Hi all. Not usually a poster in pets forums but I'm hoping for good advice!

Basically we got a new hamster today. The one we had was a few years old and we were petsitting for my parents while they went on holiday. The kids loved it so much - it was really good with people, and my parents decided to let them keep it
Was a lovely thing but apparently they only live a few years?
So it was happy in its new home and was here for a few months. But it died yesterday

The kids were really gutted when we told them today. Plus it was my stepdaughters birthday too which saddened her a bit.

So her uncle bought her a new hamster as a suprise gift to try to soften the blow a bit.

BUT! I've no idea how to settle it in. Obviously we've got all the things we need but this is quite a young hamster and took a few chunks at my brothers hand when he tried to put it in the cage from the box the pet shop put it in.
I know it was obviously frightened and it was hissing and growling at us anytime we went anywhere near it lol.


Will it be ok in a few days? Should I just keep it in its cage in a quiet room until it gets used to its new environment?

ANY advice at all would be really appreciated. I don't want it to be a miserable little thing

It's been a few years since I kept hamsters. But here's my advise:

Keep him / her in a quite room during the day while it's asleep.

Don't wake it during the day.

At night once it wakes either move the cage to a family room or go into the room where it's cage is.

Feed it through the bars (mind your fingers) and make sure it has food and water at times,

It will take a week or two before you can handle it.

Finally all my hamsters lived about three years maximum, so just bear it in mind.

Thanks for that. I'll probably put her in our bedroom (the quietest room) through the day and take your advice of moving at night when she's awake.

I put food in earlier through the cage because I didn't want to frighten the wee thing by putting my big hand in the cage. I let her sniff my sleeve for a bit through the bars and although she took a few bites at my brother and OH she just sniffed and then carried on noseying around.
Not sure if it's because I'd dealt with the cage etc already so it was almost a familiar smell.

Thanks for your advice though.
Seems such a trivial thing, but I really want to settle the little thing

Sounds a strange thing to do but sit in an empty bath and let the hamster climb over you to get used to you and your scent. You may feel more comfortable wearing gloves the first couple of times.

Feed him little treats from your hand and most of all,talk to him lots so he gets to know your voices.

To the op who advised leaving the hamster for a week or 2 before handling,I have to disagree with. Leave the hamster to settle for 2/3 days max,any longer and it'll be harder to tame him.

I did not advise to leave for a week or two, I said it may take a week or two.

I'd put it in a fairly busy room after it's settled in so you don't forget about it. We have our hamster in the kitchen. When he hears us he comes out no matter what time of day it is because he knows there's a good chance we'll give him something.

A bit of cereal, cheese, toast, peanuts, biscuits etc. Whatever we are having at the time.

At the moment he's stripping the bark off a bit of our apple tree I put in his cage.

Thanks for the advice folks! It's really appreciated. I put it in our quietest room (dining room) at the mo, it's a nice big room and quiet.

I went to check on her a while ago as I could hear her running in the wheel thats on the cage. She had a little sniff and I talked away a lot of rubbish, which I tend to do all day anyway
But when I stood up to leave the room the little thing jumped out of its skin!
So I'll leave it in there for a few more days. I do all my ironing etc in there anyway so hopefully it will get more used to me and calm down a little when I'm around.

My advice would be to place the hamster in the room where it's going to live e.g. the living room and leave it completely alone for 2 days. Then, after 2 days you can start to interact with it and begin to tame it. The first step is to, while it is eating, place your hand inside the cage but away from it so it does not feel threatened. When it is used to your hand, place the food on your hand for it to eat off. When it is happy with that, you can begin to pick it up in its cage by 'cupping' it with your hands and lifting it up for a few minutes at a time. Then, when it's happy with that, you can take it out of its cage and play with it properly. Hopefully, it should then be fully tamed and not bite you! I've had four hamsters and found this a fairly fool-proof method to not being bitten and to get them to trust you! Hope this helps

very nice thank you

We've had it 2 days now and it's been in the living room with me all day. Telly been on and off, kids been in and out and the general chaos of the house has been normal. I've noted it's not jumping out its skin so much with the noise. And I've been (when it's awake) sitting down on the floor beside its cage and just placing my hand next to the cage.

It has a little sniff then goes off to do whatever it's doing - so hopefully we can slowly get it more used to us

Hi,,, erm that hamster we got last month just died right in front of me!

Surely that's not right!? The shop told my brother at the time it was a young hamster. It was very well looked after and had lots of exercise, fresh water and food when needed etc.

I don't understand
Kids will be gutted