Or don't get up in the morning

I actually got up at 5.15 this morning to have more time for Vingdragån. Guess who was fast asleep! He didn't start moving about in his house until 6am and then I had to get ready to leave, so didn't see him this morning. Oh well. Will try again tomorrow...

Another solution: getting up in the morning

I normally get up for work at 5.30am on weekdays. I know it's insane. But Vingdragån is awake and kicking at that time of morning, which is great! I had him out of his cage yesterday morning, and this morning he was practically jumping up & down waiting to get out. He still didn't want me to lift him out of the cage, but he was more than ready to climb out on his own. Maybe I should start getting up 15 minutes earlier, so I really have time for him in the morning.... I'll have a think about that! ;-)

On the sofa this morning (kinda hard to handle the phone with one hand and hamster with the other at, did I mention that, 5.30 in the morning!):

He was so easy to deal with this morning, which is strange since he was a total scardycat last night and ran away when I approached his cage. Guess he's just more sociable at 5.30am than 8pm.

And broccoli. The solution is also broccoli.

This evening he climbed onto his roof after hearing rumors of broccoli. He got some broccoli and allowed me to catch him without too many protests for a little taming session in the hamster-proof bathroom.

Carrots. The solution is carrots.

Yesterday I filmed Vingdragån taking a piece of carrot from my fingers. Just now he got up in the middle of the day - I heard he was having a snack and offered him more carrot, he came up to get it. In the middle of the day. :-) Next step - making him climb into my hand to fetch it.

Vingdragån day 8

Today he picked up a piece of carrot from my fingers. He won't climb into my hand, but he let me watch him do the morning grooming on the roof of his house. He then went into the egg carton and got a short run in the bathroom, but I took him back to his cage when he climbed into the travel cage by himself. The idea is egg carton = I want to run in the bathroom, climbing back into travel cage = I want to go home. We'll see if he agrees ;-)

The photographic evidence:

Vingdragån day 4

So I used the egg carton trick again last night. Easy peasy. However, he seemed a little more skittish and was very unhappy about being picked up. Once in my hands, all was fine, but the process of being grabbed = very much not his favourite thing!

A few pictures from last night:

This morning he took food from my hand for the first time, but got scared when he realised it was my hand! :-)

Vingdragån's 3rd day

Vingdragån is our 6th hamster and yet… Every Single Time I forget how frustrating it is with a new hamster! He isn't too skittish, but insists on not going anywhere near my hand. Have tried enticing him with broccoli (no thanks), cucumber (nope), dried banana (bwahahaha, no), cereal flakes (u kidding bro?), and right now asparagus. No luck.

This is the most I've seen of him today and he never did grab that piece of cereal:

Update: I got tired of waiting and therefore tricked him a little bit...

Step 1: find egg carton, cut holes, place asparagus on top.

Here he is eating asparagus!

Step 2: being a hamster, he found the egg carton super exciting and climbed in.

Gotcha!

Step 3: grab egg carton containing hamster and place in travel cage. Move person and hamster to hamster-escape-proof bathroom.

Commence handling experience.

He's adorable. I kind of doubt he'll climb into the egg carton again now though...

Vingdragån in the house!

I picked up Min dyreverdens Merkur in Oslo today, and promptly renamed him Vingdragån!

He seems so calm! Not a worry in the world. I'm sure we'll become friends quickly! He'll have a day or two to get used to his new surroundings first, though.

New hamster soon

So one of these little beautiful ones will be moving in this Thursday! A black longhaired male.

I'm getting him from Min dyreverdens hamsteroppdrett (www.mindyreverden.com), where I also stole this picture.

So excited!