Advice on taming a territorial hamster?

[Dalis]

Hello. So I went to pick out a female campbell Dwarf hamster (names Izobell). I left her alone in her cage for a few days. I only went in to adjust some things as I saw necessary to make her more comfortable once I saw how she was getting along in the cage. I started trying to give her some of her food by hand making sure not to come in from above but from the side. She will take the treat nibble on it and then drop it and lunge after my hand to bite me if I don't take it out once she has the treat. If I don't have a treat she will just go straight to charging at my hand. I left her alone for another day and took her out of her cage and put her in the bath tub with a fluffy rug and lots of toys. She did so much better. Super curious and confident. She crawled right onto my hand and didn't bite. Didn't charge at me. I wasn't in there with her as I'm kinda scared it might be too much for her. Is she always going to be aggressive in her cage? or will she get better once she's more tamed?

[Drago]

From your description, it sounds like you’ve only had her for a few days, correct? The gaming process can sometimes take months to complete. The key to taming is patience and persistence. I typically start by simply getting my hamster used to my hand. Usually, I’ll leave it in for a few minutes, letting my ham explore it at their own pace. After they’ve explored it, I feed them. This gets them to associate your hand with positive things. After your hand becomes a good thing to them, you can start to move on to petting, lifting, and holding.

Your ham will likely tame down with time. She may be nervous and reserved out of her cage which is why she’s not biting when out. I’ve had a few rodents exhibit similar behaviors. Sometimes it’s also caused by them being insecure with being removed. They will bite to stop that from happening, but once they’re out, they have no more reason to bite as they’ve already been removed. I recommend moving slow and getting her more comfortable with your hand in her cage. Good luck, and don’t hesistate to ask if you find you have more questions!

[cypher]

I had one female Russian who was very territorial in her cage but she did get better over time, handling out of the cage as you've been doing will help her get used to hands & not feel so threatened by hands in the cage, for now I would keep putting your hands into the cage to a minimum until she's had more time to get used to handling.