Maple :)

[princessbear]

Hi everyone!

The other day I went and picked up my new hammy, Maple. She's 8 weeks old and very pretty. I always love reading peoples threads about their hamsters lives so I thought I'd do one for Maple.

The place we got her from hadn't separated her from her sisters yet - they like to keep them together for as long as possible until fights break out. So she was quite nervous and for the whole journey home she burrowed under a towel I had in the travel box. Once home I got her in the cage and she immediately headed for the pile of bedding and burrowed straight in, I decided to leave some music playing quietly ( I think its better than absolute silence) and placed a towel over the cage. By the evening she was up and out exploring and sat in her food bowl having a munch.

Now its been about 5 days and she's happy to come up and chat to me for a bit and has been taking the toilet paper I've been putting in almost immediately. However now I want to start the taming process but it appears Maple is a bit of a nipper, she's not doing it aggressively, I think she's just associated my hand with food. I'm careful to wash my hands etc but it doesn't make a difference, i'm wondering whether to just completely disassociate my hand from food? Any advice on this would be super useful!

- I've attached a picture of the little nipper!

Thanks for reading!

[Hamsterita]

Maple is a beautiful young lady!

I think that behaviour can be normal in younger hams, and they grow out of it by themselves, but I'm not too sure, I hope someone with more experience can help you!

Looking forward to know more about Maple

[cypher]

Congrats! Maple is a little beauty

Nibbling is quite normal for young hams, they do tend to grow out of it but you can try not hand feeding just for a short while, maybe offer a seed then put it down in front of her, she should soon figure out that fingers aren't food!

[BorisPasha]

Awww she's adorable what a cute face, congrats on having such a lovely girl

[Thin Lizzy]

She's a little cutie! Congratulations!
I agree with Cypher, try her suggestion. It might be she's just curious about this hand giving her tasty treats.

[Cotton]

She's beautiful! My first hamster and the one I have now were tame when I got them. However, both started nipping when I started giving them a sunflower seed by hand. I stopped doing that and they stopped nipping.

[princessbear]

Thank you for all your nice comments and good suggestions, hopefully it is just a young hamster thing and she grows out of it but I will try not feeding her from my hands for a while for now to see if that makes a difference

[HammyMummy]

Aww she's a cutie! ♡

[Golden_Syrian_Hammmies]

She's so cute! Yes as others have said sometimes hamsters out of inquisitiveness have a wee nibble! Hopefully she will get used to your hands and realize they are not food lol. You could try lifting her out of her cage in a tube or a cup and sitting in the bath letting her run over you to get used to you. While in the bath you can take it slow and try to stroke her/try handling her over a period of time when she builds up confidence and trust in you. I've heard that sometimes hamsters can also be territorial in their cages if we put our hands in but out of their cage they are fine.

[princessbear]

Its just kind of strange as she only goes for hands and fingers, I was moving some bits around her cage last night - partly because I wanted her to get used to me and partly because she'd made an absolute mess, but she seemed fine with my arm like she was climbing all on it and sitting on it with no nibbling. However if she got close to my hand she'd nip it. So far what I've been doing is leaving a treat by her food bowl whenever she's been good and has come up to say hello to me without trying to nip. Whenever she does nip I just close up the door and walk away. Hopefully this works and she'll realise that hands are friends not food!