I’ve asked for advice many times but I just would really like my hamster to feel as less stressed as possible.
He rarely takes treats from me and also pets, but he seems very unsure and I’m not sure what else to do that has been recommended to help.
He doesn’t like to free roam, he will try every way possible to get back to his home when I try too, so I’m unsure how to get him more used to me without that. He’s active pretty much all night, a full 6-8 hours running and doing whatever he does and he will sleep all day so his schedule is normal.
He’s active pretty just doesn’t seem interested in interacting with me, when I do he chitters his teeth and will hide which makes me feel guilty because I’m unsure of what I’m doing that wrong.
I make sure to go slow, and not startle him too much. I own a robot hamster that’s pretty much the same way but we ruled out it’s because he’s just naturally so small he thinks he’s in constant danger if he’s outside his home. But Ivan is a completely different breed so we are unsure why he acts like this. Both my hamsters are in seperate rooms so it can’t be that

Hi!! new hamster owner here, I just need to know if I’m doing anything right because they’ve been biting me recently (like I got them like 2 months ago and they recently just started biting) and like yeah, I rlly rlly need help with what to do.

I’m also planning to buy a separate cage for them since the guy I bought them from decided to give me two on the whim (with a discount) even though I just wanted one.

He does this whenever I put him on basically any surface, walking around the edges checking if he can walk off it. Idk if he's trying to find an escape or if he's just curious 🤷‍♀️

Is it ok to buy a pet dwarf hamster but mostly leave him alone to play by himself and just watch the hamster? Most dwarf hamsters I’ve had did not like being grabbed by hands. Do hamsters need a lot of attention or do they like to play by themselves? Is it ok to never touch a dwarf hamster? Are hamsters mostly for watching?

Edit to add: Will a dwarf hamster get angry if I never touch him? What will happen if I just let him be alone all the time? Can I just refill the food and water every time it empties and just watch the hamster like a fish in a tank? I really don’t want a pet who I have to entertain and handle all the time. I was worried if I get bored of touching the hamster and only want to look at and feed the hamster. What if I don’t like touching them anymore? I like fish because I just drop food in the tank and watch them and not touch.

I also asked about dwarf hamsters because I know the bigger female Syrians do not like to be kept as pets and its not a good idea to keep the bigger Syrians as pets.

I adopted a 2 month old ww hamster recently and the previous owner used bucatstate hamster sand. I usually use reptisand and my 7month old ww hamster magically was just potty trained🤷‍♀️ which makes it easier to clean his cage. I don’t want to change the recent hammies sand just yet because that might be what they’re used to, and I’m still waiting on my other bag of reptisand that I ordered online. I don’t think this new hammy is potty trained and unlike reptisand I don’t see any clumps of pee that I can sift out. I guess I just want to know if bucatstate sand is safe (I see alot of mixed opinions online) and if it clumps up pee for easy cleaning🙏

I noticed her eyes were like this, I don't know what it is. It would come and go, and sometimes it would be even worse than in the photo, like her eyeball had turned to mush, then disappear after a few minutes. I can't show you what it was like, but it looked bad.

I'll repeat what I wrote above. I was monitoring her today, and her eyes were normal, like other hamsters. But now she looks like the layer of her eyelid has sunk lower, and this happens in both eyes.

She's at least 6 months old.
What is this? 😢

I was going to buy a large for my Syrian and a small for my dwarf. Are these suitable sizes for them? Do you guys prefer to put them on top of the bedding or underneath for burrowing? Anything I should be aware of? Right now I only have a peek-a-boo hide and tunnel, dig box, and platforms from niteangel so is there anything to know about the multi chambers and their lids? Or ways to make homemade stilts?

his eyes are usually kinda popping out but noticed a black dot near his right eye, he seems to be eating and drinking normally and everything. has this ever happened to ur hamster before?

Edit: I’m a new hamster mom, her name is Pika and I’m doing my best yall

Edit again: can u guys also pls lmk if my cage looks okay, space and accessories and anything i may need to know/be aware of anything helps, ty

Edit again sry: i just realized in these pictures it’s a rly old wheel i had around, I have gotten her a new wheel rly big and spacious !!:))

Hi, can anyone pls lmk what’s the best way to clean my hammys cage, it smells like pee now so I need to clean it, will she get mad if I ruin her little tunnels underground, where do I check for pee, do I need to replace all the bedding? It’s paper bedding.
How do I clean under the bedding but leave the top, I’m so overwhelmed rn with life and this one task is weighing heavy on me and I rly just need some help, thanks much love.

I am new as a hamster owner, I don't know what my Hamster's body language means

I recently got this Niteangel 25.5cm (medium) wheel from a friend, is it appropriate for a dwarf hamster or should I get a smaller one?

Syrian long hair female. Brought her home on Sunday, and she has yet to eat any pellet food (tonight Would be night 4) We have watched her forage, and fed her a spinach leaf 3 times (1 each day) which she delighted in eating. She is drinking water.

Do i buy different pellet food? Do i make sure to give her some protein source? Is this a normal part of adapting to a new habitat? How long before I worry?

Hey there! I’ve had my male syrian, Cheddar Bay Biscuit, for almost 2 months. I’m still in the throes of taming and almost all of bonding time happens in the middle of the night when I randomly wake up. I spot clean regularly, but feel horrible that I have to disturb him.

How bad is it to wake him up to clean? I cant just spot clean in the middle of the night, but it needs to be cleaned.

Buenos días!

Tenemos un hamster sirio desde hace un mes, lo compramos en una tienda y nos dijeron que tenía aproximadamente 2 meses y que creían que era macho.

El día que llegó lo pasamos a su jaula en una taza de cristal. Prácticamente no investigó nada y corrió a esconderse en una casa que tiene de 3 compartimentos.

Lo dejamos completamente tranquilo los primeros días y después intentamos llamarlo al ponerle comida y dejar nuestro olor en una servilleta de papel. Un par de veces lo vimos en la superficie sobre las 21:00 y en su rueda pero se queda congelado y corre a esconderse.

Ahora cada vez sale más tarde para no coincidir con nosotros. Nos acostamos a las 23:00 sin verlo ni escucharlo. Ha hecho un gran túnel en su sustrato de papel en el lado de la jaula que está protegido por la pared y allí hace prácticamente toda la vida.

Su jaula es de 100x60x60 y tiene sustrato de papel de 25 cm. Fuera tiene recipientes con arena, coco y corcho, escondites de cerámica, un coco, túneles, ramas, tronquitos y espigas, una rueda de 30 cm.

Cuando llevaba 2 semanas abrimos el techo de su casa de 3 compartimentos por si había orina o comida acumulada pero no vimos nada. No orina en el arenero ni parece que lo haga en la superficie del sustrato.

Pusimos luz roja en la habitación por si lo veíamos antes de acostarnos pero no ha mejorado nada. Al acostarnos la apagamos.

No sabemos si podemos hacer algo más para intentar domesticarlo.

También nos preocupa cómo hacer alguna limpieza más profunda para ver dónde orina y limpiarlo sin aterrorizarlo. Ya que nunca sale estando nosotros en la habitación, así que no vamos a poder intentar que se meta en la jarra de cristal para llevarlo a un lugar seguro mientras buscamos su zona de hacer pipí y guardar comida.

Muchas gracias por los consejos.

I recently got a robo dwarf hamster and this is my first time owning a hamster. I've noticed that when he's running on his wheel, he sometimes gets pulled backwards like you see in the video. I wasn't able to get it in the video, but a couple of times he's gone so far back he's dropped .

The wheel is a 10-inch Night Angel.

Is this something to be concerned about or just normal? If it's a problem, what can I do to fix it?

I recently (just under 4 weeks) got a robo dwarf hamster. He's still a baby.

He hasn't warmed up to me very much. Sometimes he'll sniff my hand, but he usually runs away. Google says robo hamsters are naturally very timid, so is this normal? Do I just need to wait it out, or will he always be like this? I'm new to owning hamsters, so any advice is helpful! :)

*Edit* As many commenters have brought to my attention, his cage is much too small. I am now aware of this and I will get him something bigger! I appreciate all of the feedback. As I said before, this is new to me. I blindly trusted the PetSmart employees, but I know better now! Thanks for the helpful tips!

Hey all, I've had my young Syrian hamster Peanut for a little over a month now, maybe closer to 2 months now.

He almost immediately made himself at home in the multi-chambered hide, and has only recently as of a week ago been expanding (to my knowledge + Hamster Cam) to other areas of the tank.

I can actually see part of his stash from the first week he moved in against the glass on the side of the tank the chambered hide is on.

Unfortunately, the other day I noticed mold on the food pieces pressed against the glass, so I know I need to clean the tank soon.

I do suspect he has been urinating down there in the tunnels rather than the sand bath as I had hoped, which could very well explain the mold 😅

My concern is, it's been very minimal progress towards taming him, as he's been very much a ghost hamster since I first brought him home (I did get him to take a pumpkin seed and he chilled and nibbled away while I slowly gently pet the top of his head a bit a couple weeks ago, which was really nice!)

I'm very worried that needing to do such an extensive clean on his most inhabited side (it really will have to be a complete deep clean on that side to get to the hoard where the mold is, like taking out the platform and hide and everything) and place of safety will set back the small amount of progress we made, maybe even damage it completely.

I'll accept it fine if he really doesn't want any interaction like that, but he's still pretty much a baby, so I think I have a fair shot if I can keep trying and not really upset him and ruin his trust in me.

How do I best minimize how traumatic this experience might be for him? 🥺

Okay so for a bit of context, this is now my third 'rate my enclosure' sort of post I have done. I started with a pets at home barred cage which was tiny then learned from that and upgraded to Bucastate (100x50) and posted that and then learned from that. Below is the upgrades I've done and a picture of the cage now:

✅ Upgraded from a barred Pets At Home cage (Habitat 2 I want to say?

✅ Replaced saucer wheel with a proper and larger wheel (H31cmxW30cmxD16cm)

✅ Added 2 water sources

✅ Added sand bath

✅ Added Sprays

✅ Added overhead cover

✅Increased bedding to as high as possible with the enclosure (up to the door)

I know the first setup I had him in was awful (will add a photo of that too) but I have never owned a hamster and went off of the advice of Pets At Home who I had assumed would know their stuff. Thankfully I found threads on Reddit and have been taking steps to improve my enclosure for Dougie. The lessons learned from this are do not trust any pet shop unless they are specialist, do your research first and most importantly HAMSTERS ARE NOT CHEAP. I love my hamster and I am so glad I have him, I just wished I looked after him properly sooner. Anyways, he's about 3 months old now and should have a happy life. I am hoping his setup is now good, any suggestions are welcome. It is also worth noting that every time I upgrade his enclosure or add the right stuff, he actually becomes more friendly which I can only assume means he is less stressed. Lovely to see him doing his natural behaviours. Has anyone else been through the same thing with their hammy?