[Pebbles82]

I think she is just testing your fingers/hand to see if they are edible! They do that sometimes - especially if your hand smells of food! Is it a nip or a hard bite that draws blood? Usually it's just a painful nip - as if thinking you are food.

I think you're doing really well that she will actually take food from your hand (as opposed to shunning the hand or running away).

Every hamster is different - they have their own personalities. But as a general rule, hamsters don't like a hand in their cage. They are territorial (in a positive way) and once they settle in and claim the place as their home they can get quite upset at having their space invaded. Usually it makes them a bit stressed - as if you're going to steal something!

So although a lot of advice for taming is to let them take a treat from your hand, this doesn't always work - when they're in their cage. The main daily food mix should be put in the hamster bowl. For getting them to eat off your hand you really just want a treat etc. In the palm of your hand, flat. And always wash your hands first using plain soap (not anything flowery or honey scented etc). Otherwise they think your hand is food too.

In terms of taming it sounds like she is not too shy and perhaps wants to come out. The best way to tame them is out of the cage and to do that (when she's not tame and could do a runner) you need to get them out securely. Depending on what cage you have, and where the door is, there are different ways. If the cage has a big front door you could just put a hamster ball in the cage with a treat in and see if she hops into it. Then pop the lid on and lift out the ball and carry it to a taming area (the dry bath tub is often a good area - with the plug in and a couple of toys in there - eg a tube or a hide).

Or you can use a tube to get her out. Same idea - just put the tube in the cage with one end near her house and a smelly treat at the far end (eg cucumber or a bit of cheese). When she walks into the tube, put your hands over both ends and lift the tube out. You can wear gloves to do this as we can get nervous they might bite the hand - or they can push very hard against your hand that makes you jump - and you don't want to drop the tube!

You then put one end of the tube into the hamster ball which you have right next to the cage, let her walk into the ball, pop the lid on and carry the ball to the bathtub.

If you don't have a ball, you can just have a large box next to the cage and put the tube down in that and carry the box to the bath tub (but make sure the sides are high enough or she'll jump out).

Hamster balls generally aren't popular these days for many reasons - safety and stress among them and size being wrong - but they can be useful for transferring a hamster from a to b.

It sounds like she is semi tame if she doesn't run away from you and takes food from her hand. The biting could be a number of things. firstly - to test if you're food. Or because your hand smells like food and she thinks it's edible - or it could be "mixed feelings" - as in yes I like taking the food from you but because you put your hand in my cage I'm going to let you know that I don't like that!

Bathtub taming is a good way of getting them hand tame. Maybe a couple of times a week - more than that can be a bit too much for them. In between time just keep talking to her through the bars (familiarisation) and the tissue trick mentioned above, or feeding the odd treat through the bars.

When she's in the bathtub, they usually just slither up and down the sides trying to climb out. Start by just stroking her on the back with one finger. Wear gloves if you're nervous she'll bite or - as we did - use a toothbrush to stroke her on the back instead of your finger.

She may jerk round as if to bite or see you off when you touch her. So just do it once. Then wait a bit and do it again just one stroke. That's about all you do on the first session. In between she might go through the tunnel or run around a bit. I found if you use the ball I would leave the ball in the bath and the hamster would hop back into it when they'd had enough.

Second session you do the same again. And she should accept a stroke on the back with one finger (or a toothbrush) by then without jerking her head round - ie she is getting used to being touched and feels safe.

So once you can do that and she accepts it, move onto putting your hand on the bottom of the bath, flat, palm up, so she just walks over it now and then. Maybe during the second session or wait till the third. Then when she's done that a few times, the next time she walks over your hand, just lift it very slightly - about 1cm - but let her walk off as usual. Next time raise it a little bit higher, but still let her walk off. Then next time as she's walking off, put your other hand in front so she walks from hand to hand.

After she's done that a few times you should be able to hold her. And she won't try and wriggle free or "ping" (where they somehow manage to wriggle free and leap two feet in the air at the same time!). An untame hamster will ping. A tame one won't - but even with a tame hamster, never carry them across the room - always hold them low down or carry them in something they can't jump out of.

It can seem quite slow at first, but once they're hand tame it just suddenly happens and you can pick them up and stroke them and they accept it all. Of course they are very active and may still try and run away! So a playpen area for out of cage time is a good idea - and you can sit in it with her as well maybe. Or when they're tame you can have sofa time - I used to have ours out on the sofa. He'd climb the back and I'd have to lift him down again when he got to the top.

Time of day can make a difference with out of cage time too. Early evening and late evening they can be very active but around 8pm to 10pm they can be more docile I find.

After 10pm is their "day" starting so they are extremely active and wanting to be off and not sit still.

She'll gradually get used to your voice and her name. Once they're tame they tend to let you know when they want to come out. Eg come to the cage bars. It can be a good idea to have a set feeding time - eg 5 or 6pm or 7pm - around the same time every day. Make a bit of cage noise when opening the door and they get to know it's feeding time so wake up earlier for it and expect it. That can be a time to get them out for taming rather than waiting till they get up (which can be very late) and also a good time if you have children that want to see/interact with the hamster.

Hamsters don't usually bite unless they are scared or in pain. Or you smell of food! With one treat in the palm of your hand, the rest of your hand shouldn't smell of food.

Occasionally you'll get a hamster that has been roughly treated before and just doesn't like hands. But it doesn't sound like that as she seems happy to interact.

But you can offer them food from your hand during out of cage time, which is usually better received than when they're in the cage.

Assume you know not to clean out too much? No cleaning for the first two weeks while they're settling in (it can really stress and disorientate them) apart from spot cleaning the pee corner maybe once a week. Using a litter tray makes it a lot easier and the cage stays cleaner longer. It's only their pee that is unhygienic - and they tend to just do it in one place - so put the litter tray there. With Chinchilla bathing sand in it (soaks up the pee and you just empty it out).

With a litter tray and spot cleaning you should be able to go 2 or 3 months without needing to change the substrate. Spot cleaning is just taking out the odd handful of substrate and replacing it, if necessary, or picking out poops - if they start taking over. But poops aren't dirty or smelly and sometimes they eat them or keep a hoard of poops (which is normal behaviour - they have two stomachs and can redigest nutrients from the poops). If you're lucky you may see her actually pull a poop out from her rear end and eat it!