aggressive hamsters??

lorietta

They are not psychotic, this is a natural reaction. Hamsters are naturally wary of being picked up as it mimics the action of a predatory bird in some ways and they may not be used to human scents. They will bite out of fear, or from a desire to discover what you are. When I had them as a child, I spent ages persauding them I was not dangerous by first feeding them treets in their cage, and then encouraging them to walk onto my hand by having a treat in the middle of it.

Sadly, I think you have to do this from a young age in order to tame them. Did they come from a pet shop? I found they made better pets if they came from private homes where they were regularly handled in early life, as these were willing to approach you in their cages, and rarely bit even when young.

zaksmum

lorietta wrote: »

They are not psychotic, this is a natural reaction. Hamsters are naturally wary of being picked up as it mimics the action of a predatory bird in some ways and they may not be used to human scents. They will bite out of fear, or from a desire to discover what you are. When I had them as a child, I spent ages persauding them I was not dangerous by first feeding them treets in their cage, and then encouraging them to walk onto my hand by having a treat in the middle of it.

Sadly, I think you have to do this from a young age in order to tame them. Did they come from a pet shop? I found they made better pets if they came from private homes where they were regularly handled in early life, as these were willing to approach you in their cages, and rarely bit even when young.

Yes they did come from a pet shop. I did spend ages feeding them treats and generally being nice to them but they still seized every opportunity to sink their fangs into my fingers...!:eek:

Nimeth

zaksmum wrote: »

Yes they did come from a pet shop. I did spend ages feeding them treats and generally being nice to them but they still seized every opportunity to sink their fangs into my fingers...!:eek:

It can take weeks, even months to tame them to your hand. Requires a lot of patience and time. My advice is if you have them again and need to clean them out, if they have exercise balls, stick these in their cages and let them go in on their own, then take the ball out, close it and let them run about. That way you will not have to handle them and you won't get bitten. :cool: The gardening gloves are a good idea just in case.

zaksmum

Thanks Nimeth. I'll remember that next time I have them.