Rescued Winter White Dwarf

[heelys]

Hi! My friend wanted a loving hamster so she went to the pet store and picked one up with 200$ worth of supplies. My friend told me she was acting fine until 2 weeks in, and her hamster was being "mean" & "satanic" because lo and behold, the little girl had been in a critter trail!

I had been telling my friend throughout this time, ¨hey, maybe she is being aggressive because she's in too small of a cage" (I didn't know she was in a critter trail) But she said she has plenty of room because she's a tiny dwarf, so that wasn't the cause. A couple months later my friend was fed up with the chewing on the wires and biting every time she got near her cage so she gave her to me.

I immediately moved her into a bigger bin with more substrate to burrow in! When she came, she would dart towards her cage door and "guard"? it. Immediately when I opened it she crawled into my hand and started biting me. I left her alone for 3 days but she wasn't showing typical signs of stress so I started giving her treats. She'd readily take them from me and eat beside my hand. I'm even able to pet her lightly and scritch her head as long as her mouth is distracted by food. She's not skittish around me or my hands at all, just annoyed is what I'm perceiving it as. Whenever I go near her cage she tries to "get" me even though there is no longer a door for her to guard, but quickly goes back to normal business (scavenging food, wheel.)

I've had her for 10 days, and have been interacting with her everyday since day 4. Some things I do is rub my scent (washed, non-scented hands) on her carefresh when I fluff it. I scatter-feed her every 1-2 days. I rotate toys and hides (besides her main one) every 5 days. I put a fleece blanket on the bottom of a (washed) bathtub and a bunch of toys (including a wheel) and sit with her for an hour. I've done this twice, she climbs up me and tries to bite at any Skin possible, never making me bleed but it's not really a nip.

I plan to upgrade her cage very soon, I don't have the exact dimensions yet, but it's a storage bin, I'll attach some pictures soon. I don't have a set home so I rotate houses every week and I'm scared it's stressing her out.