Advice on a Nippy Russian Hybrid

Presley524 · 06-07-2020, 03:22 PM

Hello, all! So, Victor (a Russian Hybrid, I think, that I took in a couple weeks ago after being passed around to multiple houses.) is about 10 months old at this point. Her last owner said she had a bit of cage aggression which was an easy fix, I use an old soup ladle to get her out of her cage. She loves to be out and when the ladle goes in quickly scurries into it. However, her aggression seems to be getting worse. I could hold her in my hand with no problem once she was out, but lately if I touch her at all she tries to bite. She did get me once and I whipped my hand up out of instinct about a foot from the ground and she stayed attached to my finger the whole way up biting harder as she went. The weird thing is though, she wants to be on me. If I let her run around on my bed (I don't really have another space that is hamster safe at the moment), she stays on my body and won't leave me, but as soon as she feels me move she bites. She even bit my heel the other day when I shifted by her. I put her at one end of the bed and sat at the other, but she quickly made her way to me to crawl all over me. Has anyone else dealt with this? I don't understand why she likes me, but also doesn't at the same time. Any suggestions on how to exercise her without suffering some pretty hard bites would be appreciated! I've thought about getting gardening gloves to handle her because she bites so hard. I was okay with the fact that she might just be a hamster that doesn't want my company when exploring, but when she's out, no matter where on the bed she is, she comes to find me. So, I'm not really sure what to do.

Presley524 · 06-07-2020, 03:24 PM

Also, I don't think she is in any pain because she'll bite anything that moves by her it doesn't have to touch her and her activity levels have not changed at all. She's still a very active little girl.

TinyBubbles · 06-07-2020, 05:07 PM

Our dwarf has made it very clear that he is not interested in being held in any way, but with time has allowed us to pet him while he is busy with a snack. It probably took about 4 months before we got to the point that we could get a real intentional petting session in though.

The tub was the only place I was comfortable allowing him to roam outside of his cage so I purchased the "Petmaker Portable Pop Up Play Pen" and he will happily jump into his transport ball for a run around his playpen and then lets us know he is ready to go home by starting to climb the sides.

Our guy isn't much of a chewer so this works perfectly for us to get some time with him and he gets a new place to roam... as long as we follow his lead no one gets nipped.

Presley524 · 06-07-2020, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TinyBubbles

Our dwarf has made it very clear that he is not interested in being held in any way, but with time has allowed us to pet him while he is busy with a snack. It probably took about 4 months before we got to the point that we could get a real intentional petting session in though.

The tub was the only place I was comfortable allowing him to roam outside of his cage so I purchased the "Petmaker Portable Pop Up Play Pen" and he will happily jump into his transport ball for a run around his playpen and then lets us know he is ready to go home by starting to climb the sides.

Our guy isn't much of a chewer so this works perfectly for us to get some time with him and he gets a new place to roam... as long as we follow his lead no one gets nipped.

I was going to look into getting her a playpen because I sometimes have to pick her up when she tries to jump off my bed. I just find it so odd that she wants to be touching me most of the time, but if I move she gets grumpy.

TinyBubbles · 06-07-2020, 06:48 PM

I'm a first time hammy mom so I'm certainly still learning myself. There are still days I find myself saying "I'm friend, not food!"

Presley524 · 06-07-2020, 11:43 PM

I swear I feel like a new hamster owner whenever I adopt a new one! Their personality’s are all so different lol

Ria P · 06-07-2020, 11:48 PM

My late Percy, who was also adopted was a nippy dwarf. He'd nip any chance he got but tolerated touch while occupied with eating and let me stroke him while he was on my lap.

I think that sometimes we don't get answers and simply have to accept our hamsters for who they are.

Two weeks is a short time and your hamster may still have to learn that your hands are no thread to her. I don't think its you personally she objects to, its probably hands in general she doesn't like. You could stroke her with a soft brush while she's on you to see how she responds to touch and maybe get her slowly used to it.