Handling Advice

[Chezzu]

Hello everyone!

I've been a hamster owner practically all my life! I've had many over the yeas, 21 in total to be exact, but recently I had quite the aggressive experience!

Long story short, a hammy I'd been told was tame was not at all. This poor darling happened to prefer the fight response rather than her flight response and also happened to be quite cage aggressive on top of that!

We both got quite the freight from the encounter and I ended up with some nasty bites and scratches and now I'm alittle weary of my own hams (especially little Peppercorn with likes to explore by nibbling) and Ive been struggling with handling lately from nerves! I've had all my hammies for a little while so theyre all comfortable with me but I've found myself tensing or jumping when Peppercorn nibbles or my Porkchop when be sniffs at me!

I was wondering if anyone has any tips on getting over this?

[Penguin]

I'm sorry you have had such a scare, but I'm happy that you understand the poor thing was just trying to protect itself.
It's completely natural to be wary after such an experience so please don't feel bad about it.
The best thing you can do is to gradually get back on the horse and handle your hamsters again at your pace.
When I was bitten badly, I was very uncomfortable handling my hamsters as well but soon the joy of handling them took over and the fear faded away.
You might want to start at the very basics and go through the steps of taming, only that it's for yourself this time (:
Depending on how bad your fear is, try giving them a treat from your fingertips and progress to them sitting on your hand while they are munching on something small. Then lure them away with a treat after that. Once you are comfortable with this you can push yourself a bit and let porkchop sniff your hand and work on not pulling away.
They needed small steps at a time so you could gain their trust and now you need small steps so they can regain your trust.

When the fear has faded enough you can work on your fear of peppercorns nibbling. I'm sure the risk of being bitten scared you once, even if it is years ago

Best of luck with your own training!

[Kklofton]

I know exactly how you feel, I am going through the same thing, I got bit so hard and it startled me and I'm super jumpy, ugh I hate it. It will take time I guess.

[Cinnamon Bear]

I have a bitey dwarf, Chloe, an elderly WW hybrid. I figure that she's so fragile now that she might enjoy a cuddle, but no way, it was the perfect opportunity to bite mommy's finger again so she has some spark in her still. She will be with me 2 yrs & 2 mo on Christmas exactly, & she was 3-4 mo when I bought her. So maybe she will make it a few more months. She's a pet store hammy, no special diet. Kaytee Forti diet blocks.
She eating Higgins Sunburst seed mix to try to put some weight back on her. I haven't weighed her in awhile now.

Anyways, some hammys can't be tamed. It's just their personality. Hope your hammy can be trained of course if not don't give him the opportunity to bite you. Maybe use gloves for now? Whatever your comfortable with.

[cypher]

I've had a few bad bites & I know it can knock your confidence, I think you just need to remind yourself when with your other hams that they haven't bitten before so they really aren't going to want to do it now, nibbles & sniffs rarely turn into bites with a ham that's already comfortable so try to focus on who your handling rather than the unsettling experience with your new ham.
If she's cage aggressive then for now at least don't try to interact with her in the cage, use something she's comfortable climbing into to get her out & put her in a play pen or other safe area where you can interact with her, maybe begin by just talking to her then putting a treat down in front of her for her to pick up & move on from there.
If you have a layer of substrate in the play area you can bury your fingers in it & put a treat on your palm where you are less likely to get bitten, fingers can be a bit too tempting!
Just take it slow & I'm sure your confidence & hers will grow.