Hamster biting

[ellieiskinz]

Hi! I've had my hamster Ivy for a few weeks now, she was in a cage with her sister Luna but got severely attacked and was immediately put into another cage. She wasn't coming out when i was awake atall for a week after the move but now she finally comes out in the evening and plays. She's bitten me and my older brother and made us bleed a couple times, she chases your hand to bite you and just sits next to your hand to attack your fingers. Ive tried wearing gloves but she still does exactly the same thing and attacks it. Do i just let her bite me when she does it to show her I'm not scared of it or just, push her off or something? She's a completely different hamster when outside of her cage though, she will happily walk on me and my hands and we have a taming box she likes to play with me in, but its very hard to get her out the cage into there anyway. I'm not sure what to do since she seems like the perfect hamster outside of the cage?

[Hamsterita]

It may sound odd but as far as I know it's a relatively normal behaviour with some hamsters. Some hamsters are very territorial, and females usually are worse. That makes them be very defensive with their territory (the cage) and attack and bite "the intruders". If she's ok when she's out of the cage you maybe has one of those, and you shouldn't be too worried. If that's the problem you have to accept that you can't interact with her in her cage and that you need to take her out using a mug or another container (without touching her) and that's all.

But I never faced that problem myself. maybe someone with more expertise than I have can bring more light to the subject. Maybe there's a way to make them stop, I don't know.

[chesca_27]

I think she is just very territorial of her cage. Try putting a box or tunnel which she can climb into so you can take her out of the cage. Otherwise, some people use a hamster ball to get them out. If you could open a side door of the cage and let her walk out onto you.

[cypher]

Some females (more often than males) can be quite territorial in the cage, my only female Russian was like that, as has been said use a cup, tube or anything she's happy to climb into to get her out, get her used to your hands out of the cage & she will gradually become more accepting of you putting your hands into the cage although you may want to keep it to a minimum in the cage if she really doesn't like it.
Once mine was used to my hands out of the cage it didn't take long before she would happily climb into my hand if I just had it by the door rather than in the cage.
If you haven't done it already try the tissue trick, put a piece or plain white toilet tissue up your sleeve for a few hours then shred it up & put it in the cage, that will help her to get used to your scent in the cage.

[Pebbles82]

Generally hamsters don't like a hand in their cage, and as you say are fine out of the cage. With her having been attacked she is probably doubly protective of herself in her environment, so it's probably fear after her attack. I wouldn't attempt to try and put your hand in her cage, but lift her out in a tube or a hamster ball maybe. Let her walk/hop into it - maybe put a treat inside to tempt her. Then the more "safe" contact she has with you out of the cage the more her trust and confidence will build. Poor little thing - have any wounds healed ok since the attack?

One thing I used to do to tempt our shy Syrian out was put a tube over his house entrance, with the far end of the tube in his hamster ball and also a treat (a piece of cheese maybe) in the far end of the tube. So he would walk into the tube and on into the ball, then you can pop the lid on the ball and gently lift her out that way and take her to where you want her and take the lid off the ball to let her out. Be careful carrying the ball!

[cypher]

Serendipity I've found it really depends on the ham but most of mine have always been quite happy with hands in the cage, it may take a little while for them to get used to you but I haven't found it to be a problem, even Mickle who was territorial to begin with got over it soon enough.