[Pebbles82]

Do you pet her in the cage? I'm assuming if you're not handling her, you haven't had her out of the cage yet? The snuggle sack cloudy linked is nice - these are for out of cage use only as hamsters can chew fabric and get threads caught round their legs etc - but fine for her to climb into and lift her out.

I think at first the easiest thing is to find an easy way to get them out of the cage without picking them up. This is a good idea anyway because even a tame hamster can wriggle free and fall.

If you have a hamster ball that fits in the cage you could put that in for her, with a treat in = to walk into - then just pop the lid on, life the ball out and carry it to a playpen area and let her walk out of the ball again. You can do similar with a tube - put a treat at the far end and when she walks into the tube put your hand over both ends and lift the tube out (then put one end into a hamster ball near the cage so she walks in). Or have a box right next to the cage, put the tube down in the box and carry the box to the playpen area.

For taming a lot of people use the dry bath tub - she can run around with the odd hide or toy and get used to being petted in there. And you can put your hand flat on the base, palm up, and just let her walk over it. From there you just lift your hand slightly when she walks onto it but still let her walk off. After that you should be able to hold her to pet her. They often don't like to sit still long or be held for long so she may walk off but you can pick her up and bring her back again.

If you can set up a playpen area as well you can sit in it and she can run around and climb over your legs and get more familiar with you. Keep away from the edges (or they can run up your arm and jump out!).

They do behave differently out of the cage than in it. They can be less interested and more territorial in the cage and perk up a bit when out of it.