Dwarf Aggression

[swiffer]

Hi,
i got my male russian dwarf Swiffer around a month ago and he has been exhibiting some aggressive behaviour like chasing my hand around the cage, biting me when I change his water/ rearrange his stuff. He does come and eat food from my hand, and even sit on it, but right after there is no more food left he will bite my hand really hard and wont let go. I have taken him out of his cage using a basket, and placed him on my hand. He NEVER bites outside of his cage. He is also more active in his playpen rather than in his cage ( running on wheel for a long time) . In his cage he only runs around 30 mins on his wheel and then eats for the rest of the night.

His cage is a 40 gal breeder tank, which he lives alone in. He has 6 inches of Clean and cozy paper bedding, a 9 inch wheel, a sand bath, many wooden chew toys, many hiding spots including but not limited to underneath of platforms. His cage is always clean, and He pees in his potty which I clean when he is distracted or asleep. His cage is also located in a dark corner of my room, I never play music or make loud sounds.

[cypher]

It’s not that unusual for them to be territorial over the cage, it’s his space & he’s protecting it! I’ve only had one ham who was like this & with time she did get more tolerant of my hand in her cage although never really happy with it.
It’s best to just keep your hands out of the cage as much as possible, put fresh food & water in when he’s sleeping & do anything else when he’s out of the cage, either in his playpen f you can keep an eye on him at the same time or in a carrier with some substrate in.
He may be more active in the cage when you’re sleeping.

[Salem13]

I adopted my own dwarf hamster and they were like this for the first 2 months. Mimo was already a year and a half old and had not been handled much at all- just left in a critter trail. As of now I've had Mimo about 8 months and they actually tap at the cage to get my attention. I still get a bite once or twice a week but nothing like before. You and your new friend may be able to get past this behaviour if you work at it at his pace. When I started I would just sit beside the cage with my hand resting on the side so they got used to seeing it- perhaps that may be something to try?

That all being said Cypher is also totally right that sometimes you just have to work around things. To be entirely fair I don't think I would be very friendly to a giant hand rearranging my home either. Best of luck though!

[Ithuviel]

I got a female dwarf hamster with pups in foster care. She was kept in a shoebox cage with the male and had 2 litters in my care. She was very a very nipping hamster she would latch on my fingers and not let go. She did no draw blood however.

Taming the pups was difficult because of this. But i devised a solution. I would not touch her too much. I would get her in a playpen and i would stay with her. I would give her various seed from my fingers. After about 3 month she started doing better. She is just coming for seed if i mess around her cage.

She will never be a cuddle hamster but i love her When she is active she is very energic