Quote:
Originally Posted by Zedrobber
It's possible that there's something wrong healthwise, if the behaviour is completely out of the blue and he's consistently doing it now. Might be worth taking him to a vet just for a check over.
Please don't feel like you are doing anything wrong - he doesn't hate you, he's not angry with you, he's just expressing a need or a problem in the only way he knows how to communicate. I promise it's not personal. My last hamster, the sweetest boy I've ever met, bit me hard enough to completely ruin a pair of pyjamas with the amount it bled, but it wasn't because he hated me - he just felt unsafe with something I was doing. Here's what I would do-
-check all needs are being met in the cage; large enough cage, plenty of deep bedding for burrowing, enriching toys and cage furniture, large enough wheel that his back is straight, a good quality food, and some mental enrichment like foraging.
-check his water to make sure it's accessible.
-Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before interacting with him so they don't smell like food or other animals etc. It's possible he feels threatened by something he can smell.
-take him to a vet for a checkup
-start the taming process over again from the beginning to rebuild confidence on both sides. You being nervous of him will probably not be helping.
Good luck and please try not to be upset with your hamster.
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He attacked me again. He has food, he has water, I changed today and I washed my hands before I interacted with him. He keeps attacking me and he already does biting gestures when I am close to the cage.
I do not have any other animals and I haven't been petting anyone else. I don't do sudden movements around him and I don't scare him nor wake him up. I always make sure he's awake. Always. We used to play every night and two days ago everything was fine and he used to be very friendly.
This is what I found from Google:
"Hamsters bite to communicate with their owners that they are uncomfortable with the situation that they are in. Even if your hamster has been completely friendly up until this point, this is the reason why it might begin to bite all of a sudden. Although it may seem they are biting you for no reason, it is likely that they feel threatened, are hungry or trying to hide an insecurity or illness from you"
I haven't cleaned the cage recently either, but something is wrong. The thing is he used to be super friendly and he came to my arm all the time and he liked being with me and never bit me. I've had him since August and I haven't made any drastic changes.
When he bites me he won't let it go. He clings to my finger with his teeth and it hurts. Google said let him bite you, but how? Of course I had to shake him off (did it as gently as I could and am feeling guilty about it).
He has toys, he has everything. I don't understand what's wrong with him.
When I got him in August he never bit me. He was frightened of me though. I remember the first time I touched him he literally jumped and I don't know how to tame him again.
He still takes food from my hand and toilet paper and after that he attacks me. Before he just took food and left and he has never behaved so weirdly when I've been close to his cage. He's literally either biting the air or bars when he sees me and his mouth is wide open.
I'll have to record it and share it with you.