Help with a vicious Hammy!

[toriagiggles]

Hey everyone,

help would be greatly appreciated and sorry but this'll be a long explanation!

January, I got Hamish, my 4th Syrian. That was a Thursday, Friday morning I had 5 little Hammies in the cage...well I FREAKED but managed to raise the little pups well, giving them to responsible friends. However, because I was very wary that Hamish (now a girl, Mimi) could turn on her pups, I left her alone to care for them with little interruption for four weeks in case my scent would trigger any violence.

I'ts now been 5 months and every time I go near the cage she tries to bite me, she has drawn blood several times and its very painful, but she does like people being around as she comes out to look at you and will follow you about the cage.

Shes a confident, active little thing and I love her but I cannot handle her in the slightest for fear of her biting again. I don't get the impression she's nasty, she just seems confused that i'm food or something, how can I have a closer bond with Mimi and tame her to sit with me outside of the cage? Also, I've never had any issues with previous hamsters. :-k

[cypher]

It sounds as though she's developed a bit of cage aggression, can you handle her out of the cage at all?
If you haven't tried to handle her out of the cage for now at least I wouldn't put your hands into the cage (except for feeding & water bottles etc.) until you can handle her outside, just use something she's happy to climb into to transport her to a safe play area or the bath & then try getting her used to your hands gradually & see how she goes from there.
Maybe go back to basics & put a tissue with your scent on into the cage & repeat that for a while until she begins to get used to your scent not being a threat to her or her territory.

[toriagiggles]

hey Cypher thanks for the reply, actually i think the tissue is a fantastic idea, ill start immediately and i also think its time to bite the bullet and try to handle her in the bath or something. Shes happy to climb into a cup to be transported to a box while i clean the cage.


Thanks you so much! Ill get right to it :D

[katmick]

I agree with Cypher.
Some hamsters get really cage territorial,especially females that has experienced some stress before ( that causes them to become more like this ). In this case I believe it could be Mimi's pregnancy and her need to guard the pups for safety.

Perhaps she got used to this behaviour and the fact,that she was left without real hand on contact with you for a month didn't help either. You will really need to go back and re-tame her.

Just take her out as Cypher said, let her outside of the cage and start enjoying her company that way. Accept her cage is her territory.

I have a blind female Syrian who was very aggressive and cage territorial at the beginning for at least 6 months, but now she is a sweetheart and can't wait for me to come to her and take her out of her cage. I still respect her territorial cage guarding and decided never to try to bother her in her cage apart from giving her treats or putting her back in.

My hamster loves her cage so much that she climbs in by herself, once she had enough free-ranging time. She has her Alexander cage on the spare bed we have and she never leaves the bed, in fact I always set the bed ( covered with fleece blanket) as a playground for her and she loves it. If I didn't close her cage, she would be still in it sleeping next day.

If I was you I would accept the fact that her cage is her territory only and I would start letting her out daily with you around. ( Just take her out in a ball or a tube or some vessel that you are both comfortable with).

Good luck and enjoying bonding time all over again! ;)

[toriagiggles]

hehehe your little Syrian sounds lovely, getting in her cage alone! Cute! Thanks for the advise, I'm really motivated to change her behaviour!