I never see my hamster:(

[Winther1]

After moving my hamster from a terrible cage to a Bucatstate with deep bedding, I barely see him. Right now it has been 4 days. I assume it's a good sign that he has made his own tunnels in the bedding, but it's a shame to never see him. So..
A) How do I encourage him to come out during the daytime? I'm fully aware he is nocturnal, but I also think many owners interact with their hamsters. He has not sat on my hand once. The few times I see him he is not willing as I never see him enough to train him.
B) How do I clean out his tunnels when he is always in there? I feel sorry breaking them, but they must be full of poo and food as I see it nowhere else anymore - he spends 100% of his time down there during the day. I see him briefly come out for water and food, but rushes down in the tunnel before I even get up (quietly) from my chair.
My place is very quiet - only moderately noisy when kids come over every two weeks (I wheel the cage into a quiet room when they come)
As I understand, the longer you wait, the harder it gets to train the hamster for human interaction
A rare sight

 

[Maz]

Hello. I'm having a similar problem with a male syrian Some are just very shy/lazy. He won't come out during the day as Syrians will sleep all day. They usually come out mid evening to late at night and are sometimes up early in the morning for breakfast! 6 to 7am - depending on the hamster.

I agree that it's good to get them used to human interaction and handling fairly early on. With my current shy syrian I spent a few weeks doing that before he was upgraded to a bigger cage with deep bedding, and had just got him used to me. And haven't seen him since! Some is just their personality. My other syrian would be out and about in his cage late in the evening and pestering to come out, regardless of how much bedding he had.

I think to start with I would just leave the enclosure in the same room all the time. They can get affected quite a lot by the smallest change of environment and that might make him hide away more. They soon get used to the noise of family life and children and I used to find a previous shy syrian came out more when he heard a child's voice - maybe on their ultrasonic wavelength! Do you see him at all? Maybe late at night?

I would give that a couple of weeks, not moving his enclosure.

 

[Winther1]

Thanks for the advice. I will keep the cage in the same room.
He used to come out late evening, but lately I don't see him at all even if I go to bed at 1am. Also, I would see him morning but not anymore.
I put some food in the morning, but food disappears without meeting him As it is right now, I can't get him used to interaction with me

 

[Maz]

Does he have a piece of veg daily? One thing I used to do was put that on a separate little dish at the opposite end of the cage to where he is nesting/his burrow. The smell of cucumber often tempts them to come out and cross the cage to get it, before it gets too late at night and then you can offer them a tube to walk into on the way back! For some out of cage time and interaction. That has usually worked for me, but not with my current one! He will wait till 2 or 3am for his veg rather than come out!

I would try the veg thing and give it a couple of weeks with the enclosure staying in the same place and see how things are by then. I am actually thinking of putting a bit less bedding in for a while with mine - eg just have it deeper at one end. Which is maybe not a popular view but is a last resort. But I wouldn't do that just yet.

 

[ilguy]

I wouldn't encourage him to come out in the daytime, let your hammy sleep and do his thing. When it starts to get around 7 or 8 pm then I would say you can try.

One thing you can do to associate your smell with positive feelings is to run your hand gently on some bedding near an entrance and leave a treat there. At some point your ham might smell you when you're near and come out in hopes of a treat. Food is the key. You can also sit near and talk to him, get him used to your presence. Or even play some calm classical music.

If you have had him for a while, you just have to wait. Rehoming is stressful, they mostly operate on smell and he's getting things how he likes them.

 

[Winther1]

Does he have a piece of veg daily? One thing I used to do was put that on a separate little dish at the opposite end of the cage to where he is nesting/his burrow. The smell of cucumber often tempts them to come out and cross the cage to get it, before it gets too late at night and then you can offer them a tube to walk into on the way back! For some out of cage time and interaction. That has usually worked for me, but not with my current one! He will wait till 2 or 3am for his veg rather than come out!

I would try the veg thing and give it a couple of weeks with the enclosure staying in the same place and see how things are by then. I am actually thinking of putting a bit less bedding in for a while with mine - eg just have it deeper at one end. Which is maybe not a popular view but is a last resort. But I wouldn't do that just yet.

seems I'm in the same boat as you - tried the cucumber trick but most of the time it just lies there all day and I throw it in the bin before I go to bed. Or it is suddenly gone and I missed the moment I actually bought another bedding chamber for the rear of the cage to slightly reduce the hiding spots a bit. He will still have plenty of room to dig, but I might put this in there and see if he is more willing to be visible. I don't need him out more just for my own satisfaction. I think he will be more relaxed once he is used to humans, and he will get more entertainment in his life

 

[Maz]

He could be anywhere in there! I can't even find mine! I actually do think it's important to see them fairly regularly and be able to handle them, for a health check, as they can develop something and it get worse very quickly without regular health checks. Their metabolism is so fast. I'm sure he's fine at the moment. I wouldn't adjust anything in the cage just yet or that just might make him hide away more again. I'd just give it that couple of weeks first without moving the enclosure

 

[Winther1]

He could be anywhere in there! I can't even find mine! I actually do think it's important to see them fairly regularly and be able to handle them, for a health check, as they can develop something and it get worse very quickly without regular health checks. Their metabolism is so fast. I'm sure he's fine at the moment. I wouldn't adjust anything in the cage just yet or that just might make him hide away more again. I'd just give it that couple of weeks first without moving the enclosure

I freaked out first time I didn't see him for several days and removed the tray with the mushroom house. He was right beneath in what I think is a large cave. He poked out wondering what I was doing
At least I now know exactly where he is. My worry is all the poo that must have gathered during the 3 weeks he has been in there. Surely it needs cleaning out at some point! No significant smell though.

 

[Maz]

I honestly wouldn't worry if you can't smell anything 2 to 3 weeks is fine and he has loads of bedding. Once you smell something you could spot clean, but yes his burrows probably would collapse - there's not much you can do about that. You could try adding a litter tray with sand in it in the cage, in a corner - they will sometimes use that when they're up, instead of having an underground toilet.

It's only really their pee that's unhygienic. Their poops are quite small and hard and not really dirty or smelly, and they eat them sometimes - which is a normal behaviour - they have two stomachs and can redigest nutrients from them. If they start taking over in a big way you can spot clean them out.

 

[Cherri_Bea]

Awww he's so cute <3 I'm sure he will come out more often eventually. Probably just getting use to the new home and as Maz said poop isn't bad unless it's overwhelming of course!

 

[Tulsi]

I am having the same issue with Kulfi. He has really made himself at home with a nice deep burrow and now waits until lights out before venturing out.

Love your enclosure.