Introduction
Hamsters are very easy pets to care for. When you first buy your hamster, it may be difficult to handle. The following taming process is the one I have used and it always works.
Taming
In the pet shop, ask if you can handle the hamsters to see which will be easiest to tame. If the owners don't allow you to handle them, do not buy a hamster from that pet shop. When you first get home with your new hamster, set up the cage with a good covering of wood shavings or sawdust. Place a plastic house in one corner for your hamster to sleep in and put ripped toilet roll inside. Give your hamster a wheel to play on and some toilet roll tubes for it to play in. Make sure that your hamster always has water. The best method is to use a water bottle which can be clipped to the side of the cage. Also provide your hamster with food. Do not over-feed though. Although hamsters are fastidious, 5-7 grams of food per day is plenty. Try to buy the largest cage you can afford as hamsters can become bored easily.
The new hamster is likely to come in a small cardboard box. Open one side of the box and place it in the cage. Allow the hamster to make its own way out of the box. Once it is out, close the cage door and leave the hamster alone for at least 24 hours to get used to its new home.
I recommend that you handle your hamster in the evening. As hamsters are nocturnal, this is when they are most active. If you wake a hamster up during the day, it may get angry and bite. Before handling your new hamster, wash your hands well. Hamsters have very poor eye-sight so if you have just eaten, it may smell the food on your hands and take a nibble. After washing your hands, rub them in the hamsters sawdust so that you smell like its surroundings. Put one hand inside the cage and ball it up into a fist. This makes your hand look smaller and less threatening to the hamster. The hamster may be brave enough to have a sniff at you. Leave your hand in the cage for about 10 minutes. At this stage, do not pick it up.
Continue to place your fist in the cage for a few days. If the hamster feels brave enough to wander onto your hand, you may continue to handle it. If not, however, cup two hands beneath the hamster and gently lift it. Place one hand in front of the other and let the hamster walk onto it. Do this a few times and put it back in the cage. If at any stage the hamster puts its teeth gently around a finger, put it back down immediately. This is a warning that it does not like what you are doing to it. Put the top of the cage back on and try again 10 minutes later. If the hamster gives a full-on bite, leave it a while longer.
You should try to handle your hamster every day for at least 10 minutes. It is amazing what one week of handling can do! I have achieved full tameness in the space of three days in the past. The hamster that I am talking about had had no contact with humans. Within two days, it was happy enough to sniff me. On the third day, he was placing his paws on me and on the fourth day, he freely walked onto my hands repeatedly.
Cleaning
You should clean your hamsters cage out about once every week putting new shavings and new ripped toilet roll in the house, but you can leave it for a few extra days if you wish.
Feeding
Try to buy the same type of food each time you get some as an altered diet can put them off food. Hamsters are very much like Rats when it comes to food. They can eat just about anything as long as it does not contain citrus fruits or copious ammounts of salt, sugar or fat. It is generally suggested that you give your hamster some greens every day along with the dry food. This can be in the form of lettuce, cabbage, banana, apple, potato, peas and beans etc. Any fresh fruit and vegetables are fine as long as they aren't too sour or citrus such as lemons, oranges and grapefruits. Cucumbers are a favourite with my hamsters.
Hamsters are omnivores so they can eat most things although there are some hamsters which prefer a vegetarian diet. When feeding meats, cheeses or biscuits, only give a small ammount as too much may have a bad effect on the hamsters tummy. Among other foods, I have given my hamsters chicken, turkey, pork (not bacon or sausage), lamb and beef. All must be cooked. They have also eaten cockles(not out of vinegar,) crab sticks, digestive biscuits, custard cream biscuits(with cream removed,) small ammounts of cheese, sultanas and raisins(in small quantities,) dried apricots and bread.
Hamsters are lovers of milk and like runny porridge, bread soaked in it or rice krispies soaked in it. Some may also like milk on its own and I regularly use it to teach young hamsters how to use water bottles.
Although hamsters can eat chocolate, I do not recommend feeding it to them. Hamsters tend to put food in their pouches and chocolate could melt in the pouches, making it difficult for the hamster to get it out again. The only kind of chocolate that may be suitable for hamsters is those small chocolate drops that come in the small re packets. These have a higher melting point than normal chocolate and so would not clog pouches. The pouches are also very delicate and so, I do not recommend feeding corn flakes or bran flakes as they can puncture the pouches.
