my new hammy hates me!

[fancythat]

Hello I am new to this forum. I am also new to hamsters, I had a few growing up and completely forget what to do. I give her fresh food water and clean up her messes every day. Her name is Biju and she is a small female fancy hamster from Petco. I have had her for almost a week and never had problems with picking my old hams up. Her teeth are a little over grown I noticed so I got her chew toys but I'm afraid of being bit by her. I have been hand feeding yogie treats and she been doing g well. So today I though to pet her. I did and tried again and she charged my hand and scared me. Even when I put new food in. I have the critter trail one level habitat. My favorite are teddy bear hams, there much more docile I think. Is it her breed or what iswrong here?? Plz help!!!!

[Ilovemyhammy]

Hi, I love your hamsters name, so cute, i have always had syrian hamsters and find that females bite much more than males. My advice would be to wait till she wakes up, usually on an evening then carry on with the treats, but no matter how frightened you are of her try not to move your hand away quickly, that will scare her, and dont try to pick her up yet. After perhaps another week take her from her cage (in something like a tiny box and put her in a large box, with some toys, empty kitchen roll or loo roll makes fun toys, even a paper bag, watch her and dont leave her in it though. I found with one of my girls she would let me pick her up in a gardening glove, (new ones) and use the other hand to feed her treats, nuts, or like, not too many yoghurt treats though. Mine like monkey nuts, (dunno what you call em the ones in the big shell, bit like a peanut). Do you know how old she is, and if her teeth are very overgrown perhaps a visit to the vets to check they are not causing her any pain, resulting in her trying to bit.

[Skeever]

Since you've had her for almost a week, she is still settling in. Some advise not even starting taming till after one week. Also, for a couple weeks, keep her cage cleanups to a minimum....let her make some messes. She is staking out her cage and making it her own, and intrusion will probably spook her.

Fancy hamster is not a breed so I assume it's a Syrian. Pet shops make up names like Teddy Bear and so on to sell pets. You've got Syrians, and then dwarf hamster variations .....Syrians can vary with personalities though but they are generally easiest to tame.

Start slowly as Ilovemyhammy mentioned....baby steps, let the hammy think it is in charge and it's on his/her schedule, and you should be fine.

[corrieberry]

There is some great advice on taming, but the best thing to bear in mind is let your hamster dictate the pace to you! It took forever for Pippin to start trusting me, but now that he does he's a complete joy - and I felt like I was going super slowly most of the time.

When she is used to having your hand in her cage (I used to hold onto treats so that Pippin had to eat them while I was holding them, I used yoghurt drops because they were tasty although don't give to many of these) you can start thinking about 'proper' handling. Try leaving your hand in the cage while she is awake so she can walk over it and get used to having it in close proximity.

When she seems to be comfortable with this, you can try lifting her a few cm off the base of the cage so she gets used to being picked up.

Another thing to try (in conjunction with the above) is bath-taming, which worked wonders for us - put something in the bottom of your bath so she doesn't get too cold, like a towel, and use a tube or box to transport her there (if you put a tube in her cage it will be almost impossible for her to resist exploring, then you can cover up both entrances and voila, you can transport her like that). Sit in the bath and let her run around all over you - put a few treats around and toys, so that she gets used to you.

Try not to rush anything, if she is looking scared or acting submissive, just take it slow. She will learn to trust you - food is your friend, they love their munchies!

[fancythat]

Thanks for the replies! I decided it's best to go slow like you all said. I give her treats all the time. I think the fancy hamster is a cross between teddy bear and dwarf, or that's what I read online. She's pretty small, so it's hard to discriminate how old she is. She has been getting fatter since I've had her and she seems really happy in her new cage. She runs on her wheel ALL night long lol and she's now using her chew toys to trim her teeth. My husband was waking her up to "check' on her in the day by taking her igloo shelter off her, so I told him to stop that. And she's been in good spirits since! I give her 4 yogi treats a day by hand. I don't want to scare her, so I will let her settle in another week and start the bath tub when I clean her cage for the first time. Thanks for your help!

[Skeever]

Sounds like a dwarf hamster then, if it's really small and they said it was a 'cross'.....dwarves can be skittish lil thangs...heh.....

I'm not sure but I think that four yogi treats is too much sweet? I try to alternate treats between 'healthy' ones, like sunflower seeds or walnut, a real fun treat like cheese and cracker, a monkey nut....so on.....best to check with people who use yogi drops tho....

Reminds me. Cleaning day is tomorrow so I get to watch Ziggy huff about and reorganize things at any rate....

[Cheetobandito]

Huh. A Syrian-dwarf cross? I'd love to see a pic!
Anyway. Yeah, I really belive in bathtub taming. Make sure she doesn't crawl up a pant leg or something in the bathtub, she might panic. Also maybe scatter food and treats throughout the tub for her to find. I also like peanuts as treats, then hamsters have to chew through the outside.

[NiceCrocs]

Syrians and dwarves can't interbreed; the only hamsters that can interbreed are Cambell's Russian Dwarfs and Winter White Russian Dwarfs, to create Russian dwarf hybrids. If you were told your hamster is a 'cross' then it's very likely that they're a hybrid if you can post a picture we could try to identify the species

[fancythat]

Here is a pic of Biju Sorry for the blurriness, she is really small lol

[dave123791]

Looks like Campbell's or Syrian to me. I'm not 100% sure- i might be wrong