Drastic change in behaviour?

LifeWithPets · 03-29-2015, 05:09 AM

Hi everyone. This is a bit of a long story but I hope someone has time to help me out.

A few months ago, in mid January, my friends neighbour dumped her daughters hamsters on my friends door step. They are campbells by the looks of them.
The kid took the hamsters everywhere with her in her pockets. Took them outside to "play" with her friends and their hamsters. (As you could probably guess, this kid had multiple hams in the past but all of them died really young).
My friend kept them as long as she could but she couldnt handle it.
Morticia, now named Priscilla, was incredibly aggressive. She would lunge for your hand and wouldnt let go. Her sister, Wednesday, Is much better behaved. They were fighting so got split up. Morticia very rarely slept, she compulsively ran on her wheel. When she did sleep, it was only for an hour or so. Chloe addmitedly didnt feed them correctly (1/4 teaspoon of a crappy bird mix daily). Morticia would try her hardest to bite you if you went near her. Due to Chloe being unable to care for them efficiently, I told her I would take one and she would need to find a home for the other, as I unfortunately didn't have room for both. (If you are in Central Scotland and are able to take on Wednesday, please let me know!!)
Morticia, who we renamed Priscilla, came home with me yesterday.
She has been upgraded from a small pets at home cage to a medium sized bin (64l "very useful box" from B&Q) She could use her saucer correctly as it was too big (she is TINY!) so I gave her a smaller one. Now she can run on it properly.
Her diet was changed from what was described above to a mix of Harry Hamster and Burgess Supa Dwarf with a few Pets at Home nuggets, the amount is about 3 teaspoons.

After settling in, she let me stroke her, let me put my hand in the cage and even let me rearrange the cage while she was in it. She happily takes sunflower seeds from between my fingers (I'm too nervous to lay them out on my hand at the moment).
Except one wee nip to my boyfriends finger because he got too close, she hasnt bit the way she used to. She used to break the skin!
After using her wheel properly yesterday, she has finally slept for multiple hours! This morning she was only out for a minute or so while I refilled her bowl then went straight back to bed!
Can these slight changes improve her behaviour so much within 24 hours?

I am so sorry for how long this post is but I wanted to include all the details!

cypher · 03-29-2015, 05:17 AM

That's quite a story! Poor little thing I'm so glad you've taken her on & given her a good home.
It might seem like small changes to you but must seem like massive changes to her, plenty to markedly change her behaviour in such a short time I'm sure, she's no longer starving, she can exercise properly & that alone is enough to make her sleep well I would think!
Being short of decent food & in a very small unsuitable cage would probably be enough to make any ham bite so it's no wonder she seems calmer & more at ease with you.
Hope she continues to improve even more & that the other ham finds an equally good home too.

Piebald · 03-29-2015, 05:49 AM

She sounds greatly relieved poor thing! She probably hasn't slept properly ever. Nor had a decent meal or a good hammie run around. She's realized you are the source of all goods things.

velma · 03-29-2015, 06:02 AM

Wow! That's quite some start for the poor things. I agree with Cypher that for Priscilla, it's a big ol' change for the better. Imagine if you were stuck in a small room, hungry & couldn't burn off your stress, you'd pretty quickly relax if you got fed, could move & had some sleep. To add to that, if everytime a hand near went Prescilla she was being woken, shaken, prodded & poked no wonder she's bity at hands. Sounds like she's already figuring out that your hand doesn't mean she'll be messed with. I hope she continues to settle In

racinghamster · 03-29-2015, 09:33 AM

Your so kind to step in and take these dwarf hamsters in LifeWithPets. Living in peace and quiet will be a long time coming for these little hamsters and I dread to think what stress they went through being in the hands of a child. It`s no wonder wee Wednesday is aggressive! She will need an understanding (adult or older teenager) as a preferred new owner now due to this. I would have snapped her up if I had space for another cage, but I already have a male Russian dwarf and no extra space.

I do have a good friend who lives in Lanarkshire who takes in mice and hamsters as I do, but she`s not well at the moment and although she`s a member on here, she hasn`t posted for a while.

My advice would be (to your friend who has Wednesday) to feed and water her, leave her in peace and just allow her some `me` time to settle, with gentle words while she`s running about. She will probably benefit from rest now and not as much handling anyway or she may just go on the defensive.

How are they both doing? x

LifeWithPets · 03-29-2015, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racinghamster

Your so kind to step in and take these dwarf hamsters in LifeWithPets. Living in peace and quiet will be a long time coming for these little hamsters and I dread to think what stress they went through being in the hands of a child. It`s no wonder wee Wednesday is aggressive! She will need an understanding (adult or older teenager) as a preferred new owner now due to this. I would have snapped her up if I had space for another cage, but I already have a male Russian dwarf and no extra space.

I do have a good friend who lives in Lanarkshire who takes in mice and hamsters as I do, but she`s not well at the moment and although she`s a member on here, she hasn`t posted for a while.

My advice would be (to your friend who has Wednesday) to feed and water her, leave her in peace and just allow her some `me` time to settle, with gentle words while she`s running about. She will probably benefit from rest now and not as much handling anyway or she may just go on the defensive.

How are they both doing? x

Wednesday is quite different from Priscilla. She is twice the size and is nowhere near as active. Unfortunately Chloe was not prepared to have two hams dumped on her doorstep so Wednesday is still in a tiny cage and because Chloe isn't keeping her, she won't get an upgrade unless she gets a better home.

Wednesday is not as fiesty as Priscilla was. She doesn't lunge and bite as much, which is great. Chloe has had them for 2 months now so Wednesday is pretty settled hence the better behaviour. Hopefully someone is able to give the poor baby a good home... Chloe plans on giving her to her 12 year old cousin

x

LifeWithPets · 03-29-2015, 10:10 AM

Thank you so much for your help, everyone. I am so pleased that Priscillas change in behaviour is 100% positive. Hopefully her behaviour gets better from here!
I'm going to leave her to settle into her home for a week or so before I begin taming, which gives me plenty of time to do extra research into taming nippy hamsters

racinghamster · 03-30-2015, 12:22 AM

The other alternative would be the SPCA? If Wednesday is going to be handed to another child, this may be the better scenario? The charity would find her a good home. I`m not too sure how many members are in your area who would take Wednesday. Where is Chloe located?

LifeWithPets · 03-30-2015, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racinghamster

The other alternative would be the SPCA? If Wednesday is going to be handed to another child, this may be the better scenario? The charity would find her a good home. I`m not too sure how many members are in your area who would take Wednesday. Where is Chloe located?

Initially, both hams were going to be taken to the SPCA. But now that I have Priscilla, Chloe feels it would be a waste of time and would rather give Wednesday to her cousin. Chloe is also located in Glasgow

racinghamster · 03-30-2015, 01:39 AM

I see. If her cousin wanted a hamster then I can see the benefit to Wednesday, but if it`s a case of handing the hamster over just to get rid, I would try and convince Chloe to try and find a better home. I understand why she might want to have someone else take the hamster on as she was landed with them! But it would be nice if Wednesday could find a home with an older person who would give her peace. Had I been looking for another Russian dwarf I would have helped you out, but I just don`t have the space in my room due to already having a large cage and desk.

It`s never easy trying to find the right home for an unwanted hamster and many find themselves on Gumtree or dumped. I wouldn`t say contacting the SPCA was a waste of time because one hamster is being kept, while the other is still unwanted, even though Chloe`s cousin is an option. If the SPCA are a better option, I would still give them a call. x