HELP!! LOST HAMSTER

Good luck! It probably won't happen till it's dark and the house is quiet. Is he in your room? I find if I sit in the same room, even with no lights on, they still don't come out till you've gone! You might try leaving the lights off and staying in another room for a while before going to bed.
 
I saw her just now! she was in my closet the whole time..? i swear i checked that place like 50 times... anyways she didnt really fall for the trap and now she is gone again so i'm gonna move the peanut butter and stuff to her cage and wait cuz i dont wanna run at her
 
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That's great news! Did she go into the cage then? Keep posting here if you need any other help with her. If you've only had her a day or two, they usually need two or three days to settle into the cage and scent mark it as she'll definitely be skitty until then. She might even hide away a bit for the next week or two.

Robos can be difficult to hand tame - so you might want to try and set up some kind of playpen area or sectioned off part of the room so you can let her out in there and sit in it with her (then they climb all over you and get used to your scent so you're more familiar and it can be easier to start picking them up).

It's stressful when it happens and you know they're in the room but you can't find them or catch them! The bucket trap or cage on the floor usually works though :)
 
What's her name? :)
 
Another tip when they're new - and it might sound a bit bonkers but it works - is just talk to her through the cage every day now and then. They need to get familiar with their human to build up trust. So you start by talking to them through the cage (through the bars if the cage has bars but they have good hearing anyway if it's a solid sided cage). Just in a kind of gentle voice - they don't know what you're saying of course but they respond to tone of voice like any animal. So they know if you sound friendly or scary! By doing that they're getting used to your voice and your scent. I have a robo too and he'll sometimes come and sit at the side of the cage for ages and listen to me! But if I put my hand in the cage he runs away and hides. I have a tube thing I use to get him out of the cage. Some people scoop them up in a mug to get them out. But don't be surprised if she hides away a bit for a few days.

Another thing you can do to help them get familiar with you is the tissue trick. You put some sheets of toilet paper up your sleeve for an hour or so, so they pick up your scent - then tear each sheet into strips and put the strips of paper in the cage. The hamster will take some of the strips of paper for their nest - so then they're associating your scent with their favourite place - their nest.

Pet shops also often give bad advice about cleaning out hamsters saying it needs doing weekly (or even daily). It doesn't - cage clean outs really stress out hamsters because it removes all their familiar scent. So you just wait till it starts to smell a bit of pee and then "spot clean". Robos pee such tiny amounts that it usually evaporates! Spot cleaning is just taking out the odd handful of soiled substrate and replacing it with a new handful. You might need to feel around a bit under the substrate to find the damp stuff. But don't worry about it too much - and don't clean anything out for the first two weeks while she's settling in.

When you do have to do a clean out, it's best to not clean everything at the same time, so something always smells familiar. Eg you can do the wheel one week, spot clean a different week, and any toys etc another week. When you need to changeover the substrate (the litter on the bottom of the cage), maybe after a couple of months if you've spot cleaned, with Robos it works if you just do one half of the cage. Then a week later do the other half of the cage. So one end is always smelling familiar. They have a scent gland under their belly so they leave invisible scent trails around the cage. This is partly to mark things as their territory and partly to help find their way around! They have really bad eyesight and use scent mostly.

I never throw away their nest - that's their most precious thing. They don't usually pee in their nest. And also leave their hoards. If the hoard has got very big after a couple of months, when you do a half cage clean, then remove some of it - but always leave some behind or they get stressed as well! It's their food supply and without a larder of food in the cage they get very anxious. They're hard wired to keep a larder! Most of the food they take from their food bowl goes into their hoard and they snack from the hoard :)
 
Her name is comet because she is small and fast and it reminds me of a shooting star, and ya i think we both need to get used to each other cuz when she climbed up my arm i panicked 😂 i talk to her all the time and before your advice i was going to stop cuz i started to think she didn't understand me and that it was weird to talk to an animal so thanks for clearing that up for me, when i try to pet comet she freezes but when i take too long to actually touch her she just walks away so i'm gonna be brave and pet her
 
You're doing amazingly well to pet her at all :) . Once they get used to being touched and handled they accept it more. Comet is a great name!
 
Just to add also. They can act different inside the cage, than out of it in a playpen type area. The cage is their territory so sometimes they don't like a hand in the cage. Some are ok about it.
 
DEBATER said:
Her name is comet because she is small and fast and it reminds me of a shooting star, and ya i think we both need to get used to each other cuz when she climbed up my arm i panicked 😂 i talk to her all the time and before your advice i was going to stop cuz i started to think she didn't understand me and that it was weird to talk to an animal so thanks for clearing that up for me, when i try to pet comet she freezes but when i take too long to actually touch her she just walks away so i'm gonna be brave and pet her
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Comet is a great name for a robo. :) I have a robo too. Talking to her will help her get used to your voice and she may even learn her name. It is still very early so I would not worry about trying to pet her just yet. I have never been able to pet my robo and I have had him for 5 months now.
 
You could offer treats through the bars or on your hand too. Sometimes they come and sit on your hand if you have treats on them. Unlike other species of hamsters, robos are not quite so tempted by food so it helps if it's something they really like! That could be trial and error. I usually find sunflower seeds are liked.
 
i have a question, what does it mean when she comes to sniff me sometimes but walks away after like 3 seconds? i think she's sniffing me cuz she comes to look at me..
 
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I would say she is just getting to know you. Hamsters use their sense of smell to figure out things, like we use our eyes. I think it is very positive she is so brave. :)

Do you ever use Youtube? There is a hamster channel on there called Victoria Rachel. She has taught me so much about hamsters. You may like to check out her videos.
 
I also think she is getting to know you. It's a very positive sign! Better than running away from you! The other thing sometimes is if your hands smell of food! You have to watch that because if your hands smell of food they might try nibbling you to see if you're edible! So it's a good idea to wash your hands before handling them/having your hands near them :) A nibble isn't a bite though - it's just kind of pressing their teeth on you and not a bite or painful. They often just test to see if something's edible. Robos rarely bite.
 
RainbowBrite said:
I would say she is just getting to know you. Hamsters use their sense of smell to figure out things, like we use our eyes. I think it is very positive she is so brave. :)

Do you ever use Youtube? There is a hamster channel on there called Victoria Rachel. She has taught me so much about hamsters. You may like to check out her videos.
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i use youtube alllllll the time, i am gen Z after all! but i haven't heard of victoria rachel.. I will check her out tho cuz i am a little inexperienced with hamsters, the last time i had any was when i was about 9 years old
 
There is a lot of info on here too :) And other members with robos who would be happy to answer any questions you have. Have you seen the caption competition by the way? :cool:
 
Maz said:
There is a lot of info on here too :) And other members with robos who would be happy to answer any questions you have. Have you seen the caption competition by the way? :cool:
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not yet... i haven't really explored around here too much but i will a little later!
 
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Hope you managed to get some sleep with all that going on! It must be a huge relief to have her back in her cage. What was your last hamster?
 
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