Aggressive Hamster?
Hello, I'm new here!
I purchased my hamster about three days ago. The first night, I let my older brother handle him for less than a minute, and Toby (the hamster) was so sweet! He just ran up on my brother's hand and was fine to run from hand to hand. He didn't even nip the employee at the pet store.
I started handing him treats, which he happily took. I have been sure to wash my hands before allowing him to sniff me. And I have been putting toilet paper in his cage after rubbing it on my skin. I feel like I'm doing everything right but every time I lay my hand down in front of him, he ignores treats and immediately latches onto my skin. Ouch!
He is very curious and doesn't act scared until I slightly jerk away (he gets shaken a bit because he's latched on so tight).
Tonight I tried a glove and he grabbed onto that even harder, to the point I had to shake him off gently.
He is fine to take treats from me when I hand them to him (not laying on my palm) but sometimes he'll try to go past the treat and get to my finger.
When I was younger I didn't know you were supposed to leave the hamster alone for a few days before any handling. I always immediately put them in the bathtub and hung out with them until they were tame. But I'm trying to do it right this time and it's not turning out great
I know it takes time to tame a hamster, but I've had so many hamsters in my lifetime and I've never had one run up and latch onto my skin like this!
I also caught him biting at his water bottle (not the part where water comes out). His cage is huge with 6 inches of bedding and a weel and toys. He's not bored I can tell you that.
What do I do??
I had considered getting a guinea pig and I'm kind of regretting not getting one instead of a hamster. I can return Toby and his cage, and wouldn't be out of too much money, but I'd feel awful. I have a little over a week to decide (14 day trial).
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