Friday, July 31, 2009

Am I stressing my hamster out?

When I got to pick my hamster up (unsure of gender, going theory is male) he roles over onto his back, doing the defence thing, or tries to run away. When I do pick him he does not flip out. NO SQUEAKING OR BITTING.
Once out of the cage I sit down on the couch and he will run all over me, tickling me with his whiskers and occasionally nipping at my clothes, never my skin though.
Out of the cage, I can pick him up off the couch without him rolling onto his back or anything. Although sometimes he tries to back away before I pick him up.
Do you think I am stressing him, the last thing I want to do is stress out poor Bazal.
Answers:
Aha. We had a hamster who used to roll over every time. She loved being held (would sit on your hand eating sunflower seeds and such), she just rolled over a lot. Unfortunately ours was sickly, and died at a young age, so can't say if they out grow it.
As for running away? Most hamsters will run away when you try to pick them up, even the most friendly. I wonder if they see it as some kind of game, considering a later pet of mine would run away for about 3 - 5 minutes, then just wait to be picked up.. mental.
Hopefully he'll outgrow it, but I wouldn't worry too much! Good luck :)
Maybe you are picking the hamster up when it is sleeping and they do the defense thing and try to get away because it doesnt want to get out because it just wants to sleep. Around 7 pm or so it'll be desperate to get out.
He might be initially stressed out, but as long as you aren't in there bugging him every 5 minutes and he has enough chances to chill out during the day, he should be ok, and it's good to socialize him like that.
Hamsters are often defensive when they are in their cages. Feeding him from your hand in the cage will help and it will eventualy teach him to sit on your hand.
Yeah, you're probably stressing him out, small animals like hamsters don't usually like to be picked up, just let him do what he wants.
It does not sound like your stressing him out, when you go to pick him up in his cage, slowly go in and start petting him. Then pick him up gently. He may have just woken up or was about to go to sleep. It sounds to me he likes you very much, by the way he acts outside his cage.
How long have you had the hamster? I would say if its been a couple of weeks and it hasn't gotten wet tail I would say he is fine.
get him an exercise ball to run in, he isn't used to being handled aparently.

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