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Wally

Last night, from what I can see, he came out to do his exploring above ground and then also spend time tending to his nest underground. I still don't have evidence of wheel usage again, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Around 7AM, after I left for work, I saw on the video that he was up and texted my husband. He went up to see him and got as far as opening the lid to the cage (presumably to see if he would take some broccoli), when Wally made a move for his entrance to the underground- so I'm thinking that Wa may be getting acclimated to me, even if he is generally still shy around all people. As seen in the last video, he will usually wait in place for me now, expecting some sort of treat, but my husband is rarely there when he is awake.

If I have time/ energy tonight I'm going to try to scramble some egg for him and tempt him out before our human bedtime.
 
Our first Syrian (male) was very reclusive. He was a child's pet as well and we would never have seen him at all if we hadn't done the waking at feeding time thing. The thing is to just get them out of the cage around 6 or 7pm regularly for some out of cage time. The Hamster gets in the routine of waking up at that time, knowing that veg and food comes out at that time. And the child gets time with the hamster.

As your cage doesn't have bars, you can't do much cage rattling noise! But maybe just do it slightly noisily when putting food out - a tap on the side of the cage or a clinking food bowl against something. IME it's the smell of the fresh veg they get up for! So I used to put the fresh veg on the opposite side of the cage from the house, on a separate little dish. This means they actually have to get up and go across the cage to get it.

Our first Syrian would resist coming out at all - ever! So I used to have to tempt him into a tube by putting a smelly treat at one end (cheese or cucumber eg) and put that down for him to walk into. Initially I did that over his house entrance as he didn't even wake up for feeding time at first.

He would walk into the tube to get the smelly treat and then you just lift the tube out with hands over either end, and into the playpen. They do act very differently out of the cage to in it sometimes.

However he got wise to this and used to stretch out to reach the treat and then back out again quickly when I went to put my hand over the end - lol! It was quite a game. But once he was out he was quite happy! He was just a real layabed.
 
Maz said:
Our first Syrian (male) was very reclusive. He was a child's pet as well and we would never have seen him at all if we hadn't done the waking at feeding time thing. The thing is to just get them out of the cage around 6 or 7pm regularly for some out of cage time. The Hamster gets in the routine of waking up at that time, knowing that veg and food comes out at that time. And the child gets time with the hamster.

As your cage doesn't have bars, you can't do much cage rattling noise! But maybe just do it slightly noisily when putting food out - a tap on the side of the cage or a clinking food bowl against something. IME it's the smell of the fresh veg they get up for! So I used to put the fresh veg on the opposite side of the cage from the house, on a separate little dish. This means they actually have to get up and go across the cage to get it.

Our first Syrian would resist coming out at all - ever! So I used to have to tempt him into a tube by putting a smelly treat at one end (cheese or cucumber eg) and put that down for him to walk into. Initially I did that over his house entrance as he didn't even wake up for feeding time at first.

He would walk into the tube to get the smelly treat and then you just lift the tube out with hands over either end, and into the playpen. They do act very differently out of the cage to in it sometimes.

However he got wise to this and used to stretch out to reach the treat and then back out again quickly when I went to put my hand over the end - lol! It was quite a game. But once he was out he was quite happy! He was just a real layabed.
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That sounds perfect! This is Wally to a T, so I'll try these ideas.
 
Calling his name a lot helps as well and you can rustle the substrate a little to make your presence known to him. Good thing is that Wally is starting to connect you with treats so will probably respond to your voice more than the rest of your family.

Hamsters learn their names fairly quickly and will answer to their names when it suits them or they expect to get a treat. Especially when its around the same time and it becomes part of their routine.
 
Last night was a typical night- Wally woke around midnight and at 12:30PM I took him out for a little playpen time and fresh food. I tried to tempt him out earlier with fresh scrambled egg but failed. However, he did love the egg later that night, even though at that point it was coming out of the refrigerator. Today I had some time around 8PM, so I tried to tempt him out with food, but when he didn't seem to be budging I decided to clean out/ investigate some areas of his cage where he wasn't sleeping at the time. I was able to confirm that the 2nd chamber in his 2 chamber hideaway is where he poops and perhaps pees sometimes. I think the Kaytee Clean and Cozy does a really good job absorbing any scent.

In any case, as I was cleaning out a few handfuls of poopy bedding, he heard the ruckus and came to check it out. My daughter and I proceeded to try to tempt him out with egg and other treats. We couldn't get him to pop more than his face out, though he took some food from us. I didn't get a full clean out of his potty because I didn't want to disturb him too much by reaching in there while he was awake. I'm thinking that at least if I know this, every few days I can reach in to clean out the dirty bedding if I know he's sleeping elsewhere. If he wakes (and doesn't respond by moving his nest- I'm hoping I didn't disturb him too much by reaching into his 2nd chamber tonight), we can keep trying to tempt him out with treats and hopefully he'll start to get more confident to come all the way out. I did also add a litter tray, so we'll see if he starts using that.
 
At least he is not scared of you which is huge progress in itself.
A bit of spot cleaning and rummaging around his cage without moving any furniture could be helpful. That way he gets used to your scent and hands plus hamsters are naturally nosey.
 
He woke up a few times last night but I didn't notice until close to when I was getting up for work anyway (around 5AM). So we had a bit of a play in the playpen. 2 interesting progressions: 1) Energetic, "I'm going to scale the playpen and escape" Wally has returned after 2 weeks of non-climbing, slower movement. 2) In spite of that, he did stay in my hands for a good second or two once before trying to climb out. I don't push him much in this area because I know he has to get comfortable with that on his own timeline, so it was a pleasant surprise when I scooped him up once and he seemed relaxed in my hands for a second or so before trying to run around again. This video is not edited, so he's really only in the first 5-7 seconds, but you can see him scale and me pick him up before he goes over. :LOL:
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That sounds like good progress, glad to hear he’s getting more active & lively again as well as being more relaxed with you.
 
Lol. It's like he's saying - I want to go back to my cage and go to bed! Or maybe he's just getting energetic and climbing :)
 
Maz said:
Lol. It's like he's saying - I want to go back to my cage and go to bed! Or maybe he's just getting energetic and climbing :)
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yeah! It's hard to say! I kept his upside-down igloo in the playpen, and he climbed into it once or twice, but then he'd climb back out quickly, so I was like, "So do you want to go back in the cage or not?!" I was cracking up when I put him back in though- he has learned exactly where we hide his Mazuri blocks and goes to each food spot, in turn, to search before going back underground.
 
They can actually be trained with food!
 
Wally is back to the wheel- big time! So after the strange journey of the last 2 weeks, trying to figure out what was up with his limited activity above ground, my camera shows that not only was he up and active for a couple hours straight, but he was using his wheel a lot. I hadn't planned on getting up to feed him as I was extra tired yesterday, but around 2:45AM, I heard him and felt okay to get up. He didn't seem interested in coming out of his cage, but he was happy to much on some broccoli and cauliflower bits. Tonight or tomorrow we'll try to tempt him out early with food again, but I'm so happy to see him more active!
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He looks to be hamstering along nicely there :-) So glad he's using his wheel again and a bit more active. I would definitely try getting him into the routine of being woken about 6 or 7pm for feeding time. It's like they have two different personalities. The one after a certain time of night is very different to the one until about 10pm or midnight. As if, once it's dark, some ancient hardwiring kicks in!
 
Which wheel does he have by the way? He looks huge in it ha ha. I know he is very fluffy and that will make him look bigger. Is it a 10" or 11" wheel?
 
Looks like a 10" Bucatstate? I thought that he just about fits in it, runs with a straight back though.
Do you know how much Wally weighs?
 
I think the same - he fits in it and runs with a straight back. My only thought was - he may enjoy a bigger wheel. Raffy had a 10" wheel to start with, and he ran in it, but he much preferred his 11" wheel in the playpen and could run better and faster in it. They all love a 12" wheel.

Anyway it seems he's using his wheel now :) It might be something to consider at some point though - getting him a bigger wheel - although realise it will mean some height adjustments with the platform under it, so it fits.
 
It took me awhile to find where I ordered the wheel from- it is the Bucastate 10.2 inch. I'm honestly not sure why I didn't get at least an 11 inch- other brands might have been sold out at the time. I'll look into that. He is big. I will try to weigh him, too. He's always been so wriggly it's dissuaded me from trying.

Today I got him to poke his head out and take food around 7PM, but he absolutely refused to do more than poke his head out. Since we tried to goad him out the first time a few days ago, he's moved his nest from the peekaboo chambers (which I've now fully cleaned out and did find wet bedding in) to the 6-chamber hideout that he wasn't really using before. That should be easier to clean since the top comes off (although I'll have to remove everything resting on it), and maybe eventually I can take the top off to get him fully out, but I'm going to give him a few nights of just trying to get him to come out on his own.

He is continuing to use his wheel and stay above ground much longer at night now.
 
So right after we turned the lights out to go to sleep tonight, I heard Wally. We weren't asleep yet, so my daughter and I got up and opened the cage. He was frozen in the usual spot next to his water bottle (I think it's his safe place to wait and see what happens if someone gets up) where he tends to go if he hears someone approach and is apprehensive. My daughter handfed him a treat and a spinach leaf and pet him while he stuffed the treat. Then he went back into his hideout and we went to sleep. He still seemed a little nervous even though he took food from us, just based on the stiffness of his body and how he chose to retreat to his hideout after he took his food. It feels like two steps forward one step back sometimes...

He must have been up when I woke up today and he heard some movement that spooked him. I thought I heard movement from his cage that was a little louder than usual (like something falling in the cage) when I was waking, but didn't see him, and when I reviewed the camera saw that some movement or sound I'd made must have seriously spooked him and he darted for cover fast! the sounds was him jumping quickly from his platform onto the cardboard cover of his dig box (he does use it to safely move between levels, but the noise was from how fast he moved this time). Honestly, there weren't any noises when I woke that I would consider startling, so it may be that even though we're waking him, feeding him, and letting him go back to sleep earlier (haven't even taken him out of his cage for a few nights), even that change in routine is making him more cautious. (sigh) So sweet but so timid! I do think we are making progress, but he is definitely a sensitive one! The video shows him darting for cover faster than I've ever seen him move before- this was only in response to sound, as no one was approaching his cage at the time.

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Poor Wally, it does look as though he gave himself a bit of a fright, it does happen though. Some hams do take time but I often find that they will suddenly progress after what seems like a long wait for them to gain confidence, I’m sure he’ll get there with time.
 
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