Hamster Hissing Issues

[Mollie and Sassy]

Hi, i have a cambell dwarf hamster named marble and shes a female, she seems to hiss at everything, when i give her a treat, when i have to clean out her cage, and at the moment i have just put her on my lap and she likes to climb on my computor as i type which is rather annoying. I do pick her up gently and scoop her but she still hisses but when i am holding her she stops, why could this be? She only hisses when things come at her or i have to do something physical to her, she has never bitten me but only seems to want to scare me off. Why? She is very friendly when climbing all over me though, always typing on my keyboard.

[velma]

They have poor eyesight so she could just be reacting to you as she doesn't know it's your hand. She sounds pretty friendly though. In the wild something looming at her would be a predator so it sounds like she's trying to sound bigger and scarier than she is to warn off whatever may try and eat get

[Lexieshamster]

Hi Mollie - it sounds like she thinks you may be a predator at first - like Velma says. The fact that she hisses when you pick her up but stops when you are holding her shows that once she realises its you she's okay. She must trust you.

It's good that you scoop her up gently but sounds like she needs more warning that it's you before you do it. Do you sit by her and talk to her and let her smell you first?

[Sm_banks]

Rub the bedding next to her to give her fair warning and she might not hiss at you.