My hamsters don't let me hold them

Lounge
1

My hamsters are so fast I can’t catch them in the cage. I was able to touch one with my finger. I was able to stroke her head and fur on her back. But I could not hold them.

1 Like
2

Give them food. I don’t know what hamsters eat

3

Hamster pellets I think

2 Likes
4

I buy them special hamsters food but every day I buy them a treat. Yesterday they got one grape and today they got a slice of cucumber. They are them.

1 Like
5

My rats were this way too since I got them from a pet store. But I resocialized them by giving them treats lots, I also would put the treat on the back of my hand so they have to walk on my hand to grab the treat.

There’s some helpful YouTube videos about resocializing rodents. But to my knowledge rats are a bit more lovey dovey then hamsters are.

6

Hamsters are evil

7

Give them time. Love on them. They will come around.

8

image

What did you say about me?

5 Likes
9

I said I don’t love you :joy:

1 Like
10

It takes a bit of time to hand tame them. You’re doing the right thing giving them treats. Let them crawl over your hands before you attempt to pick them up. They will get used to sitting in your hand and then you can lift them out of the cage easily.

I had teddy bear hamsters and they used to let me kiss them on the lips. :smiley:

1 Like
11

What @anon39736208 said. They need time to learn and explore your hands. Once they are used to your hands being present, you can graduate to scratching and petting and then eventually lifting them out. When you DO lift them out, make sure you’ve pre-cleared the area to make sure they can’t get away from you when they jump out of your hands. (This WILL happen, so be prepared.)

I used to have gerbils as a kid – miss them.

:blush:

12

I did too when I lived in Michigan. When my family moved to California we got hamsters since gerbils are not permitted. We also had albino rats. All of our pet rodents were friendly, probably because we handled them since they were small.

1 Like
13

I decided to not take them out of the cage cause they might jump out of my hand. Im still over the moon happy just to watch them. :slight_smile:

14

It helps if you let them get used to you first in an environment like your bathtub. They’ll be able to crawl around and you can practice holding them and that way if you drop them they won’t go far.

1 Like
15

This topic was automatically closed 95 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.