How to Teach a Hamster to Play

You will have fun training a hamster to do tricks. Once you have a good bond with your hamster, you can easily teach it to do some commands like stand, jump and spin. Running is a hamster’s nature, so running is a great way to teach your hamster.

Table of Contents

Teach basic commands

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Hold the hamster in your hand to create a bond. The first step in teaching your hamster to play tricks is to build a bond with it. Spend some time playing with your hamster from the start so it gets used to your smell and voice. Take the hamster out of the cage, have it crawl up and down along the arm, and talk to it in a gentle voice. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Use one or two fingers to gently stroke the hamster’s back, cuddling and talking to it.
If your hamster bites you or doesn’t seem to like being held, put it in its cage and spend more time with it. While talking to the hamster, put the hamster’s favorite food in the cage to reward it. After a few days like this, try petting the hamster again. It may take some time for your hamster to get used to you.

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Find out what your hamster likes. Most hamsters are very excited about food. Sunflower seeds are usually a hamster’s favorite, but they can make them fat, so you should only use them sparingly. You should experiment with different treats to find your hamster’s favorite treats while building a bond with it. ^{[2] X Research Source}

If your hamster likes something, it will eat it quickly and wait for more. If the hamster doesn’t like the food, the hamster will often leave it unfinished.
Some hamsters like cereals like Cheerios, others like chopped vegetables like pieces of raw carrots. You can try these to find your hamster’s favorite.

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Hold the treat over the hamster’s head to teach the “stand” command. “Stand” is one of the easiest commands to start teaching your hamster to do tricks. Hold the treat above the hamster’s head out of its reach and say “stand”. Your hamster will stand up on its hind legs to reach for the treat. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

When teaching your hamster to do tricks, you should teach it slowly so that your hamster learns step by step. Start by getting the hamster to stand on its hind legs. Once your hamster is used to standing, teach another trick. Praise your hamster a lot when it succeeds!

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Reward the hamster as soon as it stands up and compliment it by gently saying “good!” If the hamster doesn’t stand up, don’t reward it until it does. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

If your hamster doesn’t seem to want to get up while you wait and repeat the “stand” command, it’s probably not hungry. Put the reward away and try again another time.
If you’ve tried several times a day and your hamster is still unresponsive, try another treat as a reward.

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Teach each command one by one and repeat every day 2-3 times for 1-2 weeks. It usually takes 1-2 weeks in a row for a hamster to learn a trick. Continue to teach your hamster to “stand” every day, 2-3 times a day until it seems like it is really mature. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Test how good your hamster is at this trick by just placing your finger above its head without holding the treat and saying the command “stand”. If the hamster stands up, it already knows the trick. Reward the hamster for following orders.

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Raise the reward a little higher and raise it to teach the “jumping” game. Once your hamster has mastered the “stand” game, you can start teaching it to jump. To teach this trick, hold the treat slightly higher until the hamster stands up. Move the reward forward with quick movements, while saying “jump”. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

If your hamster tries to jump to the reward, reward it right away and say “good!”
If the hamster doesn’t jump, return to the “standing” game by bringing the treat closer, saying the “stand” command, and rewarding it. You can then try the “jumping” game again. If the hamster still doesn’t jump this time, put the treat away to try again later.

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Use hoops and rewards to teach “jump through the hoop”. In fact, some school hamsters jump through hoops faster than normal jumps, because they can see the object to be overcome. Look for a thin plastic bracelet, a plastic, metal bracelet, or a spring-loaded bracelet. Hold the ring in front of the hamster and hold the treat up on the other side of the ring. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Say the command “jump over the hoop” or simply “jump” while holding the hoop and the reward. If the hamster jumps over the hoop, reward it immediately and say “good!”
At first you need to be careful, do not hold the bracelet too high. Hold the hoop low in front of the hamster, and if it seems easy, you can lift it a little higher.
Be sure to use a ring wide enough for the hamster to get through.
If your hamster doesn’t jump through the hoop at first, return to the “stand” game and reward it when it does.

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Hold the treat over the hamster’s head and spin it around to teach “spinning”. Another slightly more difficult game that you can try to teach your hamster is “spinning”. Hold the treat above the hamster’s head. The hamster will probably stand up at first, but then take the treat away and move in a circle, saying the command “spin around.”

If the hamster turns around, you need to immediately reward it and say “good!”
If the hamster doesn’t spin, collect the treat for a few seconds, then command it to do a “stand” and reward it. If your hamster still doesn’t spin, you should put the treat away and try again later. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

Arrange a running track with obstacles

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Create obstacles with building blocks or food jars. You can create obstacles for the hamster to jump over with Lego blocks or wooden blocks. You can also use cylindrical food containers like sauces to let your hamster crawl through. Start placing some obstacles on the floor where you plan to set up the obstacle course. ^{[9] X Research Source}

Remember not to create obstacles that are too high; otherwise, your hamster will run around instead of jumping over. If you find it difficult for your hamster to get through blocks, try lowering it. If using food jars, you can try narrower jars at first, such as olives.

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Make additional tunnels with toilet paper rolls or other cylindrical objects. Hamsters love to run through pipes. You can use rolls of toilet paper or tissue, hamster pipes sold in stores, or bent plastic pipes. Place pipes between blocks in the obstacle course area. ^{[10] X Research Source}

Hamsters will often cower to squeeze through pipes that seem too narrow for their bodies, but they like it that way. Pipes the size of a toilet roll core are ideal.

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Make a seesaw using a plank and a triangular log. Your hamster will also enjoy running up and down the seesaw. You can make a seesaw with a thin board about 15-20 cm long and as wide as the hamster’s body. Place the board on top of the triangle so that the low end of the seesaw is on the side the hamster will step on in the obstacle course. ^{[11] X Research Source}

Use a triangle block that is the same width or wider than the plank for best results. If the block is too narrow, the board can slide down the sides.

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Place the obstacles in a certain order and stay that way. When you have collected enough obstacles, put them in the order that you think the hamster likes to run. Keep the order of the obstacles in place for a while until the hamster gets used to the track and can do it on its own. ^{[12] X Research Source}

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Build a wall around the track so that the hamsters run in order. Use cardboard or building blocks to build a wall about 15 cm high around the obstacles. Place the blocks close enough that your hamster won’t try to run around the obstacle instead of completing the run. ^{[13] X Research Source}

Large blocks can form quite solid walls. Large Lego blocks are ideal. If you’re using cardboard, you can either bend it so that the piece of cardboard can stand upright, or stick slanted pieces of cardboard on the outside as a stand.

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Move the reward in front of the hamster when it completes the run. Once the walls and obstacles are in place, place the hamster at the starting point of the run. Take out the treat and hold it in front of the hamster until it passes the first obstacle. Continue to hold the treat directly in front of the hamster and move forward as the hamster completes the run. ^{[14] X Research Source}

Each time the hamster comes to the tunnel door, hold the treat at the other end of the tube so that the hamster has to run through the tube to get the reward.
If your hamster starts to get confused and won’t pass an object, keep moving the treat in front of it in the forward direction until the hamster clears the obstacle.
If the hamster gives up before it has cleared all the obstacles, put it back to the starting line to see if it can get past the objects it knows. If so, reward the hamster, then return it to the cage and next time try to get the hamster to complete the run.

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Place a reward at the end of the run when the hamster successfully completes it. When your hamster is able to complete the entire track on its own after the reward, try placing the reward at the end of the run. Don’t hold the treat, just use your finger to guide the hamster through each obstacle if it needs guidance. ^{[15] X Research Source}

Sometimes a hamster knows how to complete a run very quickly without you using your finger to guide it, because it remembers that there is a reward at the end. If your hamster can do this, have it do it several times before changing the order of the obstacles.

Warning

Avoid teaching your hamster tricks if it doesn’t like being held or bitten. You need to build a good bond with your hamster with other training methods before you move on to teaching it tricks.

Steps

Teach basic commands

Arrange a running track with obstacles

Warning

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