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Old 12-29-2020, 02:18 PM   #1
Silvi Hamster
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Jun 2020
Posts: 4
Exclamation Struggling to tame biting hammy- help wanted!

Hi, I could really do with some help.
I have had my dwarf hamster for around 6 months now, and I adopted her at 4 months (she is ten months old). I’m pretty sure she had bad treatment in her first home. Which may have something to do with the fact she keeps biting. I tried to tame her at first for around a month and made minimal progress. Then I became very busy and now for the past month or so I have been properly working hard to tame her. Every day I put her in her playpen (which I cannot fit into- is this a problem?) and I hold a treat on my palm for her to eat, as in theory, this is where she has got to after the last session. However she seems to reset all progress every time, and bites my hand when I place food in my palm. So I make a “bridge” with a gloved hand to the bare palm with the treats, and she climbs on no problem and takes the treat. After a few times of that, I remove the bridge and place my bare hand out with a treat. She takes it with no problem. However, she won’t get off my hand. She just bites it until I tip her off. The biting starts lightly but does get aggressive if I leave her too long. Then by the next day she will be biting again and I start over. I’m starting to lose hope. Is it a problem that I left it so long to tame her? Are some hamsters impossible to tame? I am doing what every website says but it just isn’t working because she just bites. If I let her bite me enough she would probably give up but I would be very injured. I am quite happy if she just isn’t tameable, but I just want to know because I’m worried she’s unhappy. I forgot to mention she isn’t scared or anything and she runs straight to my hand, only to bite it.
Anyway, I think this is super long, sorry! But any help would be greatly welcomed, especially your own experiences because I feel like I’m the only person with this problem.
Thanks, from Silvi’s owner
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Old 12-29-2020, 03:58 PM   #2
Ria P
House of Hamsters
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Wiltshire, UK
Posts: 7,103
Default Re: Struggling to tame biting hammy- help wanted!

I did have an adopted dwarf hamster who was very disturbed when i got him and i also suspected bad treatment in a previous home.
He bit every chance he got and i never figured out why. He was ill and only lived another 8 months but i don't think his illness was the cause of the biting.
I didn't expect anything of him and all i wanted was to give him a better life.
As time went on he did become a bit happier and wasn't as stressed as he was at the beginning. I used to get him out of his cage in a mug which he really enjoyed and put him on my lap with a few sunflower seeds. I was able to gently stroke him then without him trying to bite. That's as far as we got.

It may be worthwhile for you to try this approach if you can find a safe area to sit with him on your lap.
I sat on the sofa next to his cage but the room i was in was hamster proof.
Some people sit in a bath tub but that freaked him out so i only tried that once. Maybe it was the light and it may work with a dim or candle light.
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Old 12-29-2020, 11:13 PM   #3
cypher
Dwarf whisperer
 
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 24,789
Default Re: Struggling to tame biting hammy- help wanted!

What do you put in her play pen? Does she have lots of toys & things to explore? It’s usually best to get them out & have a run around exploring in th play pen then gradually introduce your hand to them, most Russian hams grow out of the biting stage but it can take a bit of time.
If you could get a big enough play pen that you could sit in or just create a safe area where she can’t escape so she can run around & climb on you if she wants to that might help too.
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Old 12-30-2020, 04:06 AM   #4
Petite
Senior Hamster
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Scotland
Posts: 501
Default Re: Struggling to tame biting hammy- help wanted!

I had a similar problem with my dwarf ham, now almost a year old. She wasn't safe to stroke unless she was more interested in a particularly tasty treat -unless you wanted bleeding fingers. But just recently, she's started to allow me to stroke her just a little even when she's not eating treats. To be honest, I had given up hope of ever getting to even this stage with her. It's as though she's suddenly decided she can trust me.

The other thing I've noticed is that she seems to be extremely short-sighted - more so than average. She used to bite my open palm with a treat on because presumably the fingers looked like a tasty treat and she couldn't see the edible treat. But then I tried pointing to the treat on my palm with a finger of the other hand, which she could see more easily than the treat, and she gradually caught on. Even now, I can't pick her up as I could with my last dwarf ham - she just shoots out of my hands - but I'm happy with where we have go to. I do hope you can make some more progress with yours; don't give up hope.
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