How-To: Come with Kai

Want to teach your pet hamster to come when you call him like Kai does below?



First, gather your supplies. You will need a playpen, click pen, and your hamster's favorite treats.

*Important Notes*: Your hamster should be somewhat comfortable with you before you begin to train him to come. If he is not comfortable with you, you could possibly end up scaring him, which could harm your relationship.
Also, you don't want to lose your hamster while you are training him so make sure you keep him safe! His cage/bin, a playpen, or hamster proofed room are all safe places to practice.

Here are the steps to teaching your hamster to Come!

Step 1: Set up your hamster safe place without any toys. The smaller the space the better at the beginning. I started in a pen.
Step 2: Place your hamster in the hamster safe place.
Step 3: Have a treat in your hand ready to go.
Step 4: Call your hamster to come, followed by kissing noises until he reaches you. Don't give up if he doesn't come right away, your hamster doesn't have great eye sight and he will need to hear you in order to find you. Keep making nonthreatening noises until he finds you.
Step 5: Once your hamster reaches you, click your click pen and give him a treat.
Step 6: Remove your hand from the pen, let your hamster move away from you and try again.
Step 7: Keep practicing until your hamster can come when there are toys inside his hamster safe place. Then practice in a larger area.

How-To: Training Hamsters 101

Training your hamster should be relatively easy once you know the basics. He will respond best to positive reward based training. What does that mean? When he does something you like, give him a treat. Don't harm him. Hamsters often scare easily and harming him in any way will hurt your relationship with your new friend.

Herbert eating a carrot

First thing you will need to do is find out what kind of treats your hamster likes best. These will be the treats you use to reward him for doing the behaviors you want and like. It will also sometimes be the treats you use to get him to do the behaviors you want. Each hamster is different so take the time to try different foods and find out exactly what are your hamster's favorites. Also, keep in mind that your new friend is very small. You will need to make your treats small too. You might need to break up your raisin or peanut into 8-10 pieces so you can get the most out of your training treat.

Herbert getting ready to train

Next you will need a clicker. A clicker marks the good behavior and is always followed by a treat. Often it helps training progress faster. Use something that is soft sounding, not loud. A loud noise might scare your hamster. I am currently using a click pen as a clicker. Every time I click the pen Herbert gets a treat. He loves it!

Lastly you will need a place to train your hamster. You can train him in his cage or in a training arena or playpen. I would start in his cage and once he is comfortable with playing in his playpen start training there as well. Once he knows how to do his tricks in those two places start to practice in even more places!

So there you have it. The basics for training. Now you can get started.

How-To: Making a Training Arena

Herbert on his Flying Saucer

When training with a hamster it is important to have a place to train them outside of their cage. I'd like to call this a training arena, but most people will call it a playpen so I'll stick with that. I currently have two places to train with Herbert, a bin and a homemade playpen. You can use also use a store bought playpen or your bathtub. Here are some pros and cons of each.

A new store bought playpen will cost you somewhere around $15 though you might be able to find a cheaper used one at a garage sale, in the local classifieds, or on a website. I originally searched  for one of these, but they are hard to come by in my area and I don't want to buy a new one. I searched Craigslist which is great because you can search your local area and Ebay which is great because if you can't find it local many people will ship it to you. Store bought playpens are nice because they are chew proof. However, there's no bottom so you will probably want a cloth or tarp to go underneath in case your hamster has an accident. Also, I've heard that some hamsters learn how to climb over the walls.

A bin is an alternative playpen that's relatively cheap, about $10. You can pick one up at Target or Walmart or anywhere that sells storage bins. I'd go for something 60qt or larger. What I like about bins is that you can use them to store you hamster toys in once you are done playing. A playpen and storage unit in one! Also, you don't need a tarp because everything is enclosed and you can add bedding so your hamster can burrow while he plays. Downside, if you have a really strong chewer or you put something tall near the edges you can end up with a hamster escapee.

Herbert playing in his new playpen

A homemade playpen is basically free. I love that with homemade playpens you can make them as big and tall as you want. I made my playpen 1ft tall. Most homemade playpens are made from cardboard so you will need to be diligent about watching your hamster as it is possible that they can chew through or possibly squeeze under walls if place on certain surfaces. Also, you will probably want a cloth or tarp underneath in case your hamster has an accident just like a store bought playpen. However, if you want to sit inside the playpen to tame your hamster, not a problem, just add more walls of cardboard!

Here's a video on how to make a homemade playpen.


Video by ChocolateColors26.

Your bathtub can also be used as a great playpen and it's also free. When using your bathtub make sure it is hamster safe. Is it clean? Did you plug the drain? Are all chemicals and products safely out of your hamster's reach? You can also use a cloth to help your hamster get traction as he climbs around and a pillow if you are planning to practice taming so he has something soft to land on in case he falls or jumps from your hands.

Well, that's it for training arena ideas. Hope you can use, make, or find some of these in your area and give your hamster play time and training time outside of his cage.