Hamsters (merged)

Raksha

Try stroking him gently with a paint brush instead of your fingers.......

System

it will settle if you handle it daily ours has , just a quick note my DD was bitten by the school hamster and ended up in a & e cos it got infected according to the nurse rodent bites can turn nasty.

kindofagilr

YAY I had a very succesful 15 play with him tonight and he didnt bite me once!

I made sure I scrubbed my hands first, then I put my dressing gown on and picked him up and he was curling into my sleeve lol and then he was walking all over my hands and being really happy

So thank you for your sugesstions, I am so happy I got to play with him

Then he had a good 10 min run around in his ball while I cleaned his cage out

dontone

What I did to tame mine was the following -

I opened the cage door, and put my hand slowly in the cage, flat & palm up. I let her sniff my hand and then took my hand out slowly, closed the cage door.
I repeated the process every day, each time leaving my hand in a little longer so to let my hammy get used to my scent/presence. Then after she got used to me she started to walk over my hand to the other side of the cage. It took around 2 weeks but by the end my hamster would quite happily sit on my palm and eventually she would come up to the cage door and jump into my hand for a cuddle or to go in her ball.
The trick is to move slowly because hamsters can be quite timid and as their eyesight isn't the best, they can be a little jumpy and get scared easily, hence the painful nip.

HTH

kindofagilr

Thanks for that, I will try that as well

He looked quite miffed when I put her back in her cage lol like he wanted to stay out playing lol

But he had been in my hands and in the ball for like 30 mins altogether so I didnt want to tire him out?

roxalana

My hamster still does her 'I'm a prisoner' impression after 2 hours of being outside the cage (and it isn't a small cage either). If she wants to come out (and she knows you are there) she stands on her hind legs with her front paws on the door. We are thinking of getting her a little metal mug she can clank against the bars...

If she gets tired she generally just falls asleep wherever she is. I pop her back in to the cage every so often though whilst she is awake to check she isn't thirsty.

thesim

Also make sure your hamster isnt in any pain as they can bite if so. And my hamster was really well behaved, but he would attempt if he wanted to run around and I was restraining him.

Also, hamsters have poor eyesight so dont dangle your finger in from of them as tame ones will attempt a nibble to see if you are edible and non tame hamsters will just bite.

marshallka

thesim wrote: »

Also make sure your hamster isnt in any pain as they can bite if so. And my hamster was really well behaved, but he would attempt if he wanted to run around and I was restraining him.

Also, hamsters have poor eyesight so dont dangle your finger in from of them as tame ones will attempt a nibble to see if you are edible and non tame hamsters will just bite.

Yeah, you should not put your hand down to pick them up from the top cage door as they think its a bird swooping. Scooping is the best but ours is not scoopable. :eek:

I got bit last night by someone elses hammy. We had another one cause ours died last month and we have not had him long but he is just too skittish to pick up and we HAVE tried. We even took him back to pets at home for a week for them to tame him. Anyway we were going to take him back for good cause he is just one very fightened hammy and our dogs seem to make him crawl when they bark. Last night we went over to look at one that someone was getting rid of cause she said that she did not have time to look after him. We went over and it was the fattest hammy you have ever seen in a cage that I would call a transporter and also the wheel was not attached as she said it kept her awake. I asked if he bit and she said not but he had a damn good piece of my finger:eek:.

I came home and could not believe what ours had got compared to that one. The thing that bothered me was the fact her OH said he had snakes. I then wondered if the hammy was actually being fattened up for the snake. It does happen and I could not believe that anyone could keep a hammy like they did. We have now decided to keep our little man (although he is not pick upable) as if we give him away he could end up as snake bait. I could not live with myself. I was only getting rid for his sake as he was very frightened but he does eat, drink, play by himself and is very clean and has a lovely big cage. We will just have to live in hope that he tames in time.

roxalana

poor fat hammy - hope he gets a good home!

kindofagilr

Wispa is an absoulte legend now

I have petted him for the last 3 days now for a good half hour holding him in my hands and he hasnt bit me once

He takes food out of my fingers and is just generally cute lol

Its lovely when I am holding a piece of food for him cos he stands on his back legs and puts his paw on my finger then gets the food with his mouth!! totally lush