 's such a good idea! I will absolutely try it, thanks a lot!!

His name is Taro, this is an older picture because I can rarely get a good photo of him, he is always on the move .

I forgot to respond to the lighting part, yes, I do dim the lights whenever I try to get him out of the cage, but he only really calms down when it's completely dark.

 

[Ana Rebeca]

It can be difficult as although quite rare some hamsters really don’t seem to enjoy human interaction very much but you need to be with him if he’s out of the cage so a bit of a dilemma.
You could try different things in the playpen to see if he does get interested in those, as Rainbow suggested many do like dig boxes with different substrates in.
What does he have in the playpen at the moment?
Have you tried having a red light on? Hamster really can’t see well at the red end of the light spectrum so it seems to work with hamsters that are reluctant to come out sometimes.

I don't have a red light, but I will get one and see if that helps as he does seem a little calmer when it's completely dark.

We usually add a 60 cm piece of bark for him to climb or go under, a wheel, some chew toys and all kinds of cardboard stuff that we find from all sorts of packages that we have collected. Some tubes and bendy bridges and we sprinkle a few seeds or treats for him to find and a bowl of water.

 

[Lovelyness]

Hello everyone! I have a 5 and a half month old male syrian hamster. He is not the most social hamster, he accepts treats from my hand but doesn't really like being pet or held.

He wakes up at around 8pm everyday but doesn't come out to play/explore if I or my boyfriend are around. I have worked with him everyday for the past 4 months to tame him, the one thing I managed to do is that
every night I call him and he comes out of his hideout, gets some treats and goes back inside. Then he waits for us to go to sleep and as soon as we are gone he comes out. He doesn't seem scared of us, just kind of prefers to be alone.

Lately he has been trying to come out of his cage a lot. I think he would benefit from more playtime outside of his cage, but I don't know how I should make it happen. We have a pen for him, and the way we took him outside before was using a tube when he came out for treats in the evening. But when we put him in the pen he usually collects the little treats if there are any and then starts to run around looking for a way to get out, ignoring whatever toys I put in there. I assume he is trying to get back to his hideout, as he usually does after i give him treats in the evening.

I think the problem is that we get him out of the cage when he would normally want to go back to his hideout. But I can't get him out if he only wants it when I'm gone

Is there a way to make this work? As I see it we are kind of forcing him to be out, and I don't want to stress him, but he obviously wants to get out and explore later at night as he has tried to escape a few times. I will try to give him more things to do in his enclosure, in case he is bored, but I really want to let him wander a little too.

I would really appreaciate any suggestions or tips.

Sounds a bit like my Blossom She is quite confident and curious, but her schedule is fairly variable so she doesn’t actually come out very much for playtime as I’m often going/gone to bed by the time she appears. And when she does come out, she doesn’t last very long before wanting to go back. I think she would benefit from more time out tho. She is pretty much the same age as yours. I have a play box permanently made up so I can whip it out if she is ready to come out. She will come in my hands but only briefly. I’m going to add a dig box to her play box as she loves the one I put in her enclosure. I don’t put any food in her play box as I’m pretty sure she would pouch it and then want to go back in her enclosure to stash it. Like yours, Miss Bcomes out for feeding time at 6 pm and gathers her goodies and takes the back to her ‘larder’ but I don’t like to get her out then as she’s busy doing her shopping.

 

[elusive]

It sounds as though he has quite a bit to do in there then, try adding the dig boxes & see if that helps & if he does stay out a bit longer with a red light on you might get a better idea of what he enjoys.

 

[Ana Rebeca]

It sounds as though he has quite a bit to do in there then, try adding the dig boxes & see if that helps & if he does stay out a bit longer with a red light on you might get a better idea of what he enjoys.

Thank you! Will try

 

[Ana Rebeca]

Sounds a bit like my Blossom She is quite confident and curious, but her schedule is fairly variable so she doesn’t actually come out very much for playtime as I’m often going/gone to bed by the time she appears. And when she does come out, she doesn’t last very long before wanting to go back. I think she would benefit from more time out tho. She is pretty much the same age as yours. I have a play box permanently made up so I can whip it out if she is ready to come out. She will come in my hands but only briefly. I’m going to add a dig box to her play box as she loves the one I put in her enclosure. I don’t put any food in her play box as I’m pretty sure she would pouch it and then want to go back in her enclosure to stash it. Like yours, Miss Bcomes out for feeding time at 6 pm and gathers her goodies and takes the back to her ‘larder’ but I don’t like to get her out then as she’s busy doing her shopping.

Aw, Blossom is such an adorable name!
Feels good to hear about other hamsters like this
I think I could try to just not add food to his playpen. Initially I started to add treats/food so that he is motivated to explore and see he is not in danger, as he was quite a frightened little boy, but it makes sense now that you say it, that he would want to go back with his "groceries".
I might only add a tiny bit when I add a dig box as the others suggested.

But if Blossom also prefers to come out later at night, when do you decide it is time for playpen? Does she come out by herself or do you entice her somehow?

 

[Maz]

Syrians can be so awkward sometimes . You’ve had lots of good suggestions above - just pieces of torn up cardboard in a cardboard box would do as a playpen digging box.

I’ve had a few male Syrians with varying personalities, but a couple who were very shy like this. With the shy ones I found the time of night can make a difference as to how they behave. So with our first one, if it was around 6pm or 7pm he was a bit whizzy and just wanting to go back to his cage all the time. By 10 pm onwards he was in night mode and highly active and impossible to try and handle as he was so fast! So I used to get him out around 8pm. At that time he was quite dopey! And would sometimes just fall asleep on the sofa under something or sit for a stroke.

With my other shy one I didn’t use a playpen. I just had him on the sofa. He was fairly timid about jumping off so that wasn’t an issue. He would climb the back of the sofa and I’d pick him up when he got to the top and lift him down again. Or I’d have a hide and a tunnel on the sofa he could retreat to.

But he was actually hsnd tame by then so accepted being picked up and held.

Sometimes it can be a process of getting them used to hands and being picked up first and then working out what the best type of out of cage time is.

But for now- msybe you could try putting his food out around 8pm and letting him walk into the tube then and have some playpen time (and a dig box with treats in). And try a bit of hand feeding when he’s in the playpen so he gets used to walking on your hand.

Does he flinch if you try to touch him?

If he’s more mellow around 8 or 9pm it might work better. But most Syrians seem to just want to escape from a playpen!

One other thing - it can help to have a spare wheel in the playpen.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Taro is beautiful!

 

[Lovelyness]

Still finding out what works best really! Since day 2 I have been feeding her/changing water/ having a little tidy up at 6pm and she learned very quickly to come out for food then! Other than that, I just look for opportunity to take her out. It can be any time between 7 and 9 pm, but often I don’t see her after her feeding time. She can be very quick and harder to handle sometimes, and play box time is brief. The last couple of times tho she has been slightly slower and has been out for a little bit longer. She does often come to the front of her cage if she is up and can see me and she likes to ‘chat’. I’m pretty sure a couple of times she has been up and squeaked to get my attention I don’t get her up for play box time if she is sleeping as I don’t think she’d want to be in it then. Like I said, we are still playing it by ear really.

 

[Maz]

With our first Syrian I did bathtub taming. It did take a while doing that 2 or 3 times a week but it worked really well and when he was hand tame it happened almost instantly and he was incredibly tame and cuddly. So the bathtub is just like a playpen really with a few items in like a tunnel etc - they tend to slither up and down the side of trying to get out (similar to trying to get out of a playpen) and that can be a good time to start with a stroke on the back so they get used to touch. Next stage is getting used to walking on a hand and being lifted slightly. So it’s all about building trust and confidence.

However even when fully hand tame, he was still quite reclusive in his cage and needed tempting out. But once out he was happy and enjoying things. They do behave differently out of the cage than in it.

 

[Maz]

Our current Syrian is one who skeays wants to be out! He free roams now but I didn’t start that until he was tame enough to be handled so he started off with playpen time. That was necessary anyway as he was a biter and terrified of hands. It took a bit of time and patience and I needed to wear gloves for a while until he stopped being scared of my hand. This is not usual though - he was a rescue and msy have had some bad experiences previously.

Some days they are just not in the mood so maybe every 2 or 3 days then they have a break in between.

 

[Lovelyness]

I should have said too that Blossom can climb out of her play box! She will climb up and step up onto my hand or out onto my lap. It’s fairly brief tho. She does try to get out out lol…she got onto the carpet and scuttled off towards the bookcase to hide under it…just managed to catch her in time lol. Got to have my wits about me with this one lol.

 

[Maz]

Also have you seen the taming article on the home page It’s mainly helpful for Syrians. I think once trust is built up with handling it helps a lot - providing it’s done at a careful pace. But whether they want to come out of the cage earlier or not is another thing! My Syrian does come out quite late.

 

[Ana Rebeca]

Also have you seen the taming article on the home page It’s mainly helpful for Syrians. I think once trust is built up with handling it helps a lot - providing it’s done at a careful pace. But whether they want to come out of the cage earlier or not is another thing! My Syrian does come out quite late.

Yes, I learned a lot of stuff from this forum a couple months back. I also watched many videos and read anything I could find about taming as this process was quite hard for us. He never wanted to come out in the beginning, he would get startled even if I breathed a little louder sometimes lol.

Although he took treats from between my fingers after a few days and then it started taking them from my palm a little while later, he never really shown any signs of wanting to be around any more than he needed to in order to get his food. He sometimes sits in my palm to eat salad, but anything else he pouches and he's gone.
I sometimes pet him lightly with one finger, and although he isn't scared of it, he shimmies away as he pouches his treats and if there are no treats he is untouchable.
This is why I believe he is no longer scared, he just doesnt want to interact with us if possible.

I don't have a tub, only a shower, but I did sit with him in the playpen a few times. He climbed on my leg twice, but I think it was only to look for a way out, as usual. He never seems afraid, he looks quite confident walking around me or my hand, will use it to climb somewhere every now and then but that is usually on his way back to his hideout )

 

[Maz]

Playpen is fine too and it really sounds like you’re making progress. I would continue with playpen time two or tgeee times a week maybe and either sit in with him or sit on the floor next to it so you can talk to him and have your arm in (kind of at an angle so not so much ftom above). And that way you can have food on your hand so he starts sitting on your hand for the odd treat.

I had to do this for quite some time with our current Syrian but then made further progress when I had him out on the sofa as he was kind of in the same level as me and didn’t mind being picked up when me hand was level with him on the sofa. However before I did that he was happy to walk into a tube in the playpen to be lifted out so I felt confident that he would do that sbd not do a runner!

You could try that if your room is hsmsterproofed just in case he does run off.