Quote:
Originally Posted by racinghamster
Your Bin cage is lovely.  Throwing herself on her back is a defensive action, not a submissive one. Does she do this and screech at the same time or bare her teeth? If she does, then she`s insecure and does this because she doesn`t quite know how to handle the situation. It`s not that you are doing anything wrong, it`s just the way she is and that needs approaching with caution and care.
My roborovski is an `attack` hamster too but he`s such a character! Sometimes you just need to work around this behaviour and accept that she doesn`t particularly want to be handled, but patience is the key and over time, she might mellow. If she tends to keep acting like this, then it might be a good idea to accept `who she is` and just enjoy keeping her happy in her cage and allow her a little playtime IF she actually likes that. If not, then just make sure she has a good running wheel like a medium silent spinner and home comforts.
I see you have a cat? She may also sense that there is a predator nearby and smell/scent can also play a big part if they smell fear. Is your cat out of the room when you can`t be there to keep a close eye on what it`s doing? I only ask because cats have been known to get the lids off Bins and other cages by knocking them over and killing the poor hamster. Cats can be strong and unpredictable that way. x |
thank you
she never screams or bares her teeth. just will begin to vibrate and then flop on her back. i haven't pulled her out again since i first posted, just sent her treats through the bars. this morning i attempted to give her a treat by going through the top of the cage but she lunged at me so i ended up giving it to her through the bars. it's a little disappointing to be honest, but i realize not every hamster is the same and not every hamster will be like my whammy the hammy, r.i.p.
it's really, really nice to know that you have a lot of experience with hammies and are telling me that this may just be her character. i won't stop trying (obviously) but i do feel better about giving her space.
the cat doesn't care at all about the hamster actually. he will sometimes sit on top of the cage when i'm feeding erza a treat, but then he will leave when i do and erza doesn't even look up like she notices that the cat is even there. the smell thing i didn't think of before - i guess because when i first brought whammy (r.i.p) home, my cat sniffed her through the bars and she seemed to LIKE the cat. which i know doesn't seem natural. but they would sniff each other often and my cat NEVER tried to harm whammy. and even went as far as to sleep in front of her cage when whammy came out to be on her wheel/eat and whammy would come say hello and merlin (cat) would sniff hello and go back to sleep. i'm not trying to say that cats don't want to hurt hamsters sometimes, but i also feel a need to defend merlin because he hasn't ever done anything to make me think that he will try to hurt my hammies.
however!! i'll keep an extra close eye on erza, although i can tell you very honestly that my cat hasn't shown any interest in harming her, either. he actually hasn't even tried sniffing the bars with her. he's "apathetic"...lol
thank you again for your response!
kyrilliondaemon, thank you!!
Concerned!
Sorry for the bad quality she moves a lot 
I got so lucky with my first hammy (a Syrian), she was tame from the get-go and would happily jump into my hand when she saw it in her cage. So this is so, SO new for me! (also, sorry the pic is SO huge...)
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