what to do if your hamster is scared of you

Question
i just got my hamster yesterday and she was very excited. but now all she does is lay around in her cage. one time she came out and i walked over to her but she quickly ran back in to her cage. i do not know if she is scared of me or what.

Answer
Hi Valerie

What type of hamster is this?

The world is a very big place for these little creatures and sometimes they get scared, especially when their environment changes.

You need to win her confidence so that she gets to know you.  The best way of doing this is to keep talking to her -whenever you see her out and about, or if you go near the cage - this way she'll get used to your voice.  Whenever you see her, try and feed some treats through the bars so that she starts to associate you with nice things.  After a couple of days of this she should be getting a bit more confident.   Don't put your hand in the cage unannounced - if you can, separate the top of the cage from the bottom in order to pick her up.  Rub some of her bedding on your hands so that she will recognize her scent.  If she runs off, keep talking to her and gently scoop her up.  Some hamsters don't like walking on flesh, so let her walk over your clothing. Sitting on the floor with her is probably the best place, with her cage next to you, so if she gets really jumpy, you can get her back into the cage easily.  If you're worried about trying to handle her initially and you've got a platform in her cage with a doorway - you could try opening this and calling her and trying to get her to walk out onto you.  I find that in the early stages nervous hamsters want to be nosey and see what's going on, but they don't like the idea of walking onto a hand.  I often use a hamster exercise ball to tempt them out of their cage - they are happy to walk into one of these as after they've been in it once or twice they start to recognize their scent and it is familiar to them.  Having a run in a ball also gives them more confidence as they are surrounded by different sounds and smells - just make sure you tape up any joins in the ball and the doors on it as these have a habit of opening if the hamster bumps into furniture.  

I foster difficult hamsters who can't be handled/have never been handled.  I have one at the moment who was dumped in a waste bin.  He's been with me for the past 2 weeks - when he arrived I couldn't go near the cage as he kept crying and rolling onto his back.  I did all the above with him - He's still a little bit jumpy if I catch him off guard, but when I talk to him he comes over to me and lets me pick him up, and he's more than happy to take treats through the bars.  Once he's out of the cage and I've handled him for a minute or two, he's great.  It just takes time with some hamsters to snap them out of their behavior, especially if they have been traumatized by something.

I don't know if any of the above helps at all.  The main thing is not to give up with her - now is the time to tame her - the longer you leave it the harder it will be.  Please feel free to ask any more questions if you are worried about her.

Good luck with this.

Regards