general questions

Question
I bought a panda bear hamster for my best friend about a month and a half to two months ago. She couldn't take care of it this semester so I am taking it under my wing. It has always been very jumpy and doesn't like to be held (but it doesn't bite). Is it too late to get it to adapt to me to be okay to be held? Another question is, sometimes its testicles get abnormally large, to the point of the hamster sitting on them! It doesn't look normal, do hamsters go through a phase of somethign similar to teenage puberty? I hope that's not a dumb question. And third, how often do you change its bedding? Thaaankk you!!

Answer
hi donna,

first off we'll start with the taming process.

its never to late to tame a hamster and im assuming it hasn't been tamed as yet. so lets begin :)

1. hamsters are naturally timid and its all about getting it to realize you mean it no harm.
2. this process may take a while so you have to be patient and don't give up!
3. first way to start this is to feed it treats through the bars with your hands.
4. once he does this without hassle, rest your hand, palm up in the cage with a treat in the middle, his curiosity and need for the food will overwhelm him and he'll soon climb on no problem.
5. now for the hard part, you'll notice that once he's on your hand, any movement or trying to hold him propperly will have him running. so you'll need a box, big enough that he can't climb out. get him in the box via his excersize ball (if you don't have one, get one cheap from your pet store, serious value for money) fill the bottom of the box with a thick layer of sawdust, he is going to jump when you try to grab him. anyway, start trying to cup him for underneath with your hands. if he jumps, no worries, just rinse and repeat this process until you can hold him without him trying to jump away. hamsters will always try to escape your grasp, but it shouldn't come across as panicky once tamed.

* reminder - this could take up to a few weeks for him to be fully tamed.

2. yes hamsters do go through a peak reproductive period, and his testicles are simply 'dropping' and refilling with his reproductive fluids hehe. so totally normal.

3. change his bedding once a week.

anyway, thanks for your questions and they are not stupid at all, very common actually :)

best of luck and let me know how you get on.

Joanne xxx