Oreo’s thread

[Moni72mm]

January 2026: Oreo’s doing well. He’s four months old now. He’s still a very timid hammy. He’s not a ghost hamster but very close to it. We’ve had him since October so wow only two months. Feels like more.
Oreo is my daughter (14) first baby. She does the daily routine cut veggies, replace water, check the sandbox and litter box but I’m usually around to help.
She’s still a bit anxious about taming him so I started it instead. When I started the taming process I didn’t realize it was a daily thing. He was so nervous I thought maybe I should be doing this weekly. Now I try feeding him sunflower seeds or mealworms… anyway treats almost every night. We’ve progressed to him coming out of his multi chamber most of the time to either grab food I have pinched between my fingers and when he’s really doing good I can get him to grab something in my hand.
When he touches my hand I can feel it shake. Poor little thing.
Now if we stay still with no sudden moves he has a few times stayed out of the chamber to explore while we are there. I’ve attached our latest one this past Friday. I was only a foot away from his cage at that point.

 

[Hash Brown’Mum]

Oh my gosh, he’s too cute! Look at him peeking out to get a glimpse of you!

 

[Maz]

His little face appearing through the top door - love it. He's very sweet.

 

[Socks' Mum]

He is so adorable, lovely pictures ❤

 

[Moni72mm]

Oreo is now 5 months and has been with us for three
Months. He is still as skittish as before. If not a but worse so
I’ve gotten to the point of not trying to hand feed him because as soon as I move a tiny bit he goes in hiding. If he comes out we just talk to him. If it looks like he might come back out I’ll give a treat next to the top hole of his multi chamber. He sometimes comes back and pokes out his head and gets it. He’s been doing better at coming out and sniffing around while we are there just as long as we Freeze. He looks so soft but he won’t let me close to him at the moment. He has taken treats occasionally from my hand just not in the last few weeks.
On the up side I finished another platform which is a full 12” high so I’ll be placing that and doing a spot or cleaning of the 1/3 cage.

 

[Maz]

It sounds like progress . It’s still hard when you want to stroke them. Has he had any out of cage time?

 

[Moni72mm]

I wish he’d have had out of cage time but once my hands or anything gets in he goes and hides in his tunnels. I had started training him in a cup but turns out the cup was too small and he just out and got mad at me for weeks. I have a bigger measuring cup but have no clue where I could put that so he tries in there. I also have a little fleece pouch or pocket. See attached photo. I read one of your comments in the forum about putting the food on the opposite side. I just finished a platform for the other side. I might see if I can move the food dish there. We put the veggies in there. Food just goes around the bedding unless something came up and we could not do fresh veggies.

 

[Maz]

I use a rat tube They tend to just walk into it - especially if there's a nice bit of smelly cucumber at the far end Also the tube is long enough that you're not too close to them to make them feel nervous. Without the chains obviously! This is a ferplast one but there are other brands as well.

Rat tube

Once the hamster is in the tube I lift it out, put my end against my stomach and my hand over the other end and carry it to the playpen. They get to see the tube as their taxi. Mine are trained to walk into it if it's offered now, so I always know I can get the one that free roams back again - he just walks into the tube if I offer it. They also feel secure in it and often go through it in the playpen. To the point I sometimes remove it from the playpen so they don't sit in it all the time and do other things. They soon get used to that.

You can only really carry it like that a short distance - eg a few feet - as they tend to push at your hand! Which can make you jump. So if it's any further than a few feet you can just have a box on the floor near the cage, put the tube down in the box and carry the box to the playpen area

 

[Moni72mm]

And what you put your hand at both ends

 

[Socks' Mum]

And what you put your hand at both ends

Yes, or hold it against your tummy with a hand on the other end ❤

 

[Maz]

Yes, or hold it against your tummy with a hand on the other end ❤

That's what I do