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Old 02-03-2017, 12:29 PM  
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: Not sure if i'm a good hamster dad

Hello - the others have said it all really She is scared and probably isn't used to being handled (or has been handled roughly in the past). Taming does need to be done gradually. Our hammy used to run at your hand if you put it in the cage. We never were able to get him to take a treat from the palm of the hand. We went straight to bathtub taming which worked for us.

You tempt the hammy into a tube with a hamster ball at the far end of it - a piece of cheese at the end of the tube near the ball (or put a hamster ball in the tank and see if they hop in). We'd then gently carry our hammy to the bathtub (dry of course and with the plug in) and have a couple of toys/hidey places in there - a cardboard kitchen roll tube and a mug on its side eg. And take the lid off the ball but leave the ball in there. It's a safe place for them to run around without escaping. Ours tended to just repetitively try and run up the side of the bath and then slither down again! From there you can start getting her used to touch and your scent. We used to try to stroke our hammies back with one finger but he would jerk his head round threatening to bite which made us pull back. You can use an old toothbrush instead of your finger - just in case she tries to bite. Gradually ours stopped jerking his head round so much when the finger stroked his back. The turning point was when he started to turn his head and then had this look of "oh I can't be bothered it's you again" and carried on slithering up and down the bath. From there we were able to cup a hand under his tummy, lift him a cm and then let him walk off without trying to hold on to him and the following night we could pick him up and he was tame as anything ever since.

So that might be the way to go. We did it a couple of nights a week. Also there's the tissue trick (you put some sheets of toilet paper up your sleeve for a couple of hours then tear each sheet into strips and put a big pile of the torn up strips of toilet paper somewhere in the tank. You should see the pile go down very gradually (can take a while). Your hammy will pouch some and take it back to refurbish the nest and will get used to your scent that way.

Other than that the only thing I can think that could be making her aggressive (usually fear and being territorial about the tank) is if you have cleaned her out too soon. ie stolen her hoard and wrecked her nest lol!

Usually it's recommended to leave them alone completely for the first 2 or 3 days while they're settling in and adjusting, and then not to do a clean for the first two weeks. If things get particularly whiffy after a week you can spot clean an area she has chosen to pee in - eg take a handful of substrate out and replace it with another handful of clean and mix it in.

They scent mark in the early days, to find their way around so moving things around or cleaning things means they feel a bit lost and anxious.

It's great that you got her a nice tank and it looks good. My only observation might be that there is a fair bit of open space and she might feel a bit exposed, which could also make her stressy.

They sometimes like shredding cardboard (also for nesting material) so if you have a tissue box or two or similar (no staples obviously), cut a hole in for a door or a side out of the box and plonk them in the middle - it's a hiding place between one end and the other. A platform of some kind could help too. They really like having a shelf to sit on and under. The feel safe under it but for some reason like sitting on top too!

So I'd suggest more hidey places.
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