Wally

[Member ID2]

Oh wow, that was fast. I've seen that before with our Syrians and usually for reasons not obvious to us.
How used to sounds and noise is Wally?
Does he get exposed to normal family and household noises like music, tv, vacuum cleaner etc?

 

[Maz]

Looks like something startled him and he shot off! Either that or he just felt like being whizzy

They really do have a sort of personality change after dark. He will wait for you to go to bed and darkness before getting up, so if you then go down to see him, he will be a bit like "oi this is my private time!".

I would persist with the 7pm thing. He sounds like our first hamster. If he only pokes his head out, then next time try putting a tube over his house entrance with a smelly treat at the far end - he should walk into the tube and you can lift him out that way. He'll be fine once he's out. Although maybe a bit dopey! But at least it's handling time.

Some hamsters take a lot longer to build up confidence than others. Also I think as the nights get lighter you may find some improvement. My Syrian is already getting up a bit earlier every night recently.

 

[Maz]

Just to add - it's hard to tell, and he is a long haired hamster - but he does look large! He looks like he may be well over 200g. I'd be interested to know his weight next time you get him out . An easy way to weigh them is use flat electronic kitchen scales. On top of a book on the floor eg in the playpen. Then put a bit of cucumber (or something else he can't resist) in the middle and zero the scales. He should just walk on there and sit and nibble the cucumber and you can read his weight while he's doing it.

 

[Hamster Haven]

Looks like something startled him and he shot off! Either that or he just felt like being whizzy

They really do have a sort of personality change after dark. He will wait for you to go to bed and darkness before getting up, so if you then go down to see him, he will be a bit like "oi this is my private time!".

I would persist with the 7pm thing. He sounds like our first hamster. If he only pokes his head out, then next time try putting a tube over his house entrance with a smelly treat at the far end - he should walk into the tube and you can lift him out that way. He'll be fine once he's out. Although maybe a bit dopey! But at least it's handling time.

Some hamsters take a lot longer to build up confidence than others. Also I think as the nights get lighter you may find some improvement. My Syrian is already getting up a bit earlier every night recently.

Yeah, per Beryl's question, he's not unaccustomed to noise. He's in my daughter's room, so it's quiet during the day, but she'll be in there chatting or playing on an iPad in the evening, and I've had to clean and vacuum in there, though he'll stay in his hideout during those times. I'm sure it was either a noise that didn't seem surprising to me but did to him, or else, like you mentioned, he was like, "they're up again?! I'm not looking to play right now! I already saw you at the start of my night!" Or a combination of both.

We'll definitely keep persisting, because I think even though he's seemed a little guarded in response over the past 2 days, he's making baby steps and this will help. We do have a scale, too, so I'll have to try that. I remember when I picked him up the breeder told us that she breeds for size, but even so he was the biggest of the current litter and would get bigger!

He's so big that cardboard tubes are too small for him, so I may have to trick him with his large dried grass tube or something else homemade!

 

[Maz]

I forgot he was a pedigree - he probably will be big then! With the cardboard tubes, you can slit them down the side - but a bigger tube is better. Pringles tubes are about the right size for Syrians Or rat tubes.

 

[Maz]

He probably would do well with a 12" wheel but probably no rush for it.

 

[Hamster Haven]

Success! A little after 6PM I reheated some scrambled egg and brought it up to him. I was moving things around the cage deciding what to do with trying to get him out when I turned and saw that his whole head was out of his hideout! He didn't get overly startled when I turned back to him and came out and entered his igloo transport. He seemed pretty relaxed, so I decided to try the bath tub again, but this time I brought in the blanket we'd had in the playpen and added more items. I called my daughter up and we handfed him and pet him and he played around for a half hour. He never seemed like he was trying to avoid us or hide in one place. When we finally brought him back to the cage he headed back into his hideout, but I didn't find that surprising because he's not usually up at this time so I'm sure he was going to nap again after emptying his cheek pouches. I even brought the scale up and weighed him. Once we subtracted the weight of the plastic cart he was in (you can't see his face because he's eating something, which is why he's so comfortably stuffed in it), he was about 210 grams, probably minus a couple of food grams in his cheeks. Video to come once edited- we got so much footage! He also looks ridiculously huge under my daughter's 8yo hand while he's eating a red pepper.

 

[Member ID2]

Lovely photos. Wally is so big, fluffy and gorgeous. I thought it said 273g on the scales, haha. I was a bit surprised that he weighs "only" 210g.

 

[Hamster Haven]

Lovely photos. Wally is so big, fluffy and gorgeous. I thought it said 273g on the scales, haha. I was a bit surprised that he weighs "only" 210g.

It does say that! But the little cart he is sitting in weighs about 63g. Hence "only" 210

 

[Maz]

I was going to say the same - that it says 273! But just seen the explanation. He looks like a 225g hamster to me (having had a couple of those) but maybe his fluffy coat makes him look bigger He is a lovely big fluffy boy! So glad you got some earlier out of cage time. I am sure he will soon start associating that time with food!

 

[elusive]

Great photos & good to hear it went so well, Wally really is the most beautiful colour, such a handsome little guy.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Aww your patience has paid off. He really does look huge under your daughters tiny hand!

 

[Hamster Haven]

Wally has continued to adapt well to our 6-7PM snack and playtime. Yesterday we took Wally out again (using food to slowly lead him fully out of his hideaway so he wouldn't try to grab and retreat). My daughter had one of her friends over and I told him they could come see him if they were very quiet so as not to startle him. They had a great time and Wally has been good adapting to different sounds now that we are getting him up earlier. After 20 or 30 minutes he clearly gets tuckered out and starts retreating to one of the covered toys we've put in the play space for him and that's when we bring him back to his cage. A toy pet carrier designed for stuffies is his current favorite retreat space.

Today I was feeling confident with his progress, so I carried him downstairs in a bedding-filled bag and then set him up in the playpen in our family room.

Tomorrow night we are going out to dinner with friends, so we might have to miss a night taking him out- which I will miss after such progress this week!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Aww such lovely pictures!

 

[Maz]

It's wonderful to hear about the progess with Wally! Your daughter must be so happy Wally looks very happy and content on that photo as well.

 

[Hamster Haven]

It's wonderful to hear about the progess with Wally! Your daughter must be so happy Wally looks very happy and content on that photo as well.

Yes! I'm still surprised at what a trooper she was during the total nocturnal phase. She didn't seem to lose any love for him when she wasn't seeing him for days at a time. We just had her parent-teacher conference and her teacher was saying how she'd tell the class about the night camera and what we saw him doing on it. But I'm so glad we can now have playtime again regularly, with light, and without having to set a night alarm or see if we have the energy to wake up!

 

[Tulsi]

Success! A little after 6PM I reheated some scrambled egg and brought it up to him. I was moving things around the cage deciding what to do with trying to get him out when I turned and saw that his whole head was out of his hideout! He didn't get overly startled when I turned back to him and came out and entered his igloo transport. He seemed pretty relaxed, so I decided to try the bath tub again, but this time I brought in the blanket we'd had in the playpen and added more items. I called my daughter up and we handfed him and pet him and he played around for a half hour. He never seemed like he was trying to avoid us or hide in one place. When we finally brought him back to the cage he headed back into his hideout, but I didn't find that surprising because he's not usually up at this time so I'm sure he was going to nap again after emptying his cheek pouches. I even brought the scale up and weighed him. Once we subtracted the weight of the plastic cart he was in (you can't see his face because he's eating something, which is why he's so comfortably stuffed in it), he was about 210 grams, probably minus a couple of food grams in his cheeks. Video to come once edited- we got so much footage! He also looks ridiculously huge under my daughter's 8yo hand while he's eating a red pepper.



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He looks ridiculously cute. I mean ... those little fluffy bits near his head and his colouring ...

 

[Hamster Haven]

He looks ridiculously cute. I mean ... those little fluffy bits near his head and his colouring ...

The breeder we used releases photos of all the available hamsters when one's name comes up on the waitlist... my profile pic is the pic that was posted of him. My daughter saw all the available hamsters and was like, "He's the one."

 

[Hamster Haven]

So Wally has continued to be very adaptive to coming out between 6 and 7pm with a little scrambled egg to tempt him. His nose comes to his chamber entrance very quickly when I go in, although I still have to carefully lead him into his "igloo transport" so that he won't snatch the egg and try to retreat.

The past 2 days, my daughter even had a friend over when we took him out, so he was exposed to additional friends.

Today, my daughter was tired and stayed downstairs while I took him out. I had to put him in the tub (though he's become comfortable with this space again, as we played with him there with his blanket and pretend carrier and things) so that I could clean out his potty chamber.

After I put him in the tub and gave him some food, I went into the bedroom and started working to find his potty area and clean it out. I'm thinking to myself, "he'll probably be happy to be left alone to explore for once instead of having people around pestering him." So a few minutes later I return, and I swear he's frozen in the place I left him. I'm thinking, "Wally! Really? You spend weeks being timid around us and then you're left by yourself outside your cage and you're afraid to move."

In any case, after I cleaned out his chambers a bit, I let him free roam in our teeny tiny bathroom while I sat on the floor. He was very sweet and at ease while I was there, and I'm not sure he could decide on whether or not to go back into his cage after a half hour when I started offering him his igloo transport, but I didn't feel like I had the whole space secure to leave him safely in there without monitoring so I brought him back. He did his usual and went back to sleep after I put him back.

Also, the new 12" silent runner was a hit! He spent hours on it last night.

 

[Member ID2]

He is really getting comfortable with you now!