How can I get my dwarf hamster to trust me?

[SaltyPickles]

Ares, my male Siberian hamster, hates me. I have to pick him up using a towel. He does let me touch him, but if I get too handsy he'll bite. I tried putting a treat in my hand, but he bites my hand rather than the treat! Sometimes he lets me cup him in my hands but when I do I need to use a towel. Any suggestions? Also he refuses to use his wheel.

[SunnyOy]

Here's case where I need more information to conclude what's going on then. dwarf hamsters are harder to tame and they can get scared so easily that you might not even acknowledge that they are frightened, literally a strong breath can freak them out. Maybe that is the case happened to you. If a hamster is scared of someone, it will show aggression.

How long have you got this little guy? How old is he? Is he under good health condition(shiny eyes, smooth fur, flexible movements, good appetite)?

If he is a healthy, young and new little guy, what happened to you is normal for getting a new hamster. It takes time and you have to be extremely careful and gentle with them.

[cypher]

How long have you had Ares now? I just saw that you posted in another thread that he used to be a sweetie & now you've been using gloves so I'm guessing something has changed.
If he was ok before did something happen that may have scared him or has something in his cage or his environment changed? They can be sensitive to changes in or around the cage & that could be a possible factor in the behaviour change.
Does he bite in the cage, out of the cage or both?
Sometimes they can be a bit territorial in the cage & do better with handling outside the cage.
Is he generally healthy, eating & drinking normally? Biting as a new behaviour can be a sign of illness so do give him a good health check to be sure there's nothing going on there.
If he is healthy then I would suggest going back to the beginning with taming, just talk to him for a while, make sure he has enough substrate & hides in his cage to feel secure & there's nothing going on around his cage that might be upsetting for him, other animals, sudden loud noises or generally loud noises etc.
Begin by letting him climb into something he's comfortable with like a tube, mug or something similar that you can transport him in.
Take him to a secure play area, playpen or bin whatever you prefer to use, let him run around & explore for a while (give him toys, cardboard tubes etc) & just slowly introduce your hand, don't try to pick him up at first just lay your hand flat & see if he'll come to you, keep it brief to begin with & if he does bite try not to react as that can just reinforce the behaviour. If you're patient, gentle & consistent he should gradually get used to your hands & stop biting.

What wheel does he have? If the wheel is too small or doesn't spin easily then that may be why he doesn't use it.
Is he active in other ways?

[SaltyPickles]

Originally Posted by cypher

How long have you had Ares now? I just saw that you posted in another thread that he used to be a sweetie & now you've been using gloves so I'm guessing something has changed.
If he was ok before did something happen that may have scared him or has something in his cage or his environment changed? They can be sensitive to changes in or around the cage & that could be a possible factor in the behaviour change.
Does he bite in the cage, out of the cage or both?
Sometimes they can be a bit territorial in the cage & do better with handling outside the cage.
Is he generally healthy, eating & drinking normally? Biting as a new behaviour can be a sign of illness so do give him a good health check to be sure there's nothing going on there.
If he is healthy then I would suggest going back to the beginning with taming, just talk to him for a while, make sure he has enough substrate & hides in his cage to feel secure & there's nothing going on around his cage that might be upsetting for him, other animals, sudden loud noises or generally loud noises etc.
Begin by letting him climb into something he's comfortable with like a tube, mug or something similar that you can transport him in.
Take him to a secure play area, playpen or bin whatever you prefer to use, let him run around & explore for a while (give him toys, cardboard tubes etc) & just slowly introduce your hand, don't try to pick him up at first just lay your hand flat & see if he'll come to you, keep it brief to begin with & if he does bite try not to react as that can just reinforce the behaviour. If you're patient, gentle & consistent he should gradually get used to your hands & stop biting.

What wheel does he have? If the wheel is too small or doesn't spin easily then that may be why he doesn't use it.
Is he active in other ways?

Yes, he used to let me hold him but I picked him up one day and he just bit me. I tried the treat-in-hand trick but he bit my hand anyway. Yes his wheel is big enough for him and works fine but he just doesn't want to use it. I already let him get comfortable with me but lately he just seems to want to bite me and I can't put my hand in his cage, even to refill his food and water. I always have to coax him out with a treat so I can clean the cage.

Originally Posted by SunnyOy

Here's case where I need more information to conclude what's going on then. dwarf hamsters are harder to tame and they can get scared so easily that you might not even acknowledge that they are frightened, literally a strong breath can freak them out. Maybe that is the case happened to you. If a hamster is scared of someone, it will show aggression.

How long have you got this little guy? How old is he? Is he under good health condition(shiny eyes, smooth fur, flexible movements, good appetite)?

If he is a healthy, young and new little guy, what happened to you is normal for getting a new hamster. It takes time and you have to be extremely careful and gentle with them.

I got him maybe a month ago. At first he didn't seem to have a problem with me, didn't seem particularly interested in biting. He's an adult. Yes, he does appear to be perfectly healthy and active, though he does tend to pick out the seeds from his food mix so we just give them to him as treats. He's healthy and pretty young. Also we didn't get him from a pet store- we got him from a friend who decided he had too many hamsters. I do try to be gentle with him but clearly the feeling isn't mutual.

[cypher]

A month isn't that long & if he's moved from your friends home to yours then he needs time to adjust, do you know how old he is? An older ham may take longer to adjust than a young one & it's possible you may have gone a little too quick for him with taming.
It does sound as though he may be a little territorial if he bites when you put your hand in the cage.
I would avoid putting your hand in the cage when he's awake for now, do food & water while he sleeps.
Try transporting him to a playpen & taming out of cage as I suggested in the my previous post & see how that goes.

What are you feeding him? A dwarf food should be mostly seeds so it's not surprising if he does pick seeds out of the mix, are you using a dwarf specific mix?

It may be worth trying a different wheel to see if he gets on better, it is very unusual for them not to use the wheel if it's big enough & a suitable type, upright & solid tread, not wire or meshed tread.

[SaltyPickles]

Originally Posted by cypher

A month isn't that long & if he's moved from your friends home to yours then he needs time to adjust, do you know how old he is? An older ham may take longer to adjust than a young one & it's possible you may have gone a little too quick for him with taming.
It does sound as though he may be a little territorial if he bites when you put your hand in the cage.
I would avoid putting your hand in the cage when he's awake for now, do food & water while he sleeps.
Try transporting him to a playpen & taming out of cage as I suggested in the my previous post & see how that goes.

What are you feeding him? A dwarf food should be mostly seeds so it's not surprising if he does pick seeds out of the mix, are you using a dwarf specific mix?

It may be worth trying a different wheel to see if he gets on better, it is very unusual for them not to use the wheel if it's big enough & a suitable type, upright & solid tread, not wire or meshed tread.

I just moved him to a bigger cage with a better wheel so let's see if he uses it. Earlier today I built him a playpen. Same thing. Bitten again. Put back in cage. Right now he's exploring his new cage and having trouble with the tubes. I gave him a little boost with my hand and he didn't try to bite me ^_^ my ham is acting a little nicer now, thankfully

[cypher]

It all takes time, don't expect results with playpen taming immediately, go nice & slow.
If he's having trouble with tubes in the cage if possible just remove them to avoid the chance of any accidents or him getting stuck somewhere.

[SaltyPickles]

Originally Posted by cypher

It all takes time, don't expect results with playpen taming immediately, go nice & slow.
If he's having trouble with tubes in the cage if possible just remove them to avoid the chance of any accidents or him getting stuck somewhere.

Finally got him to use his wheel! After like 2 hours of wandering around the cage he just decided to run on the wheel. Placed my hand in new cage, sniffed it, didn't bite. If he's being territorial, do you think it's because he doesn't really view the new cage as 'his' yet? Also, it's not that he's having difficulty fitting through the tubes, he was just struggling to climb a bit so I gave him a gentle push and he didn't whip around to bite me as he normally would.

[cypher]

Good to hear he's had a go on the wheel.
It can take them up to a couple of weeks to really settle into a new cage so it could be he doesn't feel it's his yet, give him time to settle in & don't do anything more than spot clean for a few weeks at least.
If he's having trouble getting up into the tubes then I would either adjust the angle to make it easy or just take them out.

[SunnyOy]

Congratulations! He learns to relax and be used to the environment now. As long as your hamster has a good mood by having enough space to run, basic food to eat and a clean and warm place to sleep, he should be totally fine and happy. And as long as he is mentally happy, he will do good in general.

I have never had any dwarf hamster, but I do think it is more necessary to make him feel comfortable first than to bound with him. He is a young and healthy boy, and you will have plenty of good time with him, lucky you!