I got bitten

merita · 08-25-2009, 12:18 PM

Yesterday Koda bit me while I was handling him. We'd been getting on fine and I was at the point of being able to scoop him up into my hands quite easily. I must have done something he didn't like as he sank his jaws into my pinky and it hurt like hell! I was holding him over his cage, but the sheer agony made me jump and he jumped off my hand into the cage (luckily). Today he's acting quite frightened and I fear his taming has been put back to square one. Also this has made me a bit fearful and I'm sure he can pick that up. I don't have any gardening gloves but I did put on a pair of thick fleecy gloves today and I felt alot more confident.

I've just read the taming tips in wiki and find them very helpful, thanks but I have to say you're totally wrong when you say a nip doesn't hurt - it's blooming agony!!! Blood was gushing everywhere and I have 2 red marks on my pinky now - flipping heck lol!!!

souffle · 08-25-2009, 12:33 PM

mmmm maybe we are used to it merita. It will likely be a one and only. Don't give up the handling though. It is a challenge and your life and his will be so much richer for the taming. He likely got a fright or just smelt a bit of food on your hand. I've been bitten to the bone and had a hammy hanging off my finger whilst I silently screamed! It'll heal up quick.

merita · 08-25-2009, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by souffle

mmmm maybe we are used to it merita. It will likely be a one and only. Don't give up the handling though. It is a challenge and your life and his will be so much richer for the taming. He likely got a fright or just smelt a bit of food on your hand. I've been bitten to the bone and had a hammy hanging off my finger whilst I silently screamed! It'll heal up quick.

Eek, just the thought of that makes me go cold. I'm just wondering whether I should take it a bit easy for a while, or be a bit more assertive to get him through it.

souffle · 08-25-2009, 01:56 PM

Keep persevering. Be firm and gentle and try not to present a finger at his mouth. If you pick him up from above as if he was a computer mouse and the cord is his tail then his mouth is facing the heel of your hand which he cannot bite. Work first on short lift and lay down and then gradually extend the time you hold him. Once he is happy being picked up you can then start running him from hand to hand as in the taming tips.
Good luck. You can do it.

merita · 08-25-2009, 02:05 PM

Ok, thanks, it's good to know where to come for advice. It's a comfort for newbies like myself.

Mou_Mou · 08-31-2009, 11:48 AM

oh my god what a coincidence, I was just coming on to make a very similar post. I got bitten on the pinky for the first time ever (had another hamster before mou_mou who never bit me) and it killed! I suspect handling Gruyere swiss cheese before picking her up was a pretty bad idea lol, so i didn't take it personally, especially as she has a good temperant and has never attempted it with me or my housemate before but yeah, I completely sympathise, immediately after i was bit nervous about handling her and she made a sniffly scratchy movement on my thumb and i pulled away sharpish! Again I think I still had cheese trace :s my pinky really throbs

merita · 08-31-2009, 01:00 PM

I'm a big fan of Cesar Milan (the dog whisperer). Apart from being the most gorgeous thing on two legs, his mantra of "calm assertive energy" makes so much sense. Animals use their senses in a completely different way to us and they are far more conscious of subtle energies than we are. Emotions of all kinds are strong energy and when we feel an emotion, the animal can pick it up and they react to it in way they feel is appropriate for their own survival. If we feel fear when we're handling them they sense that fear and they instinctively know that fear means their survival may be at risk and so will react to protect that survival. We know that they will be feeling fear when being handled for a while, but we are giving off calm energy, they will pick up that calmness from us and won't feel the need to react to fear. Obviously after the agony of being bitten, we fear it happening again and so we handle them differently and our energy is different and they can pick that up. I always take a minute or two to calm my mind before handling Koda now and I force myself not to react fearfully. So far it's worked and he's not bitten me since. He sometimes tries to nibble my fingernails but that's different. My only problem with him is that he doesn't yet actively 'enjoy' being handled for it's own sake. He doesn't allow it because he wants a cuddle, he just sees it as a way of getting out of his cage, and he moves very quickly. I worry about dropping him or not being able to stop him escaping from my hand, but I have to keep these fears in check and remain calm so he doesn't pick them up. He lets me pick him up now with no problems really and I've started curling my fingers around his body once he's in my hand and stroking him as he sits there. I'm trying to get him to realise that being in my hand is an end in itself, rather than simply a stepping stone to 'out there'.

pauljono1120 · 09-26-2009, 03:51 PM

Ahhh, hamster bites hurt so much lol.

I'm lucky my hamster is 100% tame, even when i forget to wash my hands after eating food, he still doesn't bite me.

merita · 09-27-2009, 02:12 AM

Koda is fine now, he hasn't bitten me in ages. He's 3 months old today and has only done it twice and the second time wasn't a serious attempt, I was holding him and he was trying to climb off my hand into thin air, so as I turned my hand over, my fingertips were sticking into his belly, which must have been uncomfortable for him and he bit me but didn't bite down. It was like he was saying "oh come on mum that hurts"!!! Sometimes when I go to pick him up he will sort of shake himself and run away if he's not in the mood, but he's not made any attempt to bite again. I do still take care not to have food smells on my hands though - once bitten twice shy and all that!