You have bought little hammie home from pet shelter/pet shop/pet breeder, it is time to let your hamster get familiar with its environment.
Before you go on with this blog post, there are 4 pointers to take note of :
1) Do you have pets other than hamsters in the house?
If you do, refer to my upcoming article on "Hamsters interacting with other Pets"
2) Do you have kids in your house? How old are they?
Will they be old enough to interact with your new hammie?
If you do, refer to my article on "Kids and Hamsters - Should I let my kids play with hamsters???"
3) Do you have other hamsters in your house? Are they of the same species?
Are they of the same gender?
If you do, refer to my article on "Surviving Hamsters Community"
4) Do you intend to breed hamsters?
If you do, refer to my upcoming article on "Hamsters & Birth"
As an experienced hamster owner since 2000, my best advise for any excited owners is :
CALM DOWN!!!
The little one is highly likely to be very afraid of its new surrounding area. So the following steps are to calm and welcome your new hammie to its new home.
Step 1 (Location of hamster cage)
Before deciding where to place your hamster cage upon reaching home, there are a few factors that you should consider : Lighting, heat and noise level of the house. Newly homed hamsters are very timid in nature and any sudden exposure to above factors will scare them, thus making them harder to be human friendly. Best advise to new hamster owners is to leave your hamster to explore and get familiarized its new cage in a quiet and dim lighted for first few days.
Step 2 (Approaching your hamster)
Before you approach your hamster, it will be in your hamster's best interest to call it out softly. Depending on circumstances, you may either call your hamster by its name or use a common sound that your hamster might recognize you and your hands with. AVOID banging or knocking your hamster cage at all time as such behavior will only make your hamster be more afraid of you!!!
Step 3 (Bonding with your hamster)
One common mistake that most new hamster owners do is to grab their hammie the moment they reach home. Won't you be terrified if you are walking on the streets and a stranger suddenly grabs you by your waist? Same theory applies to all newly homed hamsters as well.
The following approach that I recommends is a longer route to create bonding between you and your hamster. Althrough this approach might be time consuming, it allows your hamster to have complete trust in you in the near future.
Step 3.1 (1st week)
Before any interaction with your hamster, try putting your hands near your hamster wherever you can. Slowly over the course of a week, shorten the distance between your hand and your hamster. This will let your hamster knows that you are a friend.
Step 3.2 (2nd week)
Try feeding your hamster with treats with your fingers first by dangling it in the air, let your hamster approach you and accustom your fingers. Alternatively, you can fill your palms with some food and let it approach you. One advice to zest hamster owner: Never ever chase after your hamster to feed it!
Step 3.3 (3nd week)
Try gentle stroking your hamsters while it is eating or sleeping. If your hamster shows any signs of unease (i.e. running away, squeaking or baring teeth), just put your hand away and do it some other time.
One good advice to new hamster owner : Always approach your hamster head on and never from the back.
Only predators from the wild catch hamsters from the back.
Step 3.4 (4th week)
By now, if your hamster show no signs of resist, congratation to you! Your hamsters trust you and allows you to touch and play with it.
Have a nice hamster bonding time!
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