Friendly but biting new ham

lonelygoldfish · 12-01-2017, 08:13 AM

Hello everyone!

Just over a month ago I adopted my new dwarf hamster Darwin from the adoption centre at Pets at Home. Someone had apparently returned him for biting, and I reckon he's about 6 months old. He is a real little sweetie, active and friendly. He's so attentive and observant too! He'll always see me coming and want to come and say hello. I am very much in love!! <3

But he's quite bitey... Not enough to draw blood so far but decent little hard nibbles/bites whenever I handle him. The last week and a half I've moved on to using one glove on and one glove off trying to tame him, and rubbing my non-gloved hand in his bedding before I handle him. He isn't scared, but he does like to run quite fast when he's out which makes him a little tricky. But he does like to bite. With my other hams if they ever did start to have a bite I'd gently blow on them and they would usually stop, but with Darwin although that my stop him for a second he'll move a few steps and have a nibble somewhere else on my hand. All of the nipping occasionally makes me a little nervous handling him which obviously isn't helping either.

He has recently had ear drops for a problem that made him overgroom around his ears and scratch himself. That seems to have cleared up nicely, but I will take him early next week for a vet checkup.

I'm not sure what to do :/ Any advice? Thanks in advance!

cypher · 12-01-2017, 08:17 AM

Is he biting during out of cage time or in the cage? If it's in the cage then it could be a territorial issue & it's best to avoid handling them in the cage for a while & get them used to handling out of the cage, if he's doing it out of the cage then it may just take time & patience to overcome, I don't recommend blowing on them or reacting to bites, it's usually best to just put them down for a few moments or stop what you're doing with them, wait a little while & try again. Reacting to bites can in a way be a kind of reward for that behaviour & may just cause it to continue longer.
He looks lovely btw!

lonelygoldfish · 12-01-2017, 08:27 AM

I generally don't put my hands in his cage, as I know dwarf's can be territorial. Each of my hammies has their own mug they climb in to come out. I was worried that putting him down would teach him that if he bites he can go home / be put down?

Thanks, I think he's gorgeous!

cypher · 12-01-2017, 08:42 AM

If you put him down & didn't try again soon after that might be the case but if you just take a short break before handling him again then it should help reinforce positive handling behaviour, it can take a while with some but it's still quite early days really so don't feel too frustrated by it.