Tips on taming?

[LifeWithPets]

Hi everyone!
I recently rescued my second hamster, Priscilla. Before she came to me, she had a few behavioural issues (already posted about these).
My main concern is that she used to lunge for hands and constantly bit people. She has not yet bit me but I am still a bit nervous about taming her.
I will leave her to settle in for a week, and then I would like to start taming.
Does anyone have tips on how to stop a hamster from biting & how to get my little Priscilla used to my scent?
4 times a day when she is out, I hand feed her a sunflower seed which she happily takes from between my fingers, sk that's a good start

[cypher]

I've only had one who bit me when I first got her & getting her to stop was a bit of a slow process we got there after a while!
Mine was very cage territorial to begin with so I never put my hand into the cage, just let her come to the door & climb on to my hand when she wanted to or if I needed to get her out when she wasn't so keen to do that I just used a large cup to scoop her up & found handling her outside the cage much better, far fewer bites!
If hand feeding I'd suggest using a small bowl & holding that in your hands for her at first, it does seem to help them learn what's food & what's not ie. your hand.
I just talk to mine a lot to begin getting them used to me & use the tissue trick (putting a tissue up your sleeve for a few hours then putting it in the cage & repeating daily for a while) to get them used to my scent.
If they do bite try not to react, they can see that as a reward or a sudden movement or noise can scare them & make it worse so just continue doing what you were, talk quietly & gently move them away from where they are biting.
Hope that helps you get started with her, I'm sure she'll come around soon enough now she's getting lots of tlc.

[Snowz]

Hamsters Can nibble to have a taste and then they can bite. All I can suggest is to wash your hands really well after eating because they will smell the food and also try not to react if she does bite because that can scare them. Open the cage and let Priscilla smell your hands and then stroke her. Also you can call her name and talk to her to let her get familiar with your voice. You can get tissue (rub your hands on the tissue or place under something that has your smell on like clothes.) It is good that your hand feeding her between your fingers. So now what you should do is place the seed or food on your palm and let her climb onto your hand to get the food. After all of that you can buy a play pen or you can use your bath as a play pen and practice holding her.

Good luck with taming!

[LifeWithPets]

Tonight when I got home I gave her some seeds again and also put some tissue in her cage that had been up my sleeve. She gave me a tiny wee taste nibble but no proper bites yet, yippee!
At the moment, I am too nervous to put my hand flat out as she may nip me. So I first want to get into a routine of giving her seeds from my fingers so she associated my hands with good things rather than bad things (she was abused badly by a small child)
Baby steps!! I am so pleased with her tiny amounts of progress <3

[happy hamster 101]

Hi lifewithpets.
I would recommend washing your hands with unscented soap before you on interact with her ( although I myself find it hard to find uncented soap) as she might think that you are a giant sphaggeti and decide too eat you, in other words you just had sphaggeti night and your hands smell or sphaggeti.
I would also reccomend you rub your hands in her bedding to get your scent on it and also rub your hands on some toilet tissue and give it to her as nesting material. Here are some links to great taming guides :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2l-JbBjX4g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qwxJLw7l24


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgUKGSiLAYw

Also here is a link to how to stop a hamster from biting :


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nKy8yH8X9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=527Fy1V2CZA

[Snowz]

Originally Posted by LifeWithPets

Tonight when I got home I gave her some seeds again and also put some tissue in her cage that had been up my sleeve. She gave me a tiny wee taste nibble but no proper bites yet, yippee!
At the moment, I am too nervous to put my hand flat out as she may nip me. So I first want to get into a routine of giving her seeds from my fingers so she associated my hands with good things rather than bad things (she was abused badly by a small child)
Baby steps!! I am so pleased with her tiny amounts of progress <3

Yay! glad to hear, has she tried to stand on your hand yet? some hamsters might and some may fear and hide.

[cypher]

Baby steps are definitely the way to go after she had such a bad start in life but it sounds as though she's making progress already, I'm really pleased for both of you!

[LifeWithPets]

Originally Posted by Snowz

Yay! glad to hear, has she tried to stand on your hand yet? some hamsters might and some may fear and hide.

I am going to wear gloves when I attempt to let her stand on my hand just in case she bites me, I am quite nervous so this is a learning curve for both me and Priscilla!

[racinghamster]

My current hamster is a Russian dwarf hybrid (like Pracilla) and I`m one of those people who let the hamster dictate. Meaning, I follow the principle of giving the hamster the lead and if he/she has a tendency to nip or bite, then patience and gentle reward without actually trying to handle them too fast is the best approach. The only time I`ve handled Chubs was when I was transferring him from his travel cage into his current cage as he was a Pets At Home adoptee and a friend of mine adopted him on my behalf and then brought him over in her car.

I`ve never handled him since that day. I don`t know the reason why, but I prefer just to let him take a seed from my hand, which he always seems eager to do! he runs forward and grabs my hand with his front paws! And then I remove my hand before it becomes part of his lunch! He has been known to nip, but he tolerates me strolling him, which is nice. His fur is so dense and soft!

I`m sure Chubs would be mellow enough if I scooped him gently with both hands, but hybrids are not known for their tendency to be patient for very long before nipping!!! x

[LifeWithPets]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

My current hamster is a Russian dwarf hybrid (like Pracilla) and I`m one of those people who let the hamster dictate. Meaning, I follow the principle of giving the hamster the lead and if he/she has a tendency to nip or bite, then patience and gentle reward without actually trying to handle them too fast is the best approach. The only time I`ve handled Chubs was when I was transferring him from his travel cage into his current cage as he was a Pets At Home adoptee and a friend of mine adopted him on my behalf and then brought him over in her car.

I`ve never handled him since that day. I don`t know the reason why, but I prefer just to let him take a seed from my hand, which he always seems eager to do! he runs forward and grabs my hand with his front paws! And then I remove my hand before it becomes part of his lunch! He has been known to nip, but he tolerates me strolling him, which is nice. His fur is so dense and soft!

I`m sure Chubs would be mellow enough if I scooped him gently with both hands, but hybrids are not known for their tendency to be patient for very long before nipping!!! x

My other hybrid, Nimbus, is incredibly friendly and enjoys being handled. However, he hates being out of his cage for too long! He gets agitated and starts gently nipping to let me know he wants put back in, lol! I am going to try him in a ball once I have done more research into if they should be used or not but for now 10 minute bursts of out of cage time will have to do!

I havenlt yet tried to bring Priscilla out of her cage as she is not too keen on going in her ball anymore (she used to loooove it when she was in her tiny cage!) and I feel that is the only safe way to transport her so she can't jump out etc. Hopefully I can tame her, even if I can't she lets me pet her much like Chubs and as long as she is happy, that is enough for me x