Signs of Previous Abuse?

[LizLizzie]

Hello friends,
Some of you may have read in my introductory that I received my precious hamster, Frida, in a rather strange way. She was found left in a bush in the cold in a parking lot.
Frida has some rather odd behavior. She does not like to be held, but she is very social and will come up to you in her cage when you are near her. She also will bite anyone who holds her, although she hasn't bitten me yet. She also sleeps a lot. She can also be quite skittish when you make any sudden movement around her.
I was wondering if anyone knew anything about signs of previous neglect or abuse that hamsters show? When I found her, her cage was rather nasty and her bedding smelt of urine. So I believe there could have been neglect, but I am not sure.
Thank you!

[cypher]

How long have you had Frida now?
It's quite possible that she hasn't been used to being handled in her old home before she was abandoned so it may take her some time to get used to that, most of those signs are quite common to hams that aren't really tame & should improve with time.
Some hams never really like to be held even though they may be happy to take treats & run about on you, it comes down to character as much as how tame they are sometimes.
What taming steps have you done?
Have you done the tissue trick so she gets used to your scent in her cage & won't see it as a threat? (If you don't know it's basically putting some plain white toilet tissue up your sleeve for a few hours then putting that in the cage & repeating daily until they get used to you.)
Hamster do tend to sleep a lot during the day but she should be fairly active at night as long as she's warm enough, if it gets cold in the room at this time of year they do tend to prefer to stay in the nest.
Encourage activity with scatter feeding & treats toys or just hiding treats around the cage, give her nice things to chew like Whimzees/antos dog chews & lots of toys.
If you've only had her a short while don't try to rush taming, go slowly, one step at a time & her confidence around you will grow.