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šŸ„œ Peanut šŸ¹

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Danibear18

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Hello All, This is Peanut, heā€™s an 8 week old Syrian who we collected on Friday.

He hadnā€™t really been handled as he is still so little, he was very scared to start with. We couldnā€™t touch him without him jumping out of his skin and running away. We havenā€™t held him yet but weā€™ve been putting our hands in his cage when he comes to the glass to interact, allowing him smell us. He has begun to eat from our hands and is now letting us stroke him whist her eats, slowly building that trust already. He even put one paw on my hand last night šŸ¾

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Your new baby is so beautiful ā¤ļø in his lovely home šŸ”
 
Weā€™ve had Peanut 2 weeks now and and he is settling in nicely however is much more jumpy and hyperactive than Nibbles used to be. Weā€™ve had a couple of mild nips and he becomes very fast when being held.

His behaviour is far more active and a little less friendly than Nibbles so I decided to Google, then did a little inspection and it turns out Peanut is in fact A GIRL!!

I specially wanted a boy as they are suggested to be calmer and better for younger children. I have seen a huge improvement in her since we got her 2 weeks ago. She will climb onto our hands and be held and eat from us already. She has given both children a small nip, didnā€™t break the skin but we did have tears. She can still be very jumpy/skittish at times, sometimes when I hold her she makes a jump for it, so we always sit in a playpen with her but hoping that will ease with time.

Would love advise from people who have had both boys and girls, can girls be as chilled a boys? Do most girls bite or is it just the minority? Hoping if we keep handling her daily she will continue to improve.

We are very attached to her already so taking her back wouldnā€™t be an option but Iā€™d love any tips or advice on girl hamsters šŸ¹
 
To add Iā€™ve noticed the following differences from a boy to a girl:
- She is a bit smelly.
- She does bigger poops.
- She drinks loads more than Nibbles did.
- Her urine smells a lot more potent.
- She doesnā€™t collect all the food hidden round her cage in one session, she does it over a few days.
- She becomes very speedy when being handled and isnā€™t very relaxed.
- She spends lots of time sniffing everyone and everything.
- She loves mealworms and hates cucumber (opposite to Nibbles).
 
Oh goodness. That must have been a big surprise! Ok so yes girls are notorious for being very active - and possibly more so when they are on heat (which is every four days), so you might see a pattern to her behaviour. The "aroma" is probably when she is on heat as well.

However many owners of female hamsters say they can be very affectionate as well and actually prefer them to boys. Although boys do have a reputation for being a bit "lazy" they can also be so shy that they aren't very interactive.

At the end of the day though each hamster is an individual! They all have their own personalities. I've had a very mavetick super active boy before as well :)

I think just take it slowly - it's still very early days. At two weeks she is only just beginning to settle into her cage and might not feel ready for handling just yet. I would keep a diarry of her behaviour and you might spot which are her "heat" days from that - ie days when she is a bit maverick or hyperactive.

The nipping sounds like a combination of fear and maybe cage aggression as well. Females do tend to need a lot of space and enrichment. Give her lots of cardboard to shred! Toilet roll inner tubes, cardboard egg boxes etc. And plenty of substrate.

If she's going a bit stir crazy she might need to have out of cage time daily, but I would start with the bathtub or playpen and don't try to handle her straight away. Have a look at the taming guide on the home page :-) I'll link it below.

The key at first is for her to become familiar with, and trust, her new humans. So talking to her through the cage, and offering treats through the bars is a good start. Then maybe try and start slowly with the taming guide.

It's frustrating, especially for children, when they want to handle the hamster, but you'll need to go at the hamster's pace!

Also there might be better times of night for out of cage time. With our first hamster (who was male) he was super active and wanting to run off between about 6pm and 8pm. Between about 8pm and 9pm he was quite dopey and would just go to sleep on you. By 10pm he was off again and incredibly fast - in his night time mode!

www.thehamsterforum.com

How to tame a hamster

Hand taming a hamster can make life with your hamster very rewarding. Suddenly they will sit on you to be stroked or even go to sleep on you, and will be very easy to handle. It can take a bit of time and patience initially. Ask more about...
www.thehamsterforum.com www.thehamsterforum.com
 
Oh my gosh theyā€™re in heat every 4 days!! Thatā€™s crazy!!

Even though itā€™s only been 2 weeks, I think we have made really good progress with her so far. She is climbing onto our hands, slowly building trust. She lets the kids stroke her in the cage and lets us hand feed her. Weā€™ve held her almost every day for 2 weeks and she has only nipped twice so far. We always use the play pen when holding her due to her unpredictability.

She shreds a whole loo roll every night, she isnā€™t interested in all the different types of wooden things Iā€™ve also got for her like applewood sticks, mini log slices, woven balls and wreaths etc.

Funnily enough she seemed less scared of us then one even became really jumpy and on edge again like she had forgotten us, so we left her however now Iā€™m thinking maybe she was on heat. She seemed fine the next day again. Iā€™m going to definitely keep an eye on her behaviour and log it, great tip!

So glad to hear girls can be as affectionate as boys ā¤ļø
 
Yep they seem to love shredding cardboard - nesting instinct :-)
 
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