Cage aggression just started

[BrainGirl]

Roxanne used to be such a friendly little girl, she would leap into my hands as soon as she saw them and would sit there happily eating a treat or being petted. Now though she's frantic to get her teeth into me! She's just frantic in general:( Roxy will run when she sees me coming and literally fling herself through the air to try to get her teeth on me! It's quite scary. I've tried giving her hard-shelled nuts and that's equally scary. It's like she's starving to death (she's not) and struggling to get enough food. That kind of frantic.

I'm beginning to think that Veronica, the other dwarfie I brought in is actually a boy. Could it be that Roxanne is responding to his scent in the room? I didn't feel the need to be absolutely sure that the sexing was correct because I have no breeding plans and they'll never be together. I'm not sure that finding out that Veronica is actually a boy would do any good anyway although I intend to move Roxy into the 90 gallon tank in the living room, as far from Veronica as possible. That may help but if this is the case, why isn't Veronica acting any different?

[Colby and the Dwarfs]

Hmm. A good half of my dwarfs will attack you if you put your hand in their cage, it's just cause they're scared or defensive. But once you get them out they're fine.

Even if no male is in the room they do it. Wait, I just realised none of my males do it.... Wow, I never thought of that before....

[DrKMcK]

I honestly don't know if it is a male/female thing for your little hams, but I really think it's just a dwarf hammy characteristic. Both of my boys are cage aggressive; Almond, more so than Toffee. In fact, Toffee has been letting me pick him up without gloves!!! I wouldn't dare try that with Almond :-D.

[Esmy]

Penny (Syrian) latched onto my finger last night when trying to pick her up. :/ She did NOT want to get out of the playpen! Luckily she didn't draw blood. I'd be scared though if a hamster was lunging to bite me though.

[Hekomi]

I must be the only one with two non-cage aggressive dwarfs. Both will run onto my hand and play with me in the cage.

Can you get pictures of the new ham from underneath? It could be the new smells, but for now try using some thick gloves when handling her.

[ChocolateCream81]

One of my dwarfies are cage aggresive, the other two are fine! I think you should look into Veronica, maybe if possible, take her (or him, who knows :)) out of the room for a while to see if you notice a difference in roxy's behaviour?

[Hekomi]

It must depend on the hamster, lol, my boys have never bit me. We shall see how the new one is tonight.

But yeah definitely look into Veronica. Have you changed anything else about her cage? Is her cage maybe too small?

[HammieandMerlin]

Our little girl developed cage aggression out of the blue. One day she just started lunging at us if we put our hand in the tank. For her, it was the beginning of a huge neurological issue, so I don't know what's got into your girl - I hope it's something simple. We moved Aisling into an exo terra tank with front doors, so she could scamper into our hands on her own, and that helped a lot

[BrainGirl]

I must be the only one with two non-cage aggressive dwarfs. Both will run onto my hand and play with me in the cage.

Can you get pictures of the new ham from underneath? It could be the new smells, but for now try using some thick gloves when handling her.

I have some spectacularly thick gloves that I have been using but I'm developing a bit of a fear of her. The behaviour is beyond just biting, it's like she's on drugs! Ever see that movie "There's Something About Mary" and the scene with the speed that gets thrown through the window? The old lady who tans a lot and her dog both ingest it accidentally. Can't remember much more than that, it's been a long time since I saw it, but the behaviour is very similar:(

It must depend on the hamster, lol, my boys have never bit me. We shall see how the new one is tonight.

But yeah definitely look into Veronica. Have you changed anything else about her cage? Is her cage maybe too small?

That could well be a contributing factor. She figured out how to escape from her terrarium and in desperation I put her into a tall tank with a slightly smaller footprint. I gave her extra substrate though and lots of toys so hoped that would make up for it. Maybe it didn't. I am working on a 90 gallon tank for her though so hopefully if that's what's brought this on it will help!

Our little girl developed cage aggression out of the blue. One day she just started lunging at us if we put our hand in the tank. For her, it was the beginning of a huge neurological issue, so I don't know what's got into your girl - I hope it's something simple. We moved Aisling into an exo terra tank with front doors, so she could scamper into our hands on her own, and that helped a lot

I'm worried that this is the first symptom of neurological issues. I'm not expert but her behaviour just doesn't seem normal:(

One of my dwarfies are cage aggresive, the other two are fine! I think you should look into Veronica, maybe if possible, take her (or him, who knows :)) out of the room for a while to see if you notice a difference in roxy's behaviour?

That's a thought. I was going to leave everything until the new ginormous tank is set up and then Roxy will be away from Veronica anyway. I'd just rather move them as little as possible for stress reasons.

[HammieandMerlin]

Two out of our three dwarfs had neurological problems, which we kind of expected due to them being hybrids. It only affected Aisling seriously - she would spin, lose her balance, and just had a total personality change. With Hiccup, he still lived to be nearly two, and he just had shifty balance, so we kept him on one level with nothing to climb once we figured everything out. It's one of those things that's tricky to figure out

[BrainGirl]

I read somewhere here that it's because in hybrids the skull sometimes doesn't grow enough for the brain? It's like the hybrid inherits the smaller parent's skull but the larger parent's brain and it just doesn't work:( Roxy is incredibly tiny, even compared to Veronica. I mean she's about 1/2 the size! It wouldn't surprise me if her brain didn't fit:-?

[Hekomi]

That's rather tragic; reminds me of pedigree dogs. :( Hopefully that's not the case. Fingers crossed.

[BrainGirl]

It is, you're right:( Hopefully it's just a matter of wanting a different home and being upset with me for putting her in one she doesn't like!

[HammieandMerlin]

I've read things that are similar, both of my sisters dwarfs had neurological issues as well , so it's seems to be one heck of a trend, at least here

[ThePipsqueakery]

Get a ladle. Let her hop in the ladle to ride out of the cage for cuddles. Works wonders and hamsters seem to instinctively get it that they are supposed to hop in the ladle and sit still. Or at least that's what worked for me with hamsters that weren't able to be rehabilitated out of their cage aggression. Of course, those ones came here aggressive so YMMV.

[BrainGirl]

I'll try the ladle, or more likely, a cup. I'm just worried that in her hyperactivity lately that she's going to leap out! It's just sad that she doesn't crawl into my hands automatically for cuddles and treats like she used to. It's such a change:(

[Esmy]

I really love that my hamsters have no issues walking right into a cup (unless they don't want to go back in their home). lol

[BrainGirl]

It's funny in a way. Roxy was super friendly when she came here and is now the opposite. Veronica was aggressive and frightened and would scream and bite if picked up but now she's calming down and is happy to see me! Unpredictable little dears:p