Introducing baby

[BamaHam]

Hammy is now 15 months old and he is very tame. I have a 7 wk. old baby girl and he visits her room and climbs on the cage. Today he saw her moving around and he ran out of the room. Then he came back in the room and started to jump and pounce as if he wanted to play. I was in the room also proceeding to feed baby and he acted is if he didn't care. He wouldn't come near her as I fed her but would climb only up to my knees. When I finished feeding her he followed me to the kitchen and smelled my hands and my shirt and then proceeded to jump and pounce again. I want to introduce them so they can become friends and play together. Is this possible? I plan to winterize her and release in the spring. Hammy on the other hand is non-releasable. He's not afraid of anyone or anything that walks up to him. If they become friends can they share the big cage or do you think there would be a territory issue? I need input please! THANX!:dono :thinking

[mpetys]

Hammy is now 15 months old and he is very tame. I have a 7 wk. old baby girl and he visits her room and climbs on the cage. Today he saw her moving around and he ran out of the room. Then he came back in the room and started to jump and pounce as if he wanted to play. I was in the room also proceeding to feed baby and he acted is if he didn't care. He wouldn't come near her as I fed her but would climb only up to my knees. When I finished feeding her he followed me to the kitchen and smelled my hands and my shirt and then proceeded to jump and pounce again. I want to introduce them so they can become friends and play together. Is this possible? I plan to winterize her and release in the spring. Hammy on the other hand is non-releasable. He's not afraid of anyone or anything that walks up to him. If they become friends can they share the big cage or do you think there would be a territory issue? I need input please! THANX!:dono :thinking

That is such a big age difference. He might be very intimidating to her. My main concern is that from recent experience, I found that when I put a female NR in with one of my very sweet male NR, his personality changed drastically. He became a little monster. All he thought about was this FEMALE. It was sad because he was a happy little guy and then turned into an obsessed male. He would try to mount her but she was bigger than him and he never really got anywhere. It was almost as if he didn't know what he was doing but just that he had to try. The female spent a lot of time trying to avoid him or brush him off. The got along great and loved each other, grooming each other, sleeping together etc. But the male became very territorial over their cage and very aggressive. I got my worst bite ever from him and he had never bitten me before. It hurt me to seem my sweet, happy little boy drifting away. I finally separated them and it took about a month of separation for him to be back, 100%, to the sweet little boy he was before.

Maybe you could try letting them have out of cage, free time together if they get along but let them still have their separate spaces. Plus, I worry about Hammy. If he is okay with her in his cage and you have no problems, I wonder how her leaving would affect him. I hope others will chime in with some good advice for you. I consider myself very lucky that my little Davey did revert back to a sweet boy. Before, I could not put my hand in the cage to get his food bowl out without him trying to bite me. Now, I can not only get his bowl out, I can even pet him while he is eating a nut or a piece of avocado.

[BamaHam]

Thanks for your story. I do worry so if they get attached to each other that maybe she will stay with me. I also thought of separate living quarters. I guess time will tell how this will go. I do think he needs companionship so he will not be alone all day while we are not home. I see him in the cage peeking out wanting to come out and play and I know he wants someone to play with him.