Leo

Leo continues to make progress with taming. The malt paste breakthrough definitely helped a lot but I think his new Saviz Plaza might also be helping. The front door is wider than the one on his old cage so it doesn't feel like I'm reaching into his cage so much.

Nowadays he treats me more like a minor annoyance rather than something to be afraid of, which is progress, I suppose. I brushed my hand past his ear when was eating the other day and he sort of cringed but didn't seem scared. He doesn't mind me opening the cage door so much. I can tell he's still not exactly keen on me being in his space (which is fine, it is his home after all) but he's so much less nervous nowadays.

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Does Leo ever go for out of bin time, or is he still too wary to approach a hamster taxi? He's so pretty, hope one day you can have some quality time.
 
ilguy said:
Does Leo ever go for out of bin time, or is he still too wary to approach a hamster taxi? He's so pretty, hope one day you can have some quality time.
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I tried a few times but it doesn't seem like something he's interested in right now. When I first had him I taught him the concept of a hamster taxi (when he walks into it he gets taken out of his cage, when he goes back in the taxi he goes home) but he stopped going into the taxi which I took as meaning he didn't want to leave his cage. I could try again one of these days.
 
Daisy said:
I tried a few times but it doesn't seem like something he's interested in right now. When I first had him I taught him the concept of a hamster taxi (when he walks into it he gets taken out of his cage, when he goes back in the taxi he goes home) but he stopped going into the taxi which I took as meaning he didn't want to leave his cage. I could try again one of these days.
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Hope he continues to warm up, maybe one day he'll try to climb up your arm
 
I had another go at introducing the Niteangel Silent wheel to Leo. I even waited until his old wheel was overdue for a clean and then transferred some of his "scent" over to the new wheel, in case that helped him accept it. The pedometer indicated that he used it a bit some nights, but nowhere near as much as usually would, and other nights he didn't use it at all. I think I have to accept that it's just not for him! It could be because it's an open wheel and he feels too exposed on it.

He had a 20cm plastic Trixie wheel before, and the main problem with that is that it's just a bit small for a fully grown male Chinese hamster. His back wasn't bending but he didn't have a lot of space to run freely either.

So I'm now trying him with a 28cm plastic Trixie wheel, which actually fits very well in the cage. I hope he might like it better since it's enclosed.

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I hope Leo gets on with the bigger Trixie wheel.
Maybe it’s just that he’s always had an enclosed wheel & doesn’t feel comfortable in the open one.
I did have an open wheel to begin with for my first Chinese & she was happy in it but then she had a few wheels & would probably have run in anything, they’ve all had enclosed wheels since then & do seem to like them.
 
The bigger trixie looks good in there. I hope he likes it :-). Such a shame he didn’t fully take to the niteangel one. But then hamsters can be very contrary and maybe he sussed you wanted to see how far he was running ha ha.

If he gets to the stage of having playpen time, maybe he’d use it in the playpen?
 
Maz said:
The bigger trixie looks good in there. I hope he likes it :). Such a shame he didn’t fully take to the niteangel one. But then hamsters can be very contrary and maybe he sussed you wanted to see how far he was running ha ha.

If he gets to the stage of having playpen time, maybe he’d use it in the playpen?
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Maybe he didn't want to divulge his mileage!

I suppose he might use it in a playpen, if he does reach that stage.

I have good news regarding the 28cm Trixie wheel. The first thing he did after getting up this evening was run on it, even before collecting his food. I think that means he likes it. He normally runs much later at night.

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