how to get hamster tame

[Jox25]

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP !
I’m not sure if this is the right place to post as I am new here - So I bought 2 dwarf hamsters together around 3 months ago and I know people say they shouldn’t be housed together but they were so close and never fought, but recently nugget passed away from wet tail. At the start, nugget was the nasty hamster and always bit you as soon as he had the chance and bean was the nice one, but after a few weeks they switched personalities and bean started biting and nugget was really clingy. For some reason after nugget died bean became friendlier but still didn’t want to be picked up by hand so I wear gloves even now. As soon as you take the gloves off he will bite your finger so hard and won’t let go. I’m not sure why he doesn’t like skin because he is the nicest hamster when I wear gloves or even socks on my hand. I always wash my hands before I hold him anyway but he will still bite my hand and I’m scared to try again because he doesn’t let go until you pull away. Today my sister tried and he was fine with her knuckle but as soon as you show him your palm he attacks. Can anyone help? Thankyou

[Ria P]

Hello and welcome to HC!

First of all, i'm one of those people who say that dwarf hamsters should not be kept together.
They may not necessarily fight and injure or kill each other but one could bully the other causing a lot of stress and stress can lead to illness because it lowers the immune system.

Secondly, i don't think there is such a thing as a nasty hamster. Yes, they vary in personality and some like human touch whereas others don't.

Things to consider are: is your hamster happy in his environment? Does he have a big enough cage, wheel, deep substrate, a house, hides and a sandbath?

Do you handle him when he is awake and ready? Hamsters usually have a pee, wash and snack before they are ready.

You could try taming him out of his cage in a safe area like a bathtub with a blanket and hides down. Sit in it with him and let him run on your lap so he gets used to your scent. Keep the sessions short to slowly build his confidence and yours. You could put a few seeds on your lap for him to find and lightly stroke him with your ungloved finger while he is eating then slowly progress from there.

I had a dwarf who bit any chance he got and latched on. He never became completely tame but i was able to stroke him while he was on my lap. He was ill with diabetes and sadly died before we were able to take the taming sessions further.

Be patient with him and hopefully your hamster will become tame enough to be handled.

[Fawnspots]

Hello,
I am sorry to hear that your dwarf hamster is very nippy. Now, I’m not the most experienced hamster owner, I’ve only had one hammy before my current. My previous hammy was a dwarf and I got him at 2 years old already. He was very sacred of people and lived in a tiny, almost empty cage. Of course, I changed that, but what I’m trying to say is that I tried to tame him with my bare hands but he was really sacred of them and eventually stoped because it was stressing him out. I tried gloves and he liked them and was tame in no time. He was very friendly with the gloves and was jumping up and down when ever he saw me. I never was tame with bare hands but he still had a lovely life for the time I had him. So the point of this monologue (: is to say that some hammies never do get used to hands but can still be very loved and friendly hammies.

Now, my hamster might be a different story because he was very old. If your hamster is young or mostly young, you still have a chance.

And some more things you have to keep in mind, like Ria P. said, is cage aggression, if your hamster’s cage is not big enough, (450 square inches at least) your hammy can be aggressive just from that. Also, just like Ria P. said, make sure you are not waking your hammy up, wait until he is already awake before trying to tame. My current hammy goes into a rage if I ever try to wake her up, but is friendly otherwise.

I hope I have been helpful and good luck!