Traumatized hamster

[Iloveduke4ever]

Hey there, well my new ham ham Caramel seems to maybe have been traumatized while at the pet store. When i put my hand in to fill his bowls,he squeals up a storm. Then today,i heard him doing sumtin in there,so i checked on him. When i did that im not sure if he was half awake or what but he started hissing and squealing up a storm. Both my cats came running over to see what was going on lol. He went and hid under the den part looking out under the ramp still hissing and squealing. My problem is now, i gotta clean his cage and i dunno how i am gonna get him out with him acting like this. Does it sound like he was traumatized? I do recall kids at the pet store messing with the critters and the owner yelled at them telling them to leave. My sister called her friend who works at a pet store in her area but is very knowledgeable. He said thats what it sounded like. He said that it could take a long time to get him used to things and stop hissing and squealing at me. Ugh lol! In all my years of having hammies, i never had one that did this that i can recall. I remember having biters ,but not noisy ones. Any suggestions? I dont want to scare the poor thing to death ( i know they can play dead) trying to feed him,give him treats etc. So i dunno. Any help is appreciated. After dinner sis and i are gonna attempt to just take the lid off the cage and get him out so we can clean it. Hope it doesnt traumatize him anymore,but its gotta be done lol. No pics yet sorry.

[Robocop]

Do you have a ball? I always throw my hammy's in their ball when I clean their cage. It keeps their mind off of whatever they were going through before :p It's also better than putting them in another cage or box.

I would leave him alone for a little bit, not interacting too much and letting him get used to his new digs. Have you tried hand feeding some things? Seeds, corn, etc? That's how I got acquainted with my hammy's. It took a while for them to warm up to taking food out of my fingers/hand but it worked! :) After about two weeks, they would always come darting out of their house and climb onto my hand waiting for food :P

Just give it time for him to adjust, and get used to the idea that there are no scary kids! Is your cage high enough for your cats not to torment him? That can also scare them.

[PetLuver21257]

He sounds extremely scared. When you clean out his cage, you could put him in a big cardboard box with lots of toys/obstacles for him and some treats. He will really like it if you only put him in there once a week when you clean out his cage. Don't handle him for awhile until he stops hissing/squealing because if you try to hold him when he's doing that, he'll either bite you, or get frightened out of his mind!

Good luck! :)

[Iloveduke4ever]

Yup cage is on the top shelf with hammy supplies below. He also might be scared of all the strange noises he hears maybe? I could try that,the hand feed a snack of some sort. I do have a ball to stick him in for sure maybe it will help him relax i dunno. Course if hes in it the cats will be near, so i hope that doesnt give him a heart attack. I read some hams get nicer if they have more room to roam? So i was thinking of adding on some more cages i have. He is still small,but i know he will grow lol. He is currently in a crittertrail outlook. I have 3 habitrails and 1 other crittertrail i can hook up. Well prolly not all of them lol. The outlook doesnt seem to have good ventilation so i wanna switch him to the other ones eventually but i dont wanna stress him out anymore than he is right now. Allright well i gotta go get some veggies and herbs for my bunnies or they will thump me to death lol.

[janie36]

The sounds he is making are definately trying to warn you off, he's defending himself! Still not aware that you are actually his friend:)
When we first got Frazzle, he was a little jittery and didn't really like being picked up directly, so we used to let him get in a tube and when he came out the other side he'd be on our lap, so he got used to our smell and voices, also we would hand feed him there, so he knew it was a good thing, then we'd put him back via his tube! Now he loves coming out and is easy to handle!
Every Hamster is different though, but patience and perserverance should win him round!
Also Never approach a hamster from above as his natural instinct will tell him that you are a predator about to have him for supper:)
Hope this has been useful, and good luck with Caramel:)

[whiteswan]

We adopted a hamster from our local SPCA.. Two Syrian in the same cage.. We where only gooing ONE hamster..But when we saw that we could leave one.. So we took both..As sound as we got home we put them into septerate cages... I of them (Daisy) acted like she was traumatize. We just let her be and goave her EXTRA treat..The ball idea is a good one..Daisy we thought would never get over it BUT she did amazing.. She still cries every so often but most of the time says " ok mum or dad take me out so I can go in my ball" A she looks up at us infront of the her door...

[Tumbledown]

To be blunt your cats are probably scaring the beejuzees out of him.Moggies and rodents don't mix.I don't care what anyone says.Keep your cats away from him,keep him in a quiet room during the day to sleep,and introduce him slowly to being handled and gently touched.Hamsters are practically blind,a Syrian can only see clearly up to a foot ahead of them.

To tame a baby hamster I use a towel on my lap and old cardboard kitchen roll and a cup.The hammy will go into the cardboard tube and you can "Catch! him in the cup,and gently place him back in the cage if he gets scared.They are curious and will get bolder every day.You will get the odd nip,to be expected..